Deep Bench Chronicles

Stories the box score never told.
Longform writing on forgotten careers, and the margins of basketball history.
Research-driven stories and original visuals.

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

I’ve spent a long time working on this.

New story: Utah Jazz 1997–98: The Other Side of The Last Dance (Part 1):
https://t.co/tN3C6BeF9H
Locker-room tensions, injuries, strange incidents, and the turbulent road to the 1998 NBA Finals.

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@bringmback23714 Monclared

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@NBAPredictLab Exactly. When Chambers crossed 20,000 in 1995, that was still rare air. Only about 20 players in NBA history had reached that mark at the time.

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

🚨 New story on Deep Bench Chronicles

Tom Chambers is one of the strangest Hall of Fame blind spots in NBA history.
20,000 points, 4 All-Star selections, ASG MVP, 2 All-NBA teams.
I wrote about the career and the case of “Tommy Gun.”

🔗https://t.co/7T2KuVds3O

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@simcox_gm @HoopsAnalyst Thank you, really appreciate the feedback

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@bringmback23714 🙏🙏🙏

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

Thank you, really appreciate it.
I agree on Marion and Amar’e. Since they’re more recent, I still think they have a real shot eventually.

With Nance, Kemp, Laimbeer, Price, KJ, Chambers, that older generation feels more worrying to me. I’m afraid the window may have passed, unfortunately.

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

Wembanyama reaches the NBA Finals in his third season.

He is right on schedule with the great centers:

Mikan and Russell made it in Year 1.
Olajuwon, Kareem and Ostertag in Year 2.
Shaq, Unseld and Walton in Year 3.
Cowens in Year 4.

[Richard Drie @SquirtRambis]

🆕Pendant 10 ans, les Pistons ont enchaîné les erreurs de management, les paris ratés et les saisons cauchemardesques. Retour sur une décennie qui a plongé Detroit dans l’une des plus longues traversées du désert de la NBA.

https://t.co/IFlshy9xJw

[Mr Rami @ecorami]

Lo vi, con retransmisión de Montes y Daimiel, en la habitación de mi hermano. Iba con los Rockets, y hubo un momento que parecía hecho para Houston. Así que entonces me llevé una decepción.

Casi 30 años después, y después de haber visto muchísimos partidos de los Jazz de esos años, pocas celebraciones me emocionan más. Años de batallas tremendas al límite (séptimo partido contra Sonics en el 96), con medios más precarios que otros equipos (muchos jugadores no querían ir a Utah). Por cierto, comportamiento intachable después de cada derrota, felicitando al rival, atendiendo a los medios y prometiendo volver a intentarlo.

Y llega el tiro de Stockton (en realidad todo el último cuarto) y ocurren cosas que nunca habían pasado. La sonrisa de Sloan, la explosión de alegría del banquillo, el abrazo de Hornacek/Stockton/Malone. Emocionante por lo excepcional, dada la sobriedad marca de la casa.

Ya lo he comentado alguna vez, pero soy fanático retrospectivo de aquel equipo. El baloncesto que más he aprendido a apreciar.

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@SquirtRambis Et dire que les mecs c'est leur métier bordel

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@hoopshype I’m like Perkins, I’m not too fond of these Europeans: Jokic, Doncic, Flagg, Knueppel, etc.

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

Books are probably the most interesting basketball content to me, along with the games themselves. Podcasts and YouTube can be great, but biographies and old books often give you details, context, and little behind-the-scenes moments you just don’t get anywhere else.

I don’t write about every book I read, but I try to cover as many as I can, especially the ones that really stay with me. Thanks again for your feedback

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

🚨 New story on Deep Bench Chronicles

Paul Westphal’s most enjoyable coaching season came unpaid, at a tiny Bible college, with a team full of players almost nobody remembers.

His most difficult one came in the NBA, with a late-90s Sonics locker room that became nearly impossible to manage.

I wrote about A Tale of Two Seasons.

🔗 https://t.co/Pw8hURCbki

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@trol_exesas if you ever have thoughts or feedback, always feel free to send them my way

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@trol_exesas Thanks! Glad you found the site

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@bcprice86 Absolutely, that’s where I watched it too

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

1 hour and 45 minutes of pure nostalgia.

I’m only discovering This Magic Moment now, even though it came out in 2016. No major revelations, and Shaq doesn’t say much of interest, as usual, but the doc is full of great little details.

John Gabriel, Nick Anderson, Brian Hill, Jeff Turner, Pat Williams, David Steele, Shaq and Penny, plus their agents from that era, which really matters when the Nike/Reebok rivalry enters the story.

My favorite random anecdote: the Warriors supposedly wanted to move Rony Seikaly because he was too good-looking and his teammates were jealous of all the attention he got from women.

That’s the kind of absurd NBA history I’m here for.

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@J_Talks_Hoops Thanks, really appreciate that. I’d definitely be interested at some point.

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@Valc73554504 @HoopsAnalyst Merci pour ton retour! l'article sur le trade sonics/bucks/cavs était top je l'ai lu hier également

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

Thank you, really appreciate it. And yes, the Baker part is wild. Westphal clearly saw the warning signs, while the front office thought a long-term deal might stabilize him. It did the opposite. He also says he called in the team leaders, without naming them, to ask them to stop taking Baker out at night. They refused...

[Deep Bench Chronicles @DeepBenchNBA]

@CraigHC5 @HoopsAnalyst Thank you, really appreciate it.