So last week I was flipping through old NBA footage, right? Kept seeing this #2 dude from the 90s locking people up like a damn prison guard. Everybody kept shouting “Plastic Man!” announcers lost their minds every time he stole the ball. Had ZERO clue who he was.
Step 1: The Rabbit Hole
Started googling “Plastic Man NBA 90s defender”. Google spit out “Stacy Augmon”. Thought maybe some random bench guy til I dug deeper. Stats shocked me:
- Played 15 whole seasons?! Survived that Jordan era??
- Drafted 9th overall in ’91 – higher than I thought
- Olympic gold medalist in ’88 with college legends
Step 2: Witnessing the Defense
Found full game footage on this basketball archive. Watching him guard prime Dominique Wilkins in practice… holy smokes. Stacy MOVED like liquid:
- Sliding feet sideways crazy fast before you blink
- Arms always poking at passing lanes like damn tentacles
- That lean body twisting mid-air to tip rebounds
Teammates called him “Full-Court Nuisance” cause he’d start harassing you at the inbound pass. Total gawddamn pest.
Step 3: Untold Stories
Read oral histories from Hawks training camps. Veterans talked how coaches forced rookies to go 1-on-1 with Augmon:
- If you scored, you made the roster
- Most guys got stripped clean 10 times straight
- One guy reportedly quit basketball after summer league
Found his old UNLV coach saying Stacy would practice steals by snatching flies out the air with chopsticks. Believed that 💯 after seeing tape.
The Revelation
Never won flashy awards but every contender wanted him. Why? He murdered opponent momentum stone-cold. That game where Pacers were up 20? Augmon subbed in, ripped Reggie Miller twice, dunked on Rik Smits. Crowd went silent. Momentum switched instantly. Dude was a human circuit-breaker.
Spent all weekend watching his clips till my eyeballs hurt. Still pissed we don’t talk about defenders like him today. Changed my pickup game too – been practicing tip-drills with cooking tongs. Workin’ on becoming a backyard Plastic Man.
