MICHAEL YOUNG - 101 Greats of European Basketball

Michael
Young
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A one-man team
It is more than true that basketball is a collective
sport and it’s impossible for a single player to win
a game or a trophy by himself. That’s why it is an exaggeration
to say that Limoges won the 1993 Euroleague
thanks only to Michael Young. However, it’s
nothing but the truth that the French champ would
never have gotten the club’s biggest success without
him. That year in Athens, one of the biggest miracles
in the competition took place. There had been many
surprises in one game, even in the finals, but never
before did a humble team that everybody discarded
as a contender for the crown manage to surprise game
after game all the way to the trophy ceremony.
This story has a pre-story, as Boza Maljkovic, the
technical master and a four-time Euroleague champ
with three teams – Jugoplastika, Limoges and Panathinaikos
– told me long after:
“I think it was the summer of 1989. Jugoplastika,
already the European champ, played several tourneys
in Spain. In Cuenca we faced Valladolid. There was a
left-handed shooting guard that hurt us badly throughout
the game. There was no stopping him. I tried with big
men and small men. They all played tough against him,
but he was just unstoppable. He finished the game with
something like 35 points. It was the first time I ever saw
Michael Young, and his great game was imprinted on
my mind. Since then, I followed his career and when he
became a free agent in the summer of 1992, I asked the
Limoges directors, the team I had been coaching since
January 1 of that year, to sign him no matter the cost.”
Said and done.
From Manila to the top of Europe
Michael Young, who was born on January 2, 1961,
in Houston, arrived in Limoges at 30 years old, after
having lived many different experiences in basketball.
Having played at his hometown Houston University
and missing the NCAA title on a buzzer-beater, he was
drafted in 1984 by the Boston Celtics but immediately
traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. The following two
years, Young hardly touched an NBA floor, but played
a lot in the Continental Basketball Association with the
Detroit Spirits, averaging 26.8 points. Tired of waiting
for a real chance, he moved to Manila in the Philippines.
From Manila he landed in Spain for Valladolid, where
he also shined with 23.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per
game. Midway through the season, he was signed by
Udine in Italy where, in 21 games, he put up 24 points
on average. For the 1989-90 season, he was back to the
NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers, for whom he scored
4.9 per game. But he returned to Europe to played two
seasons in Italy with Panasonic Reggio Calabria for impressive
figures: 34.0 and 27.4 points per game. That’s
when Boza Maljkovic came in.
After a traumatic departure from Barcelona and
several offers, Coach Maljkovic decided to choose Limoges
midway through the 1991-92 season. He won
the French League and started to prepare the team
for the Euroleague. First of all, he did a major clean-up,
retaining only Richard Dacoury – who had been considering
retirement – on the roster. Young arrived to the
roster together with Jure Zdovc, Frederic Forte, Jimmy
Verove, Willie Redden, Jim Bilba... Despite this rebuilding
– or perhaps because of it – nobody bet on Limoges
for the title, especially after the team’s discreet start in
a preliminary round.
The French champion was unable to beat the Guild-
101 greats of european basketball
Michael Young
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Vladimir Stankovic
ford Kings of England in their first game, which ended
in a 72-72 tie, although at home Limoges was better
(71-57) and advanced to the eighth-finals group.
There, the team finished second at 7-5 behind PAOK
Thessaloniki (8-4), but ahead of Scavolini Pesaro (also
7-5), Knorr Bologna and Joventut Badalona (6-6),
Cibona Zagreb (5-7) and Maccabi Tel Aviv (3-9). In the
quarterfinals, in three close games, Limoges got rid
of Olympiacos. After losing 70-67 in Greece, Limoges
won at home 59-53 and 60-58. Michael Young shined:
35 points against Maccabi, 31 and 30 against Joventut,
27 against Cibona, 26 against Scavolini... But in
the first game against Olympiacos, he scored just 8
points, his worst mark of the season and his only one
below 10 points. However, at home, he repaid the
Reds with interest: 20 points in Game 2 and 30 in the
decisive third and final game.
Two miracles in Athens
Limoges had a ticket to Athens, home of the Final
Four that year, but competing against Real Madrid,
Benetton Treviso and PAOK, its chances of success
were completely discarded. In the semifinals, Limoges
surprised Benetton 59-55 with brilliant defense plus
18 points and 7 rebounds by Young. Toni Kukoc was
playing his fourth Final Four but it was the first time he
lost a game in the tournament. Terry Teagle, an NBA
alum, scored 19 points for Benetton, but his shooting
was not perfect. Despite that victory, Limoges was considered
an outsider also against Real Madrid in the title
game. Madrid had Arvydas Sabonis, Chechu Biriukov,
Antonio Martin, Ismael Santos, Jose Lasa, Jose Miguel
Antunez, Ricky Brown...an imposing lineup that was a
heavy favorite. But the final result was 62-52 for the
“miners” – as Maljkovic used to call his players for their
hard-working nature. And it was, until then, the biggest
upset ever in a Euroleague title game.
Many people criticized the Limoges playing style,
with its slow tempo and ball control, but Maljkovic
simply applied one of the basic theories of this sport:
you have to adapt the system to the players you have
at your disposal. His team was not made to score 100
points, to run or to score on fastbreaks. They were a
team made for defense, for working for every point,
and for giving the ball to Michael Young. In the title
game, he scored 20 of his team’s 62 points and pulled
down 7 rebounds. That was more than enough to be
chosen MVP of the 1993 Final Four in Athens. After so
much suffering and being underestimated, Young had
his recognition at the highest level.
“He was a great player who devoted 100 percent of
his attention to three things: family, basketball and fishing,”
Maljkovic remembered. “When he set foot in the
opponent’s half of the court, he was already a threat.
He was a great shooter, but also a rebounder, and one
of the best players and men I ever coached in my career.
He is the only player for whom, when our collaboration
ended, I bought him a gold coin. He still keeps it and
showed it to me when we went to Limoges to celebrate
the 20th anniversary of the title we won.”
Young stayed with Limoges for two more seasons
and also played in the 1995 Final Four in Zaragoza, but
his biggest moment was in 1993 in Athens. His French
League averages in 1994 and 1995 were 23.5 and 20.1
points, respectively, with almost 5 rebounds per game.
In the EuroLeague, his personal record is the 47 points
he poured in against Benetton on December 9, 1994.
After Limoges, he played one season in Lyon (27.4
points) and was back to Italy, but to the second division
(Fabriano, 22.8 points). In 1998, he put an end to his
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Michael Young
great career in Maccabi Givat Shmuel of Israel, scoring
25.8 points at 37 years old! In Italy, his overall average
was 27.4 points, in Spain 23.5, and in France he also
averaged more than 20 points over three years. In his
golden season, 1992-93, he put up 20.9 points, 6.7 rebounds
and 1.9 assists in the EuroLeague for Limoges.
A one-man team: if it could be said about anybody,
it’s Michael Young.
101 greats of european basketball
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