“When the season opened and Dave called the starting team and he didn’t call me, I was hurt. And then I had much more to prove. I think I was the outstanding player on the team, in the exhibition season, and there was not a thought in my mind that I wasn’t gonna be the starting guard.” Bing suspects that DeBusschere’s friendships with his teammates interfered with his decision-making and judgment. “He was very close to Tommy Van Arsdale,” says Bing. “Because they were friends, I think it was tough for him to make a decision to say, ‘Tom, you’re not gonna start anymore. Dave’s gonna start.’”