101 Greats of European Basketball

The Ice Man
Searching data to refresh my memories
about Wendell Alexis (July 31, 1964,
New York), I found the video of the final
minutes of the fifth game in the Italian
League final series of 1989. On May 27,
Enichem Livorno and Philips Milan, the
European champ the previous year at the first Final
Four in Ghent, played for the title.
In the four previous games, Livorno – who had
home-court advantage – won the first one with 39
points by Alexis; Milan won Games 2 and 3; and then
Livorno tied it again with a win in Game 4, setting up the
fifth, decisive battle. With 20 seconds to go, Milan was
winning by a point and had possession. Mike D’Antoni
held the ball for about five seconds and passed the ball
to Roberto Premier, who took the shot and missed. In
the resulting fastbreak for Livorno, Andrea Forti scored
for an 87-86 win. The small gym in Livorno exploded. It
was collective madness.
The court was invaded by fans and the title was celebrated
in between great euphoria and public incidents,
including an aggression against Premier. The hero of
that game was Wendell Alexis, with 33 points... but it
was the most short-lived title of his career. The referees
looked at video of the game’s last play in the locker
room and decided that the last basket had been scored
after the buzzer. So the title ended up in the hands of
Milan, which had encountered a tough opponent in
humble Livorno, thanks to the superb Alexis.
That’s just one chapter in the long and successful
career of Wendell Alexis, one of the best Americans
who ever played in Europe. I wouldn’t dare make a selection
of the best 12 Americans ever in Europe, but I
am sure Alexis would be a serious candidate for the
forward position. Standing at 2.04 meters, he was a
versatile player. He normally played power forward,
but he was also a good shooter and it was not unusual
to see him move to small forward or even shooting
guard. He was a complete player, made for offense.
His thing was scoring points, but he also pulled rebounds
and, thanks to his long arms, could also play
great defense.
First stop, Valladolid
The Golden State Warriors picked Alexis in the
1986 NBA draft with the 59th pick (one before Drazen
Petrovic), but then did European basketball a big favor
by not including him on the roster for that season. He
had finished his university career at Syracuse with
great numbers and, logically, he was expecting his
chance in the NBA. But it just didn’t arrive. Like many
before him, Alexis then tried his luck on the other
side of the Atlantic Ocean. He was signed by Forum
Valladolid in Spain, a humble team on paper, albeit
one that would also sign Arvydas Sabonis three years
later, in 1989. Only two games were needed to see
that Forum had signed a star in Alexis. He would finish
that first season averaging 18.2 points and recording
a personal best of 44 points against Clesa Ferrol (89-
86), a game in which he played 40 minutes and made
19 of 26 two-pointers. Then, on July 14, 1987, Real
Madrid announced the signing of Alexis. He was the
third addition for the club that summer, after Jose Luis
Llorente and Fernando Martin, who was coming back
to Madrid from the NBA.
Lolo Sainz, the legendary player and later coach of
Wendell Alexis
101 greats of european basketball
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