Arvydas Sabonis: The Original Unicorn
From the 1950s through the 1970s, basketball was dominated by the philosophy of building your team around a dominant center. George Mikan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were the centerpieces of that era’s best teams. As the 1980s and 1990s came along, the game shifted toward perimeter players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, yet, centers remained a key cog for some of the best teams of those decades: Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson and Shaquille O’Neal had their teams in the championship mix for most of that period.
With the new millennium came a new strategy that took about 10 years to perfect. The idea was to have the best of both worlds: big men who could just as easily score near the basket or make plays on the perimeter. While the NBA had seen perimeter-oriented bigs, they rarely were seen making plays at the rim; a modern comparison would be Channing Frye.
As the number of traditional back-to-the-basket big men dwindle, the NBA is experiencing a renaissance of bigs who play like the forwards and guards of yesteryear. Kristaps Porzingis, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns, and most recently Nikola Jokic are do-everything players who are just as comfortable operating around the arc as they are in the paint.
Antetokounmpo is a “freak” in every sense of the word, recalibrating expectations for what we think 6’11’’ players should be able to do. But he’s not really a center, as the aforementioned can be at least part of the time.
Jokic, on the other hand, is very much a real center. He’s often shown a more well-rounded game than other centers with his ability to shoot, pass and rebound. He’s regularly racking up triple-doubles and runs the Denver offense when he’s on the floor. In every sense of the word, Jokic is a “unicorn,” the rare, mythical beast that proves invaluable, if you can find one; a true big man who can do it all on offense while adding value on defense is what every team desires, but not many ever obtain.
The word “unicorn” as a basketball term is fairly new, coming on strong only in the last few years and leading many to believe that the concept is new to the sport. But nearly 40 years ago, basketball had its first true “unicorn” behind the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain, doing most of his work outside the sight and minds of many basketball fans.
Arvydas Sabonis was born in 1964 in Kaunas Lithuania, which at the time was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR. Sabonis picked up basketball at the age of 13, and his size and skill allowed him to make the USSR Junior National Team by age 15. This began a run of international success that very few players can match, but also kept Sabonis away from the NBA and ultimately contributed to his physical breakdown.
As Sabonis came to prominence for the USSR in the 1980s, the world was on edge with Americans and Russians embroiled in the later stages of the Cold War. While the 80s weren’t as contentious as the 60s and 70s with regular “duck-and-cover” nuclear bomb drills, the threat of nuclear war between the world’s two superpowers still hung in the air. Terms like “red” and “commie” were thrown about regularly in the U.S., and similar sentiments were shared in the USSR about Americans. No matter where you live, national pride is a hell of a drug.
“Russia” became an overarching term for the massive empire that dominated large swaths of Asia and Eastern Europe. Little was taught or shared about the individual countries that made up the USSR. By many, they were dismissed as one massive and evil entity under the same red flag with a golden hammer and sickle and red star in the corner. As a kid of the 80s, you knew that flag as the one Nikolai Volkoff (who isn’t even Russian and actually hailed from Croatia) waved in the ring before facing Hulk Hogan, who hit the ring to chants of “USA! USA! USA!” It was the ultimate matchup of good vs. evil, boiled down to its most concentrated form of two gladiators battling it out. And the USA won every time, repped by Hogan… because “good” always triumphs over “evil.” Unless, of course, you like Game of Thrones. But that’s a whole ‘nother column.
In the world of sports, as opposed to the world of sports entertainment, the Russians were every bit as much the bad guys as they were in the wrestling ring. In the 1972 Olympic gold medal game, the United States had the gold stolen from them in one of sports’, not just basketball’s, most controversial endings. The Soviets were given three chances at the final play, after a series of notorious decisions by the officials, and won the gold on the third try. The United States players were so angered and distraught by the outcome that they chose not to accept the silver medals and still have not claimed them to this day. Doug Collins, who buried what should have been the winning free throws, says the loss still causes him great pain to this day.
In 1980, the United States refused to even take part in the Olympics being held in Moscow, Russia. The Soviets returned the favor in 1984 and boycotted the Los Angeles Olympic Games. The next time the United States and the USSR would meet in a basketball game of significance would be the 1988 Olympic Games. And this time, the Soviets had a weapon unlike any the world had ever seen.
While the U.S. and USSR avoided each other in international competition, Sabonis was becoming a basketball savant, despite toiling in relative obscurity. Debuting in 1981 as a 16-year-old for his hometown team Žalgiris in Kaunas, he immediately showed promise. By 1982 he was part of Soviet Union national team that barnstormed across the United States playing against several college teams. This was to be America’s first look at Sabonis, but far from the last.
He led Žalgiris to three straight Soviet League titles between 1985 and 1987, unseating CSKA Moscow who, at the time, were essentially the Boston Celtics of the Soviet League for how many championships they racked up.
His run through the U.S. in 1982, combined with dominance in the Soviet League and on the international level, resulted in Sabonis being drafted in the NBA not once, but twice. The first time was by the Atlanta Hawks in 1985, but the pick was ruled illegal because Sabonis had not yet turned 21 at the time of the draft. The following year, the Portland Trail Blazers jumped on Sabonis with the 24th pick. Unfortunately it would be a decade fraught with injury and mismanagement before anyone would see Sabonis play in the NBA.
From 1985–1988, the Soviet Union national basketball team did pretty much whatever they could to win games, and this ultimately changed Sabonis’ fate forever. He was given almost no time off between his Soviet League obligations and playing for the Soviet national team. Some have speculated it was because USSR leadership were Russians, and Sabonis is Lithuanian. Alexander Gomelsky was the coach of both the Soviet national team and CSKA Moscow at this time, the same team that Sabonis-led Žalgiris had knocked off their perch as the dominant club in the Soviet League. This conflict of interest had Gomelsky willing to sacrifice his star player to win on the international level, while also helping his interests at home with his club team.
Despite everything, Sabonis had a level of respect for Gomelsky for what he did for him as a basketball player. Gomelsky allowed Sabonis the freedom to be the player he was and didn’t confine him to being giant who was only allowed to play in the post. Their relationship was certainly complex, with stories of Gomelsky collecting money for keeping Sabonis in the Soviet Union and away from the NBA and suggesting Sabonis’ family would be in danger if he went to the United States. As with most things, the truth probably lies somewhere in between.
In the spring of 1986, Sabonis tore his Achilles’ tendon after playing almost non-stop for the last five years. He was still pressed into service for the FIBA Club World Cup in 1986, leading his team to the title. That was followed by another Soviet League title in 1987, then dropping the title back to CSKA Moscow in 1988. That spring Sabonis underwent further surgery and rehab on his Achilles’ under the watchful eyes of the Portland Trail Blazers medical staff, who had high hopes he would be allowed to join the NBA in the near future. A mere four months later, the Soviet team, led by Gomelsky, pronounced Sabonis fit to play in the 1988 Olympic Games starting in September. Sabonis would never be the same.
Before the injuries, Sabonis was a player with size and skill that had never been seen before. Bill Walton called Sabonis “a 7’3’’ Larry Bird because of his shooting range, passing ability and court vision and mentality to dominate games.” Sabonis was indeed 7’3’’, not some pumped-up number invented by the Soviets to make him seem more intimidating a la Ivan Drago. Unlike Drago, Sabonis wasn’t created in a lab using questionable methods. Sabonis was basketball’s first unicorn; and there hasn’t been anyone quite like him since.
Despite his height and relatively large frame, Sabonis could do it all. He was regularly the lead ball handler for both club and country. He was a gifted shooter, with almost unlimited range. He would regularly pull up in transition from well behind the arc and let it fly, similar to Steph Curry today, if he were a foot taller. And the passing. Oh, the passing. Even physically diminished, 90s NBA fans were blessed to witness Sabonis’ passing skills at their zenith as he regularly flashed them while with the Portland Trail Blazers.
But in the 80s, it was as if Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had grown five inches and were rolled into one. Sabonis not only attempted, but completed passes that only Bird and Johnson were trying at the time.
On defense, he used his size and quickness to dominate around the basket. He was a ferocious shot blocker, who loved chasedown blocks against unwitting opponents. He could also rebound better than anyone in the world at the time and thoroughly controlled the glass. The basketball world had never seen anything like it. The highlights below scarcely do him justice:
In 1988, despite being rushed back from the second Achilles’ surgery, Sabonis led the Soviet Union to Olympic gold, this time without controversy. In the semifinals, Sabonis went up against future NBA superstar David Robinson and put up 13 points and 13 rebounds, while clearly limping around on one leg. Then he proceeded to lead the Soviets over Yugoslavia in the gold medal game.
He was a hero for a national team that was never quite his own, and that had used him for their own agenda. His body was already breaking down as his NBA dreams still seemed as distant as ever.
In 1989, with the USSR showing signs of crumbling, the Soviet powers that be relented and allowed their top players to leave the Soviet League and sign with other clubs. Sabonis’ countryman Šarūnas Marčiulionis signed with the Golden State Warriors and was an immediate success, averaging 12 points per game in his rookie year. Sabonis, too proud to come over to the premier basketball league in the world until he felt physically ready, instead went to Spain. He first played for Valladolid, before moving on to Real Madrid. While with Real Madrid, Sabonis won two Spanish League titles and the EuroLeague championship in 1995. In between, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Sabonis took up the mantle of leading the Lithuanian national team at the 1992 Olympics. While most remember the 1992 Olympics for giving us The Dream Team, as NBA players were allowed to suit up for Team USA for the first time, Lithuania acquitted themselves quite well. Despite being given only two years to come together as a team, they took home the bronze medal behind the unbeatable United States and an upstart Croatia team.
That bronze medal match was against none other than the Unified Team, which was made up of several athletes from the now defunct Soviet Union. This win was especially important given the contentious history between the two groups on both a political and an athletic level, and that Lithuania had fallen to the Unified Team earlier in competition. Basketball-crazed Lithuania finally had some glory to call their own and Sabonis led the charge with 26 points and 16 rebounds. Sabonis famously said, “The medal in Seoul (in 1988 with the USSR) was gold, but this bronze is our soul.”
Following Olympic glory, Sabonis joined up with Real Madrid, but his NBA yearnings never waned. The Portland Trail Blazers were just as eager to get him stateside. Throughout the spring and into the summer of 1995, the Blazers and Sabonis kept dialogue open. Bob Whitsitt, the Trail Blazers’ General Manager, recalled that Sabonis underwent extensive medical testing due to his long injury history. The team doctors reported back that “Arvydas could qualify for handicapped parking based on his X-rays alone.” Despite the news, the Blazers were compelled to find out whether the player they had coveted for over a decade could compete in the NBA. They signed him to a contract with the faith that his supreme skill would overcome over any lingering injuries.
Sabonis was an immediate success. Despite being on bad wheels due to decades of overuse and poor treatment for his knees, ankles, and back — all related to his Achilles’ injury — he would make the 1996 All-Rookie team at the age of 31. A part-time starter in his first NBA season, he would go on to start at center Portland for the next five seasons. During this stretch, Sabonis never averaged less than 10 points per game. He topped out in the 1997–1998 season averaging 16 points, 10 rebounds and three assists per game. Sabonis did all of this while lugging himself up and down the court as a corpulent shell of his former self. Sabonis’ Blazers teams were very successful, losing twice in the Western Conference Finals, first to the eventual champions San Antonio Spurs in 1999, and then in a heartbreaking Game 7 collapse to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000.
Following a brief retirement from the NBA to return home to Lithuania, he returned to Portland for one final run as a productive backup center. He then closed out his illustrious career where it all began, logging one final season with Žalgiris. Throughout his entire NBA run, he would flash the unicorn skills he showed throughout the 80s and early 90s. There were big dunks, amazing passes, huge blocks, long range shooting, and some of the smartest basketball you’ve ever seen. Sabas, as he is affectionately called, was the leader of some very good Blazers teams, and Sabonis always played the era’s most physically-dominant players well, taking 11 of 21 regular season matchups from Shaquille O’Neal. As far as measuring sticks go, that’s a pretty good one.
As a sports fan, one thing you have to get comfortable with is the concept of “What if?” The history of athletics is littered with enough “What if?” scenarios to fill a lifetime. The “What if?” of Arvydas Sabonis is right up there with the most debated in NBA history. Clyde Drexler, who missed playing with Sabonis in Portland by one season, believes that the Trail Blazers “would have won four to six titles with Sabonis. He was that good. He could pass, shoot threes, had a great post game and dominated the paint. Guaranteed.” ESPN’s David Thorpe, who has several years of coaching experience, believes Sabonis might have been a top four center in NBA history and regarded as the best passing big man of all-time. Former NBA coach George Karl, who left Real Madrid the year before Sabonis arrived, would tell executives, scouts, and coaches who came to Europe, “I know you are here for (Toni) Kukoc, but Sabonis is the guy you want. Kukoc can play, but Sabonis is a winner.”
Sabonis’ own legacy in the NBA is just as strong today as it was when he retired. His son Domantas is a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and has started every game his team has played as of publication. Domantas lacks his dad’s overwhelming size and athleticism, but emulates his father with a deft shooting touch and feel for the game.
Beyond his son, Sabonis’ real gift to the game is the concept of a basketball unicorn. Prior to Sabonis, big men were supposed to play close to the basket and leave the shooting and ball handling to the guards. At 7’3’’, Sabonis changed everything. Seemingly in an instant, big men could do everything they could do before and so much more.
Without Sabonis, big men might not have ventured beyond the paint when they did, certainly not past the foul line for jumpers. Coaches may not have employed them as the centerpiece of the offense from the high post and directed them to rip and run with rebounds and create offense on the fly.
Unicorns are rare, mythical beasts found only in the most remote of environs. The NBA is currently blessed with several who fit the bill. But someone had to be first. Someone had to lead the way. Would basketball unicorns have found their way to the NBA eventually? Yes; but Sabonis ushered in the Unicorn era more quickly than it would have come otherwise. And we’re all the better for it.
