I wish I'd been able to watch more of him than just the clips we get now. Was he the best college player ever? 57pts per game?! One of my favorite movies
Kareem would be my pick with all the championships too. I saw him a couple of times at the MC. Very flashy with the handle, but so was jwill.
How many championships would pistol Pete have won if his team was scoring an extra 13 points per game? Just an interesting consideration... Kareem was absolutely incredible.
Maravich was years ahead of the game. God only knows how many points he would have averaged had the 3 point shoot existed back then (hell, even the dunk was illegal back in college then). He was doing things with the ball that are pretty ubiquitous these days, but Maravich is the guy who "invented" them.....or at least made them mainstream. I still remember either his junior or senior year, they were in the playoffs, they had a fast break going, Maravich was dribbling full tilt boogie down the floor. His teammate was leading the break but Maravich's defender was on him like a well fitting suit and had the passing lane blocked. Or so he thought......Maravich (again at full speed) passed the wall between his legs AND the defenders legs while both were in mid stride, hitting his teammate with a perfectly placed pass for an easy lay up. That shit just did not happen at ANY level of basketball back then. The crowd went crazy and the network must have replayed it a dozen times. Awesome stuff....at least to a 14 year old. He went #4 in one of the best NBA drafts of all time. Arguably (sorry Bob Lanier) he probably would have gone #1 but every team (but Atlanta) was scared shitless of what his price tag was going to be. Despite being #4, he got far and away the largest contract for its time ($2M....the ABA was still in existence and causing bidding wars) and everyone was sure it was the end of the NBA. The guy was pure ass entertainment on the floor. He was White Chocolate before Jason Williams's dad ever had his first ejaculation.
Very true. But at the time, and after the 3-point line was introduced, coaches were chastising players for shooting too many threes. Pete played for his dad, so he didn't have to worry about that.
He was the guy we white midwestern kids got basketball hope from...I was amazed by his game as well as Wilt's but Pete just looked like us...a skinny white kid. He had a beautiful game.
I remember when he went to the Celtics and Bird was a rook, Pete would get on Bird at times for not passing out of double teams. Bird in his typical manner told Pete if you were any good why they double teaming me.
One of my favorite memories of high school basketball was at the state tournament my senior year at The Pit. The guy who did radio for all the games called me Pistol Pete. What made it so great was that PP was my dad's all time favorite and when my dad came outside and played me when I was a kid, he would try to imitate him...usually unsuccessfully.
Sad - read today that Pistol Pete's youngest son died last year. Sounds like it was also a heart defect. He was about two years older than his Dad.
Someone got hold of old shot charts and watched old tapes. I think that's where they concluded if the 3-pt shot was around when he was scoring 40 ppg in college it would have been 57 today.
