For all of his skills that made him a four-time All-Star, what most people remember about Alvin Robertson was his aggression and toughness. When renowned enforcer Charles Oakley named him as the one person he’d want by his side in any situation, it spoke volumes about the reputation the former All-NBA Team member and Defensive Player of the Year forged during his playing career.
However, for all the skirmishes Robertson was involved in, the craziest incident occurred away from the cameras and the spotlight. According to former NBA big man Olden Polynice, this incident occurred in November 1993 during his tenure with the Detroit Pistons, when the team’s director of player personnel, Billy McKinney, confronted him about his lingering back injury.
Robertson lost it
Robertson was one of the most underrated players of the 1980s. Blessed with an ability to get buckets and lock down the opposing team’s best perimeter players, he amassed numerous citations during his 10-year career, including the Most Improved Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards in 1986.
However, his career was marked by injuries and off-the-court controversies, including the one with the Pistons during the 1992-93 campaign.
“So apparently, they called Alvin over to tell him they were going to suspend him for whatever reasons,” Polynice shared on “Byron Scott’s Fast Break.” “That man started choking Billy McKinney — and I mean literally choking the GM. I’m watching the light — like if it were an animation — you could see the little angel floating about right here, leaving his body.”
Aside from his defensive ability, one thing Robertson was renowned for was his strength. And as strong as Polynice was, even he couldn’t get the guard to release the Pistons executive from his grip.
“He was choking him out, choking the living life out of him like this. I’m watching this and I run over to try and pull Alvin’s arms off, and I couldn’t do it,” Olden narrated. “So I had to get behind him, put him in a full nelson, and grab him off. And all you see is blood running down Billy’s neck.”
For his actions, Robertson was handed an indefinite suspension by the Pistons. A few weeks later, he was traded to the Denver Nuggets.
“It was a split-second when I lost my cool,” Robertson said for the Los Angeles Times. “And that split-second is going to get me more media attention than I have had for the last two years, so certainly I regret the incident.”
Why weren’t these things publicized?
Comparing the NBA’s media landscape then and now is like comparing night to day. These days, if anyone so much as argued in practice, a million and one reports would be made about it. According to former head coach Byron Scott, this wasn’t the case a few decades ago. For one, teams adhered to an unspoken code about keeping things in-house.
As a matter of fact, Scott recalled how Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson fought in practice but didn’t make a big deal about it. He remembered being in his office with his staff when he heard a commotion out on the floor.
“I look at Aaron Williams — his lip is busted. Because I can’t remember if it was Kenyon who swung and missed and hit him, or if it was Richard who swung, but I know it started with Kenyon. He jumped on Richard about something after the game, and they got into it,” Scott revealed.
Had that happened today, the media would have jumped all over it while some parties would undoubtedly try to secure footage of the incident ala the Draymond Green-Jordan Poole fight. However, that wasn’t the case back then. B-Scott spoke to both players, asked Margin to apologize and that was the end of it.
“He said, ‘You’re right, coach, you’re right.’ So I brought him in that night before, and Kenyon apologized and everything was cool,” Scott concluded.
In-team fights happen more often than fans think. After all, with these grown men battling one another daily, it’s inevitable that tempers will flare. However, as Scott alluded to, the key was to acknowledge the situation, resolve it and move on.
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