Alan Tanabe is our greatest native-born scoring guard,
who shot out the lights vs. #1 UNLV 1976, highest-scoring game in 2 pt. era, game ball at Naismith HoF.
Tanabe's 2 strengths were his fearless ferocity &
anticipation, in that he wasn't blessed w/Tabuse's speed/quickness. Despite Tabuse's zip-quick flex, Tanabe a much better floor catalyst/creative force
to get a higher % shot, no matter who takes the shot. But above all, Tanabe's 6th sense/anticipation [uncanny foreordination] tops Tanabe over Tabuse any day of the week. T & T our Nikkei [Japanese ethnicity] measuring rods, but Tanabe way more valuable to team than Tabuse. Unquestionably. Ia Saipaia is prep hoops greatest shooting guard, w/Ah Chew Goo born 1918 still sharp as tack as playmaker. Goo is featured in NY Times Bk. Review [most revered source]as genesis of Pete Maravich, whose dad Press was paralyzed by Goo's cross-leg dribble [90 degree cut either way that breaks dribbler's ankles if not practiced to eternity]. Kriegel's bk. on Pistol is incorrect, in that Pistol never mastered Goo's cross leg dribble. No NBA player ever executed Goo's 90 degree cut cross-leg dribble. None. Tanabe really came into his own in college, which is why Tanabe is a greater scoring guard than Low.
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Alan Tanabe born 1956 vs. Yuta Tabuse born 1980
(66 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Huh???
Posted 1 year ago # -
what the hell is this Curt?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks Curt for sharing your insight about the ballers from the past. I couldn't agree with you more. My best player from the past was Pistol Pete.
Hey PV, this thread pretty much shows how much you don't know.Posted 1 year ago # -
curt must be pretty old
going back to 1918Posted 1 year ago # -
Curt, I agree w/ you 100% about Alan Tanabe. I saw Alan Tanabe school everyone he played against from local's best to college players at their prime, and Alan was already in his 30's. In his prime no one could stop him in the whole state, he was a scoring machine, better than anyone I have seen.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I was12 yrs old when i first kept score for mens basketball tournaments and learned very quickly not to write big numbers in scorebook for alan tanabe. I played and seen him in action and heard lots of stories about him from around the state and they will only be 1 A.T
Posted 1 year ago # -
Alan Tanabe had an almost demented ability to will the spin of the ball into the hole off the top of the backboard/glass. Like an invisible divining rod. --Curt
Posted 1 year ago # -
As much of a scorer Alan was i never did see him score a point with he's left hand. Back in the late 70's and the entire 80's people came to see this guy perform and he did not disappoint any of them.
Posted 1 year ago # -
As Alan evoked in rebuking naysayers who questioned his left hand, Alan didn't have to employ ambidexterity, which he would've had to do in today's game [zip-quick AAASA attack patterns]. Alan would've had no problem adapting to today's game. All great players adapt to the situation/climate. Thank you for your keen/brilliant observation, 96720. Aloha, --Curt
Posted 12 months ago # -
The 70's and 80's produced much better players then now, and the competition was unbelievable back then. So i will say Alan would have a field day if he was playing in this generation, so i will again agree with you Curt
Posted 12 months ago # -
I know Brew personally. May I ask 96720 if 96720 knows Brew? I ask to brainstorm with 96720. Does 96720 know how to contact Brew? I do not know who is 96720. Other emailers spoke of a chat room tonite at 8 pm? Please direct me to it. Thank you, --Curt
Posted 12 months ago # -
Curt my Hoops Brother,
All can I respond to your tales of Alan would be to ask if you ever got the chance to see Derrick play? Most of us are going on your word on Alan's playing ability, and we have no reason not to believe you.
That's why comaparing palyers from the past and present is so subjective since there is no equal body of work. We all think Derrick is the best, because he was better than any other player we have seen over the past 10 years.
So once again, did you ever see him play and what was your evaluation?Posted 12 months ago # -
Hi backpick: Thank you for your questions. Yes, I saw Derrick Low play & Derrick is the consummate team-first player. I've spoken with Bill O'Rear, who helped Derrick on free throw success. Bill is among the great college free-throw shooters. Derrick is on the same level as Steve Alford, a great playmaker/floor leader in college but a step too slow as a pro. Of course, anticipation/originality make up for cement feet. Derrick has good anticipation but no originality. Derrick is standard stock like Alford. Steve Nash is a quick pro with great anticipation and originality. John Stockton was a quick pro with great anticipation but not much originality, in that he complemented Karl Malone by feeding the ball to Malone. Now to Alan Tanabe. Tanabe is not quick like Ah Chew Goo/Wat Misaka/Yuta Tabuse/Frankie Gonzales. What Tanabe has are great anticipation & originality to make up for his lack of speed of light. Tanabe also has deceptive/understated defensive skills. Not only is he great as a ball thief, he also disrupts the playmaker with his smart nuances a la Ah Chew Goo [twitch of the shoulder to distract the dribbler/etc.]. It's all about team chemistry. Derrick Low complements well Ah Chew Goo on an alltime Haw'n Islands squad, not just prep but after prep career, because Low is the prototype shooting guard [though Low had clunker streaks in college], whereas Ah Chew is the nonpareil/peerless playmaker/passer. Alan Tanabe would not complement well Ah Chew Goo because both Tanabe/Goo are slashing penetrators, as is Bruce Ferreira. Low is the match guard for Goo. Overall, Tanabe ignites a scoring frenzy. Tanabe's demented shot selection wills the spin of the ball off the top of the glass/backboard
into the hole. Essentially, Tanabe is the hoops equivalent of baseball's best-ever all around player Ty Cobb, who got more votes than Babe Ruth on enshrinement into Cooperstown. Derrick Low is the analog of Ted Williams, who just was not demented/original/creative like Ty Cobb. Williams was no Ty Cobb among the panel of experts who compared the 2 legends. Thus, Tanabe has the confidence of his fellow players to make miracles happen, because Tanabe is that demented/peerless a player. Low doesn't have this quality/magic. Tanabe is a better player than Low. But still, no one beats Ah Chew Goo. No one. Thank you, --CurtPosted 12 months ago # -
Curt,
Great analysis, only debate would be your evaluation of Derrick's "Cement Feet". You my friend are what we call a "Combo Guard" Part-Obi One Kanobi, Part- Dick Vitale. Keep up the great work!Posted 12 months ago # -
Thank you for your kinds words, backpick. For Hawai`i standards, Derrick Low is quicksilver. But for NBA calibre, Derrick only fits well as a systems player a la Scott Skiles/Mark Price. Because of today's NBA multi-skilled play, where LeBron James handles the ball well & slashes to the hole for the high % shot, then gets back on defense as a great stopper, systems play is obsolete. Of course, if Derrick Low were blessed with Frankie Gonzales' agility/deft feints, Derrick would have a place in the NBA. Aloha, --Curt
Posted 12 months ago # -
Yuta Tabuse had straight-away speed but little imagination. He had passing skills but did not open the lanes for easy buckets by others or himself. Alan Tanabe is a world above Yuta Tabuse. Just watch one drive down the hardwood to the paint. The difference is glaring. In a sense, Tabuse's conventional game typifies his own conventional cognition. Japan subpar competition didn't help. On the other hand, Alan Tanabe's destiny was to upend the status quo, inasmuch Alan had to find a way to overcome adult size/strength when Alan started dribbling a basketball at age 2, yes, even before Alan had any memory retention capability [usually starting at age 6 or so]. No, Alan's dad was not obsessed with creating a hoops prodigy. Answer is that Alan's much older brothers [& even sister!] all excelled at hoops, w/oldest sib George being 14 yrs. older than Alan. Alan's brother Larry Tanabe born 1945, 11 yrs. older than Alan, was a star player for Hilo High/UH-Hilo. Thence, Alan's family background had everything to do with Alan's precocious development. Certainly, Yuta Tabuse was not blessed w/such good luck. And yet hoops came automatically to the Tanabe family. Hoops personified family togetherness, because the whole family played hoops with each other all the time as leisure/pasttime. Hoops symbolized love/affection/closeness/kinship. Thanks, --Curt
Posted 12 months ago # -
who cares
Posted 12 months ago # -
Alan Tanabe had great anticipation, per former Vulcan coach Jimmy Yagi. Yagi analyzed Tabuse for me as Yagi/I watched Tabuse play in person at the Hilo Civic. Straight-away speed is but one component in assessing a player's value to the team. Yes, Wataru Misaka, Utah All-American 1947, first Japanese to play in the incubator NBA, 5'7" though listed as 5'8", had Tabuse's straight-away speed & was more skilled at passing/screening/defense. But Misaka is outdone by marvelous Alan Tanabe, who could score off the top of the backboard like no other in history. Frankie Gonzales St. Louis High '67 had tremendous agility but would have had difficulty guarding Tanabe, especially on Tanabe's slashing moves to the hoop & Tanabe's scoring touch. Thank you, --Curt
Posted 11 months ago # -
Had the 3 point shot existed in Alan Tanabe's era, Tanabe would've scorched the net for mega-points. Derrick Low was blessed to utilize the 3 pointer, as was Yuta Tabuse. Tanabe was both an outside/inside
force of nature, so that if a defender timed right Tanabe's missile up the backboard/top of the glass, the defender could block Tanabe's vertical pulse. The problems for the defender were Tanabe's feints/ contortionist shot angles a la Kobe Bryant [who regularizes Michael Jordan's put-up from one hand to the other hand under the rim in mid-air]. And if the defender somehow throttled Tanabe in the paint, Tanabe simply would open up the middle via outside 3 pointers [didn't exist in Tanabe's era, & that is why I place Derrick Low above Tanabe as a pure shooter, though Derrick shot clunkers at times in college]. Thank you, --CurtPosted 11 months ago # -
Curt- In my opinion Alan was a pure shooter if needed to be. Derrick i considered to be a player that could do it all for a team. My definition of a pure shooter is someone like Steve alford, chris mullin or if you want to keep it home in hilo i would pick Richert Sanchez '85 grad from hilo high, younger brother of Rene Sanchez. Keep up the Good post Curt
Posted 11 months ago # -
Thank you, 96720 [Hilo zip code]. I still would like the honor of brainstorming with you, if you so allow. Please contact communicant Brew, who knows me, to email me for dialogue. Thank you so much for your insights & kindness of heart. I've just submitted for non-sports publication elsewhere a paragraph-long article on my hoops idol Neki Kaui Hilo High '63, whose life personifies the maturation timeline from hot-headed [though totally devoted to teammates/team] prep prima donna to our patron saint today, beloved by all. To me, Neki's epiphany materialized when Red Rocha's Fab Five came to Hilo to play Neki's Big Island All-stars nearly 4 decades ago. Later NBA 1st rd. draft pick Bob Nash gave Neki a sharp elbow on a ball possession. Neki immediately pursued to pile drive into Bob Nash, but turned away in a milli-second within an inch of Nash's jersey. As life's mysterious events played out over time, Neki metamorphosized into the most loving/kind-hearted/gentle/gracious silent disciple on the face of this Earth. Aloha always, --Curt
Posted 11 months ago # -
B-O-R-I-N-G!!!
Posted 11 months ago # -
Hi BlackJesus: Perhaps you will get more bored if I mail you Ah Chew Goo's newsclip collection. Nonetheless, I ask for the opportunity to demonstrate Ah Chew's unique contribution to hardwood hoops. Thank you for your feedback. If you're looking for an endorsement of Ah Chew Goo's place in hoops history, do you know UH coach Bob Nash? Ah Chew's son Vince Goo is disqualified for an opinion by reason of being flesh/blood to Ah Chew. Naismith Hall of Fame enshrinee John Bunn's assistant coach was Ah Chew acolyte Kiyo Hamakawa. Call Kiyo in Hilo at phone 935-2504. Kiyo born 1929 still looks like a 45 yr. old GQ Hollywood handsome cut of T-bone [terrific bone structure]. Abe Saperstein was so captured by Ah Chew's celestial style that Abe begged Ah Chew to play for Abe, inasmuch Abe's Globetrotters refused to guard Ah Chew Goo [knowing that Ah Chew's bags of tricks were peerless/unmatched]. Much aloha, --Curt
Posted 11 months ago # -
I just quipped on Honolulu as the genesis of our nation's major spectator sports at thread/topic titled "St. Louis High '67 our best-ever hoops squad." It's no surprise that Ah Chew Goo rears in the finest tradition of upending the status quo via Goo's imagination & creativity. Just as hoops daddy Luther Gulick Jr. had loving cognition to serve others, so does Goo live to serve others, at least in hoops. Blessings to Frankie Gonzales for being a real man after God's heart [Biblical]. Much mahalo, --Curt
Posted 11 months ago #
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