A player so Ledell-icious
Sunday, September 2, 2007
August was Mediocre Month at We Rite Goode...where in the spirit of things, we were only devoting two weeks to celebrating lousiness. And sure, the month's over, but what's the point of being mediocre if we actually followed through on time? Here's another of the awful-yet-great athletes who made us grin or, more likely, groan.
Ledell.
Ledell Eackles.
We assure you--it's a real name.
But try saying it five times fast. Ledell Eackles Ledell Eackles LedellEackles Ledellckles Ledeckles.
It gets better every time, really.As offense off the bench, the late '80s/early '90s Detroit Pistons had "The Microwave," Vinnie Johnson. The Washington Bullets had a 240 lb., 6'5 shooting guard who was never in shape, frequently disinterested in defense, and missed more practice than Allen Iverson.
(In a related story, those Pistons teams won championships, while the Bullets couldn't even win the lottery).
Eackles wasn't a total chump. Fans loved that he was a 2nd round pick from a small college (New Orleans) who made good, not to mention his ability to score in bunches; in just 23 mpg, Eackles put up about 13 ppg his first four years in the league. Although, the scoring numbers are a bit deceptive--it's easy to score on a bad team, and those Bullets were truly awful (across those four years, their win total consecutively declined from 40 to 31 to 30 to 25). Basketball-Reference.com is a better, deeper gauge of Eackles' playing career; his PER was a wonderfully blah 13.8 and his list of comparable players reads like a roster of all-time mediocre players: Harold Miner, Terry Teagle, and Luscious Harris.
What was best about the young Eackles was his complete lack of hesitation in putting shots up. In his second season ('89-'90), Ledell made the league's top 10 for "usage rate," which is the basketball stat measuring how many of a team's posessions a player uses--either by taking a shot, turning the ball over, or getting to the foul line--per 40 minutes. Basically, how much a player hogs a ball.
Ledell's usage rate that year: 29.5.
(To compare to current players for perspective, that's about the same usage rate as LeBron James last season, and a higher rate than Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Iverson, Dirk Nowitzki...the list of all-stars goes on. A list that Eackles doesn't quite belong on.)
After that initial run with the Bullets--which included a hilariously overblown contract holdout, where Eackles and his agent asked for a higher annual salary than Larry Bird, Karl Malone, or even Clyde Drexler, and the Bullets basically told him he could sit out a year instead--Eackles hopped in and out of the league, later becoming more of a three-point specialist before fading into Bolivian.
However, the name lives on: A Ledell Eackles, Jr. just wrapped his college career, although at 5'9", appears less likely than his pa to make the L.So why did we love Ledell so? The name? The game? Nah...probably the name.
Plus, there was a charming ignorance about the ex-Juco. Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum has a great story from his book :07 Seconds or Less; apparently, when Eackles played for the Miami Heat, he tried to fire up the team during a meeting by walking to the whiteboard and writing, "No Your roll." Glen Rice replied, "Sit down, dumbass."
We'd love to leave you with an Eackles highlights package--as he goes on a scoring, or more likely, a pancakes binge--but video is, unsurprisingly, tough to find. So instead, here's a vintage Michael Jordan scoring 51 on the hapless Bullets of '92. Eackles (#21) actually had a decent game that night (28 pts), but his only YouTube appearances come when being a) scored upon and b) hoisting the last shot of the game (a half-court miss).
For us, though...these precious few seconds are enough to bring back a lifetime of memories. Godspeed, Ledell Eackles. Tonight, we will eat four hamburgers in your honor.
Labels: Ledell Eackles, mediocrity, Michael Jordan, Washington Wizards
posted by Crucifictorious @ 18:30,
5 Comments:
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At September 3, 2007 11:50 AM,
Jarrett Carter said...
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Wow. I haven't even thought about Ledell Eackles in years.
Bob McCann and Jim McIlvaine exhale. -
At September 3, 2007 11:52 AM,
Jarrett Carter said...
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Oh, and welcome to the blogroll. Your blog is sharp, and I look forward to reading it daily.
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At September 11, 2007 5:40 PM,
said...
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This was a public service. Thanks!
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At February 28, 2008 11:03 PM,
Chad said...
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I was a big fan of Ledell's in college. I followed New Orleans as best I could in the days before any team's stats and scores were available readily. I actually have a VHS of a New Orleans game during Eackles' senior year taped off ESPN. He was pretty darn amazing in college. The point guard on that team was Gabe Corchiani - NC State point guard Chris Corchiani's brother. Ledell even led them to a 1st round NCAA tournament win over BYU.
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At February 28, 2008 11:04 PM,
Chad said...
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I was a big fan of Ledell's in college. I followed New Orleans as best I could in the days before any team's stats and scores were available readily. I actually have a VHS of a New Orleans game during Eackles' senior year taped off ESPN. He was pretty darn amazing in college. The point guard on that team was Gabe Corchiani - NC State point guard Chris Corchiani's brother. Ledell even led them to a 1st round NCAA tournament win over BYU.
