A Blast From the Team’s Past

MINNEAPOLIS â€”  Sid Hartman, columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, has been around since the days of the Minneapolis Lakers.

As a matter of fact, as that team’s general manager, he helped form the NBA’s first dynasty, a team that won five NBA championships.

So he should be happy that the Lakers are planning on raising two banners at Staples Center on April 11 when the Lakers again play the Minnesota Timberwolves, one to represent the five titles, the others to honor the five Hall of Famers and the Hall of Fame coach on those teams.

The five players are George Mikan, Vern Mikkelsen, Clyde Lovellette, Jim Pollard and Slater Martin, The coach is John Kundla.

Instead, Hartman is angry is took so long for the recognition to come.

“Out there, they think they’re bigger than everybody else,� Hartman said.

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Hartman says the Laker move west in 1960 probably wouldn’t have happened if management had followed his advice in 1956.

At that point, Hartman and a lot of others felt the next superstar was going to be Bill Russell from the University of San Francisco.

“If we would have finished last that season,� Hartman said, “we would have drafted Russell and, with that team, we wouldn’t have left here.�

Hartman decided trading Mikkelsen would be enough to sink the Lakers.

So he worked out a deal with the Boston Celtics, Mikkelsen in exchange for the rights to three Kentucky players--Cliff Hagan, Frank Ramsey and Lou Tsiropoulas.

But at the last minute, Celtic owner Walter Brown wanted out of the deal and Ben Berger, who outranked Hartman, agreed to kill the trade.

Hartman was so incensed he quit.

And, of course, Boston wound up with Russell.

Russell playing with Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. Think of the possibilities.

Talking about the acquisition of backup center Marc Jackson last week from the Golden State Warriors at the trading deadline, Minnesota guard Wally Szczerbiak had nothing but nice things to say about Jackson ... and nothing but scorn for the Warriors.

“He plays the game the way it should be played,� Szczerbiak told the Star Tribune. “I never heard anyone talk more on defense and on offense ....He’s not built for a bunch of clowns like they’ve got out at Golden State. He needs to play with players who know how to play.�

That would be good bulletin-board material for most teams. But considering the Warriors had won only 15 of 54 games before beating Denver on Wednesday night, they have a lot more to worry about than Wally Szczerbiak.