Kevin Stacom: Providence College's Greatest Forwards
Kevin Stacom, Sports Analyst
Kevin Stacom: Providence College's Greatest Forwards
This week is the 2nd of 3 installments rating the top 5 players of each position that have ever played basketball at Providence College. Last week, I presented the top 5 centers; this week is the top 5 forwards, and next week, hopefully, the top 5 guards.
As mentioned last week, there’s a lot of subjectivity involved, and I’m under no illusion that my opinion, which seeks to distill and evaluate from such a wide expanse of time and changes within the game, is anywhere near infallible. As also mentioned last week, these lists are probably best judged as starting points for lively barroom discussions.
In the age of analytics, of course statistics bring their own weight. I also should disclose that besides the value of the player’s college career, I do include the level of success in a multi-year NBA career as validation of their talent and basketball skill level.
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Top 5 forwards:
The object of the game is to put the ball in the basket, so it seemed only right to include the player who scored the most total points in the history of the school, somewhere in the top 5. Ryan scored 2,138 points over his 4-year career at PC and also finished 7th all-time in rebounds at the school. He had a stellar senior year at Providence, averaging 21.6 points and 8.2 rebounds/game. He made 1st team Big East honors his junior and senior years. His sneaky quickness and strength, combined with his instincts for the game, made him a tough matchup on both ends of the floor.
I remember watching him play and thinking he’d be a guy you’d want on your team back in the playground when you had to win to stay on the court - he would be on your back quick on the offensive glass if you didn’t make an effort to block him out (all-time leading offensive rebounder at PC for a career, 387)
Gomes is from Waterbury, Connecticut, and somehow escaped the clutches of Jim Calhoun during the midst of his Championship years.
I can almost hear some cranky guys my age saying that some of the more prodigious stat guys that matriculated prior to 1973 only had three years to compile their numbers (Walker, Marvin, Ernie), but there have been a lot of excellent players since then that had the same chance and their numbers still stand.
Ryan was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the 2nd round and had a very productive NBA career averaging double figures for 4 out of 7 years, playing for Boston, Minnesota, and the LA Clippers.
I admit I’m partial to players like Eric. Another guy like Gomes, who had great overall instincts for the game. He played consistently hard, knew how to play, could score in a number of ways, and had a knack for being in the right place at the right time; he had a Newark toughness about him and fit easily in the category of a great chemistry guy who could help you win in a number of ways. He was a major contributor on a very talented Rick Barnes team in 1995 that won the Big East title.
His senior year, he averaged 17.7 points and 6.7 rebounds/ game, garnering 1st Team All-Big East honors.
The best confirmation of his talent and savvy for the game is the fact that he enjoyed one of the longest and most productive NBA careers of any player from Providence College. He was the Boston Celtics 1st round pick in 1995 (14th overall), and played 13 years for Boston, Denver, Toronto, and New Jersey.
I told you this was a subjective process, but despite that fact, I could put up a very spirited defense of this selection. Mike entered PC in the same class (‘63-‘64) as the legendary Jimmy Walker and fellow high recruit Dexter Westbrook. In those days, there were freshman teams, and that group went undefeated for the season. Part of the oral history is the team went out and bought a monogrammed watch for their coach Dave Gavitt to commemorate their undefeated season before they even played the last game. Their confidence was justified. The following year (1964-1965) that group went on to one of the greatest runs in the school's history, going 24 and 2, losing to a surprising Princeton team in the Elite Eight - Bill Bradley went berserk well before the 3-point shot era, scoring 58 points on 22 for 29 from the field and 14 for 15 from the line.
Mike had a very solid career, especially his senior year, averaging 14 points and 8.6 rebounds/game. After graduating PC in 67 and being drafted by the Knicks in the 12th round, Joe Mullaney advised Mike that it would be best for him to begin pursuing a career in teaching utilizing his newly minted degree in history. But Riordan had other plans. He came back to his old high school in Flushing, Queens and began working out with our team in addition to playing in the Eastern League in Wilkes-Barre, PA on weekends, I was happy as a bench-warming high school player to feed him shots and did drills with him after practice. It paid dividends for me a few years later when I needed a place to play, and Mike arranged for me through his old freshman coach, Dave Gavitt, to get to Providence.
Through his tenacity, work ethic, and physical toughness, Riordan was able to carve out one of the more successful NBA careers of any PC player. He played nine seasons between the Knicks and Washington Bullets, including a championship with the Knicks, where he gained almost cult status, paying his dues by being inserted into the game for the purpose, at the time, utilizing the “strategic foul.” After being traded to the Bullets in ‘72, Riordan’s playing time increased along with his production, averaging double figures with his best year comic in ‘73 when he averaged 18.1 points and 5.2 assists/game, in addition to being named 2nd team NBA all-defensive team behind only John Havlicek at his position. I remember after one game when we played against them, Havliceck saying “Man, that guy plays me tougher than anybody in this league.” Quite a compliment. Mike inspired both Ernie D and myself with his example of the hard work necessary and the mental toughness required if you had any intention of aspiring to be an NBA player. It was something we both appreciated.
Michael Smith shares a lot of the same qualities as those mentioned in the previous three selections. He was a single-minded, physical competitor with a great nose for the ball. This aspect of his talent and attitude was documented by him being the 1st player ever to win three consecutive Big East rebounding titles.
He also set a record for Big East career rebound average (11.67). In his senior year, Michael averaged 12.9 points/game along with 11.5 rebounds/game leading Providence to their 1st ever Big East Tournament Championship, He was also named Most Outstanding Player for that tournament. The year before (‘93), Smith set and still holds the school record for offensive rebounds in a season (143), Again, he’s one of those guys you want on your team if you have to hold court or go home after losing because there’s about 30 guys waiting to play the winner when the game is over.
Smith was drafted in the 2nd round with the 35th pick by the Sacramento Kings and played eight full seasons between them, Vancouver, and the Washington Wizards. He became a very valuable role player for those teams, averaging well over 20 minutes a game and a very productive rebound per minute guy, along with being a go-to defender. He also, for that position (PF), was a good decision maker, approaching an almost 2 to assist to turnover ratio for most of his career. In college and the pros he had a great reputation as a hard worker and a great teammate.
Ladontae completes this list as another competitive Swiss Army knife, all-purpose scorer. It was just hard to keep a guy off the list who is the 2nd leading scorer in terms of total points scored in school history behind only Ryan Gomes- 2059 points between the years 2011-2015.
In his senior year, he averaged 19.7 points and 6.5 rebounds/ game.
When you look up all the school records, his name starts popping up everywhere. He became the second Providence player ever to score more than 2,000 points and have more than 1,000 rebounds in a career, so besides being the second-leading scorer in school history, he’s fifth on the all-time leading rebounder list. If that’s not enough, he is by far the all-time leader in minutes played for a career—4,909 minutes, a full 595 minutes ahead of second-place Bryce Cotton.
He piles on with being ranked # 1 all-time for career games started - 134, and is # 3 all-time with career games played - 135. Henton was Coach Ed Cooley’s 1st recruit in 2011, and he was a key factor in leading those early Cooley teams to 3 post-season tournaments - 1 NIT and 2 NCAA and also a Big East title in 2014.
In his senior year, Ladontae led the Big East in scoring (19.7) and also in conference play (20.1). He also earned 1st team Big East honors.
His career was a compendium of consistency, production, and winning competitiveness. Those qualities will serve him well as he followed his old coach to continue his coaching career at Georgetown this year.