George McGinnis (1950-), ABA and NBA Star (1971-1982) from Indianapolis, Indiana

[DaveO]

On 2/5/2016 at 1:39 PM, DonRocks said:

My God that Philadelphia front line was good: Julius Erving, George McGinnis, and Darryl "Dr. Dunkenstein" Dawkins. People forget how damned good George McGinnis was, with that little turnaround, stuttering jump shot which he shot on the way down from his peak height. How is George McGinnis not in the Hall of Fame?

I also found this fascinating video of an entire ABA-NBA All-Star Game. Exhibition game, my eye - these guys were out for blood:

I don't recall seeing McGinnis in the ABA.  Clearly he was a superstar.  And he was a physical stud.  Very well built, sort of a Lebron or a Karl Malone type--much thicker and stronger than other players on the court.   But when he got to Philadelphia and later teamed with Dr J, something was off.  They didn't mesh well and Dr J was better.  In fact they had a lot of similar basketball attributes, even as they were so physically different.   They didn't team well and they didn't complement one another.  Overall in that '77 NBA championship he was outplayed by Maurice Lucas who covered McGinnis.  Philly traded him and he simply wasn't dominating as he did in the ABA, and I recall him sort of like a ball hog...

His skills and achievements diminished in the NBA.  I suspect it was age.   McGinnis would clearly have great highlights as he was a physical stud...and it wasn't that the NBA was that much (or even marginally better) but his skills diminished and/or he simply team well.   OTOH I bet he is a big basketball hero in Indianapolis.  Its where his earlier career flourished.