It's turning into a good year for the American Basketball Association.
It has been 50 years since the ABA stopped bouncing its red, white and blue basketball in order to complete a merger with the National Basketball Association. Earlier this year, Amazon Prime started showing a good-sized documentary on the ABA, complete with rare video clips that few have ever seen before.
Joining that project in 2026 has been a new book about two of the biggest names in the ABA. It's called "Moses and the Doctor." If you don't know the full names of those two guys, this book might not be for you. Come to think of it, you probably even aren't on the correct website.
Luke Epplin's second book is somewhat split into three interwoven portions - two of them essentially short biographies. Julius Erving probably remains the face of the ABA, even though he spent more years in the NBA. "Doctor J," as he was known by everyone, might have been the last of the legends in basketball. He came up through the University of Massachusetts in an era when every college basketball game wasn't on television. He left early to join the ABA, which didn't receive a great deal of attention either from the TV networks.
So you had to go to see a game to watch The Doctor operate, which was something of a chore. However, it probably was worth the effort. Erving was something of a descendant of Elgin Baylor, who took a relatively earth-bound game and took it to the air. Erving more or less perfected it, turning basketball into artistry in a sense. When the two leagues merged in 1976, Dr. J ended up with the Philadelphia 76ers - and people in the rest of the country couldn't wait to see him.
The other title character was a great player too, but in an entirely different way than Erving. Moses Malone didn't even bother to go to college, as he had his heart set on turning pro right out of high school. The Utah Stars allowed him to do that. Malone immediately showed that he was a tremendous rebounder even at the pro level - a machine who gobbled up loose balls like no one had ever played the game.
Malone bounced around in his career - including a week's long stay in Buffalo with the Braves (it still hurts hoop fans in Buffalo to think about that episode) - before landing in Houston. There he became the league's Most Valuable Player. Malone was so good that the Rockets couldn't really afford to keep him at that point.
That brings us to the third part of the story, the 76ers. Their history was often the story of "good but not good enough." Many times the Boston Celtics were in their way, and that team was a little bit better most of the time. Philadelphia piled up some painful playoff losses in the 1970s and 1980s with Erving around, and it was easy to wonder if the team would ever reach the mountaintop.
Then Moses arrived in Philadelphia to lead the Sixers to the Promised Land (you knew that was coming). Philadelphia had a terrific team in 1982-83, dominating the regular season and then only losing a total of one game in three playoff series to win the championship. It was essentially the first and only time that a couple of the ABA's best were the main parts of an NBA championship. The combination of Erving and Malone were worth noting because they were such different players. Erving brought his ABA grace to dazzle onlookers, while Malone could have brought a hard hat and lunch pail to work - thus fitting in with the NBA stereotype of substance over style.
What might not be remembered about this group is that its fame was fleeting. Erving's flame was starting to flicker at that point thanks to age, and Malone's body also soon started to rebel against the heavy, year-round workload. The 76ers were good but never contender-good for the next few years as the pieces scattered, which they always do eventually. The subtitle of the book is "Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball." It's difficult to make the case for that last part, even if it was a heck of a one-year ride.
Epplin's first book, "Our Team," was a terrific look back at the Cleveland Indians of the late 1940s as they helped usher integration into baseball. The author is back here with a slightly less compelling premise for a book, but he still does a fine job of putting the pieces together. Plenty of research went into this, and there are guaranteed to be some stories here you've never heard.
"Moses and the Doctor" captures a particular era of NBA history quite nicely. It brings the story of two greats and their time apart and together back from the past, and delivers it in an easy-to-read manner. The target audience immediately responded once this was published, as it was on the New York Times best-seller list.
Four stars
Learn more about this book from Amazon.com. (As an Amazon affiliate, I earn money from qualifying purchases.)
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