Strange Botwin
05-03-2011, 10:49 AM
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2011/05/03/buck-harvey-life-of-mitchell-obscured-greatness/
Buck Harvey: Life of Mitchell: Obscured greatness
Most wait to say these things, but there’s no reason to.
Mike Mitchell deserves to hear them now. He deserves to hear what was lost in transition from franchise to franchise, and in translation from America to Italy.
He deserves to hear he was one of the best basketball players San Antonio has seen.
Because he was, and because he hasn’t heard that enough.
Mitchell is 55 years old now. He has some good days, but mostly bad ones. His wife, Diana, says he rarely leaves his bed in San Antonio, comforted by hospice care and family.
His 6-foot-7 body has betrayed him, when it had always been a reliable ally. No current Spur has the combination of power and touch that Mitchell had.
He had a booming laugh and a jump shot to match, and both were there in his first years in Cleveland. He was an All-Star then, and his impact on that franchise was never clearer than in 2005, about a quarter century after he left.
“I was watching a Cavaliers game on the TV in San Antonio,” Mitchell said a few years ago. “And they asked a trivia question about the team’s season scoring record that LeBron James was about to break. The answer was me.”
Little wonder Stan Albeck argued for the 1981 midseason trade that brought Mitchell to San Antonio. Mitchell showed what was possible shortly after arriving, with 45 points in a triple-overtime win.
Even then, his greatness was obscured. George Gervin had 50.
The next season, he was on the cover of the media guide with Gervin, who is in the Hall of Fame, and Artis Gilmore, who will be this fall. That spring, when the Spurs lost a playoff series to the Lakers in six games, Mitchell was the one who led the Spurs in scoring in four of them.
Two years later, he was the Spurs’ scoring leader, breaking Gervin’s string. By then, the Spurs were heading downward, though, as were Mitchell and Gervin.
Both would eventually beat their substance issues, and both became models of recovery. Mitchell would get so far past this that, even after beginning a career in Italy, he came back as few ever have. The Spurs signed him for the playoffs in David Robinson’s rookie season.
That resulted in an NBA oddity. Mitchell never played a minute in the 1989-90 regular season, yet appeared in as many playoff games (four) as DeJuan Blair did this spring.
Mitchell was 34 years old at the time, yet just beginning. Mitchell would head back to Europe, where the one-game-a-week schedule saved his knees. Along the way, he became comfortable speaking Italian, and the same relentless friendliness he showed in San Antonio worked there, too.
“Mike is and always will be loved over here,” Flavio Tranquillo, an Italian television analyst, said Monday. “He embraced our culture, food, contradictions and all.”
Mitchell never embraced the European theatrics, however. According to Diana, his Italian teams always wanted him to shed his workmanlike attitude and put on more of a show.
“He tried,” she said, laughing, “but that wasn’t him.”
Mitchell was good enough the way he was. He had to play center at the end of his career because of limited mobility. “But he could still dominate a game,” Tranquillo said, “with his charisma and his uncanny ability to score.”
Mitchell kept returning, year after year. His last season in Italy was, coincidentally, the first for a skinny kid named Manu Ginobili.
Still, this part of his career took place an ocean away, and he was as hidden then as he was behind Gervin to South Texas. Mitchell’s career ranks better than at least two Spurs who have had their jersey number retired, but how many in San Antonio know that?
In all, Mitchell played professional basketball for 22 years. And when he finally retired, then in his mid-40s, it wasn’t because he had to.
“I think I could play a lot more, maybe two years or even 20,” Mitchell said later. “Sometimes in life, you need to make a change and invest more in your family.”
He came back to San Antonio and did just that. He’s worked with at-risk kids in conjunction with Bexar County and the San Antonio Independent School District, while his wife is currently a director at Alpha Home.
Mitchell occasionally played charity golf tournaments, and he sometimes made appearances at various Spurs functions. But he lived as he played, quietly going about his business.
Then came November of 2009, when he went to see a doctor because of neck and shoulder pain. The diagnosis was staggering — he has an unusual form of lung cancer, one that takes place outside the lining of the lungs.
Treatments followed, as did moments of hope. But the cancer returned last September. Now, at this stage, he needs assistance to stand.
When the pain medication doesn’t overwhelm him, he can be awake and alert. He was last week, when he and his family stayed up to watch the Spurs.
So, during these times of clarity, he deserves to hear a few things, about how he played, and how his basketball career is remembered.
There’s no reason to wait for that.
Buck Harvey: Life of Mitchell: Obscured greatness
Most wait to say these things, but there’s no reason to.
Mike Mitchell deserves to hear them now. He deserves to hear what was lost in transition from franchise to franchise, and in translation from America to Italy.
He deserves to hear he was one of the best basketball players San Antonio has seen.
Because he was, and because he hasn’t heard that enough.
Mitchell is 55 years old now. He has some good days, but mostly bad ones. His wife, Diana, says he rarely leaves his bed in San Antonio, comforted by hospice care and family.
His 6-foot-7 body has betrayed him, when it had always been a reliable ally. No current Spur has the combination of power and touch that Mitchell had.
He had a booming laugh and a jump shot to match, and both were there in his first years in Cleveland. He was an All-Star then, and his impact on that franchise was never clearer than in 2005, about a quarter century after he left.
“I was watching a Cavaliers game on the TV in San Antonio,” Mitchell said a few years ago. “And they asked a trivia question about the team’s season scoring record that LeBron James was about to break. The answer was me.”
Little wonder Stan Albeck argued for the 1981 midseason trade that brought Mitchell to San Antonio. Mitchell showed what was possible shortly after arriving, with 45 points in a triple-overtime win.
Even then, his greatness was obscured. George Gervin had 50.
The next season, he was on the cover of the media guide with Gervin, who is in the Hall of Fame, and Artis Gilmore, who will be this fall. That spring, when the Spurs lost a playoff series to the Lakers in six games, Mitchell was the one who led the Spurs in scoring in four of them.
Two years later, he was the Spurs’ scoring leader, breaking Gervin’s string. By then, the Spurs were heading downward, though, as were Mitchell and Gervin.
Both would eventually beat their substance issues, and both became models of recovery. Mitchell would get so far past this that, even after beginning a career in Italy, he came back as few ever have. The Spurs signed him for the playoffs in David Robinson’s rookie season.
That resulted in an NBA oddity. Mitchell never played a minute in the 1989-90 regular season, yet appeared in as many playoff games (four) as DeJuan Blair did this spring.
Mitchell was 34 years old at the time, yet just beginning. Mitchell would head back to Europe, where the one-game-a-week schedule saved his knees. Along the way, he became comfortable speaking Italian, and the same relentless friendliness he showed in San Antonio worked there, too.
“Mike is and always will be loved over here,” Flavio Tranquillo, an Italian television analyst, said Monday. “He embraced our culture, food, contradictions and all.”
Mitchell never embraced the European theatrics, however. According to Diana, his Italian teams always wanted him to shed his workmanlike attitude and put on more of a show.
“He tried,” she said, laughing, “but that wasn’t him.”
Mitchell was good enough the way he was. He had to play center at the end of his career because of limited mobility. “But he could still dominate a game,” Tranquillo said, “with his charisma and his uncanny ability to score.”
Mitchell kept returning, year after year. His last season in Italy was, coincidentally, the first for a skinny kid named Manu Ginobili.
Still, this part of his career took place an ocean away, and he was as hidden then as he was behind Gervin to South Texas. Mitchell’s career ranks better than at least two Spurs who have had their jersey number retired, but how many in San Antonio know that?
In all, Mitchell played professional basketball for 22 years. And when he finally retired, then in his mid-40s, it wasn’t because he had to.
“I think I could play a lot more, maybe two years or even 20,” Mitchell said later. “Sometimes in life, you need to make a change and invest more in your family.”
He came back to San Antonio and did just that. He’s worked with at-risk kids in conjunction with Bexar County and the San Antonio Independent School District, while his wife is currently a director at Alpha Home.
Mitchell occasionally played charity golf tournaments, and he sometimes made appearances at various Spurs functions. But he lived as he played, quietly going about his business.
Then came November of 2009, when he went to see a doctor because of neck and shoulder pain. The diagnosis was staggering — he has an unusual form of lung cancer, one that takes place outside the lining of the lungs.
Treatments followed, as did moments of hope. But the cancer returned last September. Now, at this stage, he needs assistance to stand.
When the pain medication doesn’t overwhelm him, he can be awake and alert. He was last week, when he and his family stayed up to watch the Spurs.
So, during these times of clarity, he deserves to hear a few things, about how he played, and how his basketball career is remembered.
There’s no reason to wait for that.