Good old “chocolate thunder.” Darryl Dawkins shattered two different backboards in the NBA, but that wasn’t even close to being his best highlights. Dawkins spent his first seven years with the Sixers before they traded him away.
Dawkins career got off to a slow start, but he was years ahead of some players, as he didn’t play any college basketball. He was a player who needed development, but after he did develop, he was great. It took two years of riding the bench, but he finally hit 11.7 points per game in his third season, and found a stride even better throughout the prime of his career, nearing 15 points in a few seasons, and getting 16.8 in 1984.
In 12 different years, Dawkins shot with great accuracy, over 50%. In 1981 he did over 60% from the field, better than Shaquille O’Neal ever shot from the free throw line in all but one season.
Dawkins unfortunately didn’t get a chance to win a title in the playoffs, although he played in several title games. The Sixers and Dawkins always seemed to fall short.
Darryl was a very funky guy, and a very likable personality. In today’s media centered world, I think he would have done well. If there was Twitter when he was around, I’m willing to bet he would have been even more popular. His nickname, “Chocolate Thunder,” shows he was a fun one.
After breaking a backboard the first time, he called this signature dunk the, “Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam.” Only a few days later, he showed off this dunk again, breaking another backboard. He forced the league to ban these, and intact a fine any time a player did so.
Also, according to Wikipedia, Dawkins used to claim he was an alien from “Lovetron,” where he spent his off times. His girlfriend allegedly lived on this planet.
Next: No. 5