Pimpin for #10, Bobby D

A couple of years ago I bought a CD at the Bradley Center called "Milwaukee Bucks Greatest Hits Volume I". It contains the standard stadium anthems but it also has some sweet original calls made by the Original Voice of the Bucks, Eddie Doucette. I've been trying to figure out how to put them on this site so people can click on them and listen to them, but that's not the point right now.

I want to concentrate on one of the clips called "Champions at Last". Its from the Bucks Radio Network's call of the 1971 NBA Finals which pitted your Milwaukee Bucks against the Baltimore Bullets (now, obviously, the Washington "Wizards" -- God, I hate that nickname). Here is the relevant audio transcript:

Eddie Doucette: "This is it, boy, I'll tell ya, we've got these games with Baltimore, and if we can win it all we are the World's Champions. Who will our starting line-up be Larry?"

Coach Costello: "Alcindor at center, Greg Smith and Dandridge at forwards, and Jon McGlocklin and Oscar Robertson at guards."

Of that starting five announced by Larry Costello, there were four vital pieces and one role player (Greg Smith). Of the four vital pieces to Milwaukee's only World Championship to date, 3 of the names and numbers hang forever in the Bradley Center rafters. One name and number is conspicuously missing: #10, "The Greyhound" Bobby Dandridge.

#10 should be in the rafters

Some people devote their lives to worthy pet causes. The environment, world peace, adopting third world babies, etc. I'm devoting this post to my pet cause: retiring Bobby Dandridge's number 10. Its an injustice that needs correction.

I've only seen him play on "Hardwood Classics" on the NBA channel. He was skinnier and shorter than Kevin Durant. His jumpshot was pancake flat, and when he shot it from the post he launched it in a funny manner (he would jump while his back was still to the basket and then twist in mid-air and launch his shot). In other words, he wasn't your prototypical stud small forward. But he could run like the wind (hence his nickname "The Greyhound" -- bestowed upon him by Doucette) and he produced big numbers for some of the greatest teams in Milwaukee Bucks' history.

If you look at the Bucks all-time statistical categories, you will find Bobby Dandridge's name in the Top 5 in games played, minutes played, and points, and in the top 10 in rebounds (and he was only 6'5''). He was an important member of the only two teams in Bucks history to reach the NBA Finals (they should have won two World's Championships with Dandridge at forward -- they lost in 1974 mainly because of an injury to Lucius Allen). And yet he is the forgotten Buck.

Just look at the numbers

Beyond his aforementioned historical contributions to the franchise's Glory Days you have his superior production. Dandridge's numbers in Bucks' Green and Red are as good as, or better than, many of the Milwaukee Bucks players already up in the rafters. Here's a rundown of the Eff48 numbers of the immortals whose numbers have already been retired compared with Dandridge's (see the bottom of the previous post for an explanation of Eff48):

1. Abdul-Jabbar...................43.60 (Incredible!)
2. Lanier............................29.10
3. Dandridge.......................28.20
4. Moncrief.........................27.11

5. Robertson.......................27.08
6. Bridgeman.......................24.13
7. Winters..........................23.17
8. McGlocklin.......................20.90

Source: databasebasketball.com

So why isn't #10 in the rafters already?

So, Dandridge was a key contributor to the greatest teams in Bucks history. And his production numbers in a Bucks uniform were better than every player amongst the Bucks already retired numbers except Abdul-Jabbar and Lanier (consider also: in his two Bucks' seasons after Kareem left the team, his Eff48 was 30.18 -- HUGE numbers for a small forward). Yet he remains dissed. Why?

I think its political. He defected to the Washington Bullets in 1977 (where he won two more conference championships and one more World Championship). I don't think he's been forgiven for that (even though he did come back to the Bucks in '81 -- way past his prime and just for a cup of coffee).

Its time to forgive and remember. Free Bobby D! Put #10 up where it belongs... in the rafters of the BC.

Correction: My original post very unjustly slighted the great Oscar Robertson. I originally hastily calculated his Eff48 numbers in a Bucks uniform as seventh best among the list considered at 20.76. A recalculation on my fingers, toes, and an abicus shows I was way off and his actual numbers are the far superior numbers now listed. All of the other numbers have been double-checked and are accurate.