Teams I really Miss – Leopards

This feature will, over the coming months cover all of my favourite teams, but where do I start. I could begin with the Manchester Giants – probably my favourite team of all time, certainly the team I always supported when they were around.

Or I could begin with the Sheffield Sharks team with Terrell Myers, Todd Cauthorn etc or maybe even the Birmingham Bullets team with Tony Dorsey, Nigel Lloyd, Fab Flournoy and Clive Allen…WOW!

And what about the Chester Jets team with Billy Singleton, John McCord and Pero Cameron? Or how about the one with Pero Cameron, Lauren Myer and James Hamilton?

It could have been any of those teams.

But no! The team I probably miss more than any other is the Billy Mims, London Leopards outfit with Eric Burks, John White, Tim Davis and Robert Youngblood.

I had been watching basketball in the UK for a number of years and I must have seen hundreds of players in that time but Billy Mims recruited one of the best outfits ever.

They say basketball is the ultimate team game and getting the mix of players right, in my opinion, is more crucial in Basketball, than in any other sport.

Starting with the back court, Eric Burks was one of the most exciting and dynamic players ever to have played in this country.

His explosive drives to the basket, his awsome passing and his control of the game was truly a joy to see. His 31 point performance to lead the Leopards to their second sussessive Budweiser League title was magnificent. It was a tough game and Coach Billy Mims end of game comment still rings in the ears, “we refused to lose”. In 1998 Billy Mims was the Budweiser League Coach of the year while Eric Burks was voted Player of the Year. A clean sweep for the Leopards. But good as Eric Burks was he could not do it on his own.

Next to him was John White, and awesome shooter of a basketball if there ever was one. The three point line was never far away enough from the basket to cause John a problem. If John White had the ball in his hand it was probably a money shot.

Mind you there isn’t a shot yet invented that John White didn’t think he could make…no matter how difficult.

In the 97/98 season the Leopards would end up with 2 players in the top three, point scorers in the country. Eric Burks was second with almost 26 a game while John White was third with 25. (Tony Dorsey of the Bullets was number 1).

Next up was Robert Youngblood …what a player. Perhaps best described by coach Mims as, “a warrior who played through injury and always brought pride and intensity to the table” This, in my opinion, is truly an all star player.

Although I love the NBA I have never understood how players as good as ‘Blood didn’t make t there. He had it all, an awesome rebounder, he could run the floor and when in the paint boy could he finish! In my opinion he was pretty unstoppable! He did like to get into it with the officials but he knew how to play the game of basketball.

His back to the basket moves and fadeaways were always a joy to see. Other players in the all conquering Leopards over those couple of seasons include Ronnie Baker, Tim Davis, Makeba Perry, Ryan Cuff and others.

I will pay tribute to Billy Mims elswhere on this site in the future but he had a simple formula, “Play hard and entertain”. Billy Mims and his Leopards played hard and they entertained and nobody could ever take that away from them. Over those two years I must have made at least 10 trips (400 miles each) to the London Arena just to see those guys play……they were that good.

Mike SHAFT

Footnote – The All Star team for 1998 was Eric Burks, Tony Dorsey, John McCord, John White, Nigel Lloyd, Danny Lewis, Ted Berry, Leon McGee and John Amaechi

The Player of the Year was Eric Burks and the Coach of the Year was Billy Mims