Robertson (1958-60), a member of the College, FIBA and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fames, scored 2,973 points in just 88 games as a Bearcat (freshmen were not yet eligible) for a 33.8 points-per-game average that ranks third in NCAA history. If you start missing those shots and you don’t make the adjustment and start doing some other things, you’re going to be in trouble.Story Links CINCINNATI - University of Cincinnati icon Oscar Robertson has built a transcendent legacy, and it was further confirmed this week with his naming to the NBA's 75th-anniversary team. If you can shoot 3-point shots and you can win the basketball game, it’s great. If you have 3-point shooters and they don’t make those shots, “That’s it, Coach.” The name of the game is to outscore your opponents. I’ve always said this: 3-point shots are like 7-footers used to be - they can get a coach fired. Long-distance shooting has taken over the modern game. He can really shoot the basketball from far out. Curry is probably one of the finest shooters ever, but so is Lillard. There are so many great basketball players - including the kid out of Portland: Lillard. I like to watch a lot of players, really. Who else do you enjoy watching in today’s N.B.A.? It seems now that what’s happening in basketball, and I haven’t seen it happen in football yet, is players will get together and say, “Let’s go and play for this team so we can win.” Years ago, you wouldn’t have thought of doing that. Look at Brooklyn: Who could have done this years ago? How things have changed. You need to get with the right group of players. Players don’t win championships by themselves. I think he’s one of the elite guards in basketball, and I think it’s ridiculous that some sportswriters criticize him because he has not won a championship. I guess they thought that when he went to Washington that he would not be that effective, but, man, he’s done a tremendous job.Īnd you’re rooting for him to break your record for career triple-doubles? They’ve moved him around to different teams and I don’t know why, because I think he’s one of the star guards in basketball. Is it accurate to classify you as a Russell Westbrook fan? For us to win, we’ve got to get the other players to make a contribution offensively. When I went to Milwaukee, I assessed my situation, and I’ll never forget, I told my wife, “I’m not going to be the scorer I was in Cincinnati.” And she said, “Why?” I told her I have to get these other players involved in the game. I just did not want them to try to destroy my credibility and what I had done for the city of Cincinnati.
But they wanted to trade Oscar Robertson. I just resented the fact that the Cincinnati basketball family felt that I hadn’t done anything in 10 years, and all I had done was make All-Pro 10 straight years. When you look back, how jarring was it to be traded from Cincinnati to Milwaukee in 1970? A lot of the teams I played for, they didn’t want to do that. Red Auerbach was very astute at getting older starters from other teams to play off the bench for him. If you look back through the history of basketball - and I always tell people this - every team that’s won a championship has made key trades. I was with Cincinnati for many years, but we never made any notable trades to get better players. I think this happens with great basketball players, like Westbrook and myself. What do you remember about the years before you won a championship with Milwaukee? Westbrook gets a lot of criticism because he hasn’t been part of a championship team in the N.B.A., and I imagine you faced something similar during your time in Cincinnati.
Did you personally look at those numbers with any added reverence? career, you averaged a triple-double (30.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 10.6 assists). Over the first five seasons of your N.B.A. It wasn’t thought of until they went back into the archives and saw what I had done. There wasn’t much publicity associated with it. In those days, they focused on scoring and the blocking of shots. So if they didn’t call them triple-doubles, what did people say about your big statistical performances? This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. In a phone interview with The New York Times, Robertson, 82, said he was rooting for Westbrook to do so and discussed the criticism that he, like Westbrook, faced in his Royals days until he teamed up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Milwaukee to lead the Bucks to their only championship, in 1971. Westbrook has amassed 178 triple-doubles in his career and, with seven games left on Washington’s schedule entering Wednesday’s play, has a chance to surpass Robertson this season.