This 2m06 basketball player, however, was not particularly fast, nor athletic, nor powerful. But he shone at all levels, in the NCAA at Kentucky, in the ABA with the Kentucky Colonels or in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets.
When he retired in 1985, there were only four (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving and Moses Malone) to have scored more points than him (27,482) in the ABA/NBA. And since then, only Karl Malone, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Shaquille O'Neal, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant have surpassed him. That classifies a man…
An unusual game
The tireless Dan Issel had developed a very personal style since his time at Kentucky, far from the low post game required of the interiors of the time. He always seemed to be on the move, capable of taking his opponents out with his particularly precise mid-range shooting and his incessant cuts.
“I played this way to survive” he detailed a few years ago. “Coach Rupp (in Kentucky) started each training session with a half-hour shoot. There were no discussions, you just had to practice shooting. So I worked really hard on those jumpshots four or five yards from the circle. »
There was also this head feint which allowed him to drive away.
“It’s the worst fake in the history of basketball and it works every time”he joked about this funny head feint which mystified his defenders. “I can't believe they're all falling for this. »
Enough to average 22.6 points and 9.1 rebounds in 15 seasons, between ABA and NBA. Which also, thanks to the fact that he almost never missed a match, being the 13th best combined scorer in ABA/NBA history.
ABA champion in 1975, Dan Issel never had the same success in the NBA, where his Nuggets still reached the conference finals twice (1978 and 1985), beaten by the Sonics then the Lakers.
Quite small for the pivot position, he was aware of his limitations and knew how to maximize his abilities, finding his place by using his strengths. “That’s the position I played growing up.”he detailed. “I think I'm better as a center because I don't dribble well enough to go up the ball like most wingers do. And I also think I would have difficulty defending outside if I was a winger. »
Commentator, coach, president, GM…
Obviously, when he sees Nikola Jokic doing the most of his damage from the high post, in such a particular style compared to the other pivots, Dan Issel sees some connection with his successor in Denver.
It must be said that he did not mark the franchise only as a player, from 1975 to 1985. Because after retiring and developing a business in horse breeding, Dan Issel returned to the Rockies to commenting on Nuggets games between 1988 and 1992. Comments so relevant that the club's GM, Bernie Bickerstaff, offered him the coaching position in 1992, Denver becoming the first team ranked #8, in 1994, to win their first round against the #1 in the conference, Seattle.
However, he left his post during the following year, criticized for his style of play and while he explained “not liking the person he had become”.
This did not prevent him from returning to his long-time club one last time, in 1998, as president and GM. Quickly, he also took on the role of coach of a franchise that was adrift, in desperate search of a new owner. A little lost (and stuck) in the middle of it all, Dan Issel suffered a complete mutiny from his own group following a disastrous “road trip” and public criticism directed against his players, before resigning the following season, in 2001, after insulting a Mexican fan of the team.
Article originally published on October 25, 2020
