YouTube Gold: George McGinnis

One of the great talents to come out of the state of Indiana

By the time that the ABA ran out of money and was absorbed by the NBA (they call it a merger but the ABA was running on fumes and really it was more of a takeover), the upstart league had developed a very different identity than the older NBA.

It was full of more explosive offenses and players who both took threes - the ABA was the first time anyone had a three point shot that we’re aware of - and lots of dunks.

Julius Erving and David Thompson were the biggest stars but there were plenty of others, including Erving’s future Philadelphia teammate, George McGinnis.

McGinnis had a strange if not bizarre jumpshot, but it was undeniably effective. You’ll see it here in multiple places.

After Philly acquired Erving, the 76ers had a wild team. They started those two plus Caldwell Jones, Henry Bibby and Doug Collins, whose son, Chris, would later play at Duke. The Sixers also featured manchild Darryl Dawkins, World B. Free and Mike Dunleavy Sr., whose son, Mike Junior, like the younger Collins also starred at Duke.

The team was a spectacular kaleidoscope and at times you didn't know what you would get. However, while Erving was the transcendent star, McGinnis was pretty damn good. The team crashed and burned in the 1977 Finals though against Bill Walton’s Portland Trailblazers and traded McGinnis to Denver for Bobby Jones.

His career began to fade and an Achilles injury he suffered in Denver accelerated that.

However, he was legitimately great and is now in the Hall of Fame.