It is painful how quickly things change in the NBA. He will no longer be paid by the Suns, and the multimillion-dollar contract he signed is null and void. He had turned himself in.Īnd now, after missing a full season, the NBA has announced that Dumas is once again suspended. Not too many months later, Dumas was back in drug rehabilitation. And everyone thought his life was, too.īut it was in Chicago that the reports started coming in that Dumas was seen drinking by himself in a bar near the team's hotel. With Scottie Pippen guarding him, Dumas made 12 of 14 shots and finished with 25 points in a game that kept the Suns' chances alive for that fateful sixth game here at America West Arena. Almost everything went right.ĭo you remember the last time Dumas got significant playing time? You have a short memory if you can forget his performance in the fifth game of the 1993 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls. It was Barkley's first year in a Suns uniform. So Colangelo reluctantly approved hiring Dumas.Īnd then, after watching Dumas play, Colangelo became enthusiastic, too.ĭumas arrived at just the right time. Paul Westphal, the Suns coach, and Lionel Hollins, his assistant, had gone to bat for him with Jerry Colangelo. He went on to play in the CBA, a minor basketball league, awaiting his chance. Dumas went to Israel to play, but the Gulf War shut down the pro league in which he was playing. Then he missed his first season with the Suns after testing positive for drugs and was suspended. It was drugs that had forced him to leave Oklahoma State after only two years. In his own mind, Dumas was under a cloud because he had a drug problem. Within weeks, Dumas was being compared to Julius Erving and Connie Hawkins, two of the game's all-time great players. Players in the NBA don't often succeed in making moves like that against players of A.C.'s caliber. Green.ĭumas faked Green and dribbled right around him to the basket and put the ball in the hole. The first time he stepped onto the court, it was against the Los Angeles Lakers, and he was guarded by A.C. He wasn't producing and showed no sign that he cared.īut Dumas was playing at that time for the minimum $140,000 per year, and wherever he went, he drew attention. He hurt his hand in a car-door accident and didn't show up for work. Mustaf reached the Suns in a complicated deal that saw Xavier McDaniel, a big-time player, go to the New York Knicks. Mustaf was six feet ten inches tall and could run the floor and rebound. Jerrod Mustaf was another you could count on to be early, too. His value to the team was much greater than his scoring average. Frank was like another coach on the floor. When it came time for someone to tell Charles he was out of line, it was Frank Johnson who did the job. He was also Charles Barkley's friend and running mate. He was hanging on because he knew so much more about the game than any of the kids. "Fourth-Quarter Frank," as the radio announcers called him, was already in his mid-30s. Watching Johnson warm up was almost an education in pregame preparation. He was a mere six feet tall and seemed to have muscles on muscles. Maybe Big Oliver was there trying to burn off the huge amounts of calories he had consumed during the day. Oliver Miller was always out on the court early, too. Most of the time, he stood under the basket and threw the ball back out for the shooters. Another who came early was the player they called "Big Daddy," better known as Mark West. He moved slowly in warm-up, like a big cat. Sometimes, after a particularly good move, Dumas would allow himself to smile.Ĭedric Ceballos would be there on the floor, too. When he drove to the hoop to stuff the ball, he was as smooth as glass. When Dumas took jumpers from outside, his accuracy was high. But after a while, his drug problems prompted team officials to request that he leave.ĭumas was six feet seven inches tall, but he moved more quickly than players much smaller. No matter where he went, his basketball skills made him welcome. Dumas' adult years had been full of trouble that was of his own making. It was as though he was astonished to be in America West Arena as a member of the Phoenix Suns, then the hottest team in the National Basketball Association. He was always one of the first players out of the dressing room. An hour before the game started, Richard Dumas was out on the court, chewing gum and blowing gingerly on his hands to warm them up.
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