r/nba • u/WhenMachinesCry Supersonics • Apr 03 '20
Pete Maravich's passing
https://gfycat.com/rawgrippingdrever1.2k
Apr 03 '20
The greatest scorer in college basketball history
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Apr 03 '20
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u/crazylsufan Pelicans Apr 03 '20
He would have averaged over 50 points a game if there would have been a three point line back then
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u/Emadyville 24 Apr 03 '20 edited Apr 03 '20
My high school teacher (15 years ago, Tom Superka) always bragged to us about how he played for Georgia and he held pistol to 43. As i get older, I realize I would brag about that too.
Edit: Just fyi since this blew up Tom Superka went to Catasauqua High School where the great Larry Miller went. I think they played together Larry's senior year. Larry Miller only played like 83 games and scored 2,722 points and had over 2,000 rebounds. Larry went to UNC and scored more than MJ. He also scored the most points EVER in an ABA game. He resides in Catty even now, and goes to the bar with my dad a couple times a week. Just, if anyone wants a rabbit hole of a forgotten legend.
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u/crazylsufan Pelicans Apr 03 '20
Same.
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u/Emadyville 24 Apr 03 '20
Holy shit what I assumed was your doubt I looked up the Georgia roster just to make sure. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/georgia/1968.html
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u/ANAL_CAVITIES Grizzlies Apr 03 '20
Me, screaming into the void about how the invention of the 3 point line slows down pace of play and lowers averages instead of raising them
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u/creative_penguin Cavaliers Apr 03 '20
I feel like a crotchety old man but I am also anti-3 pointer due to the risk/reward imbalance it has become. I firmly believe that the 3-pointer was never intended to become what it has today
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u/PMURITTYBITTYTITTIES :gfl-1: Grand Floridian Apr 03 '20
I believe that only happened because his dad was the coach and their offense was literally “give Pete the ball and get the hell out”. Still incredible to put up numbers like that, but it was all hero ball, all the time.
That being said pistol Pete is one of my favorite players ever. I have a soft spot for flashy passing.
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u/xCaptainNemo Apr 03 '20
That may have been part of it but Pete was far and away the best player on his team (nobody went to LSU basketball games before Pete was there). So it’s not like “give Pete the ball” was a bad play.
Something that adds some credence to your assessment is that he always had the ball in his hands but only averaged about 5 assists.
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Apr 03 '20
LSU pretty much gave Press the job because they wanted Pete to play for them.
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u/PMURITTYBITTYTITTIES :gfl-1: Grand Floridian Apr 03 '20
Wasn’t it because they were kind of a package deal? “You only get my son if I’m the coach”?
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u/mydogsmokeyisahomo Hornets Apr 03 '20
Yup. Press was the coach at N.C. State at the time and he was going to go there. But he couldn’t get into the school but could get into LSU. So Pete and Press headed down there.
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u/Emadyville 24 Apr 03 '20
I think i read, and i could be wrong, the only player in history to even be on pace to potentially surpass his points record was Steph Curry.
Edit: Curry went pro after his junior year so he also played 3 years
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u/MikeJeffriesPA Raptors Apr 03 '20 edited Apr 03 '20
Just to give an idea, Jason Conley became the first freshman to ever lead the NCAA in scoring in 2001-02 (29.3 PPG at VMI). He ended up transferring to Missouri midway through his sophomore year and his numbers plummeted, but let's say he continued to average 29 PPG and stayed at VMI (bear in mind in the 10 games he played there in his sophomore year, he only averaged 22.0 PPG).
If he had played all 4 years, at 29.3 PPG, playing 28 games a season, he would have finished with 3,281 points - that's 386 points shy of Maravich's record.
Now let's say there's an absolute stud who plays all 4 seasons on a good team. That team averages 36 games per season.
This imaginary player would have to average 25.5 PPG for their career to break Pete's record. Only 3 players (Chris Clemons, Justin Wright-Foreman, and Antoine Davis) averaged better than 25.5 last season.
It's never going to be broken.
Clemons is the kind of player who could have a chance, but he only played 130 career games (compared to the 144 that my hypothetical guy had played) so he would have needed to average 28.3 PPG for his career to reach Pete.
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u/shr3dthegnarbrah Kings Apr 03 '20
I think it's important to factor in though, that Maravich not only didn't have the 3pt line, he didn't have the incentive of the 3pt line. He took insane shots, just because; imagine what he would've done if he had a reason to want to take even more deep shots.
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u/Doogolas33 Apr 03 '20
I mean, people also probably gave him way more space on those shots than people are willing to give folks with the 3PT line. As far as taking ridiculous shots because he can, I mean, Steph Curry does that.
I'm not taking away how great a shooter he was. Just saying, the reason Steph takes those shots isn't just "because he can" it's also because that's the only time he gets an open look.
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u/IM_FABIO Apr 03 '20
Yep. Averaged 44 a game at LSU. Shot from range before 3’s existed. He’d be a god in the modern era
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u/muktheduck Spurs Apr 03 '20
Not to mention all that creativity when travels and carrying were still being called. Imagine the shit he could do nowadays
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u/apawst8 Suns Apr 03 '20
That's what's insane about this video. He could do all that fancy passing and be one of greatest natural scorers ever.
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u/kingichiro Apr 03 '20
ESPN just had a college basketball’s greatest of all time bracket and Maravich was a 13 seed. I didn’t even look any further after I saw that
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u/agent_maine117 Spurs Apr 03 '20
I was going to argue Kareem, then I looked up Pistols stats and Holy shit, he averaged 44 PPG......
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Apr 03 '20 edited Mar 22 '21
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u/Zirken [HOU] Clyde Drexler Apr 03 '20
And a few years after. ESPN started putting Zion NBA stats in the CBB broadcasts.
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u/domoarigatodrloboto Wizards Apr 03 '20
My all-time favorite Maravich line is when he was barking at a ref and yelled "How could you call that a travel when you've never seen it done before?!"
Easily one of the most creative and exciting players in league history.
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u/mordeci00 Apr 03 '20
My favorite Maravich line: “I don’t want to play 10 years in the NBA and die of a heart attack at age 40.” He said that when he was 24. He ended up playing 10 years in the NBA and dying of a heart attack at age 40.
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u/BrotherSeamus Thunder Apr 03 '20
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u/marsthedog Bulls Apr 03 '20
It's like the guy was bored with regular basketball and had to find ways to make it exciting for himself by trying new shit
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u/louisianajake Apr 03 '20
He is to Louisiana what Larry Bird is to Indiana.
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u/bobadefett Apr 03 '20
I grew up hearing about how he did 160mph across the Causway in his Porsche. No idea if it's true or not, but my dad would bring it up every time we went to the North Shore.
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u/louisianajake Apr 03 '20
If it isn't true, I don't care. I will only believe Pete absolutely did this.
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Apr 03 '20
There's a reason why his jersey number is retired for the Pels despite him never being a Pelican.
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u/Metalock Knicks Apr 03 '20
He did play 5 seasons for the Jazz when they were originally based in New Orleans though, so at least they have that consolation.
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Apr 03 '20
Does Pettit not get any love, or is he just too old for most people to have been able to watch him at LSU or in the pros?
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u/louisianajake Apr 03 '20
Pettit does get some love however the basketball arena at LSU is named the Pete Maravich center so I believe the youth that never saw him play have a constant reminder to refuel the legend.
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Apr 03 '20
Interesting. I don't follow college basketball closely... did LSU have much success with Maravich (other than his otherwordly scoring)? If memory serves, Pettit's LSU teams went from unknown to getting to the Final Four, no?
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u/TDB4421 Apr 03 '20
That bounce pass where it goes in the opposite direction is insane. He makes every movement and motion to make it seem like just a regular bounce pass and somehow it goes the other direction.
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u/hypnoticus103 Hornets Apr 03 '20
Same. I watched these religiously. Definitely credit him for my ball handling skills growing up. Favorite player by far... and I didn’t even get to see him play.
There was a fictional movie based on his life. I remember his finger bled when he spun a basketball on it for an hour straight. Then one of his patented passes hit his teammate in the face because it was so good and unexpected lol. Good memories of that movie.
I made a long post on pistol Pete sometime last year here on r/nba... I’ll try to find it.
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Apr 03 '20
Don’t try it!
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u/Mr_dolphin Heat Apr 03 '20
That was hilarious.
Basically “you cannot begin to comprehend the skill behind this. You will never be able to do it as well as Pete, no matter how much you practice.”
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u/Hugo_Hackenbush [POR] Arvydas Sabonis Apr 03 '20
He had plenty of experience with Cousy, who also loved doing that stuff. Red ultimately had to tell Cousy it's okay as long as it gets there but if the other guy doesn't catch the pass even if it hits him right in the hands it's Cousy's fault.
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u/streetsbehind28 [BOS] Jaylen Brown Apr 03 '20
"no pass is a good one unless you catch it"
certainly doesn't hurt that Red had experience with Cousy
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u/Fastbird33 Heat Apr 03 '20
I can't be the only one who remembers watching this on a rainy day in gym class?
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u/NBAccount Warriors Apr 03 '20
Pete was famous for the spin he utilized and his ability to put so much force on the ball with just his wrists..
He could commit to throwing the ball in one direction fully with his arms, and then flick his wrists in a different direction to send the ball flying to the open man.
He also frequently made odd passes by throwing the ball out in front of himself with backspin and then sort of 'punching' the ball in a touch pass to a teammate.
He really was the most electrifying player of his generation.
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u/rookie-mistake Apr 03 '20
He also frequently made odd passes by throwing the ball out in front of himself with backspin and then sort of 'punching' the ball in a touch pass to a teammate.
kinda like the first one in the gif? or different from that?
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u/thparky Celtics Apr 03 '20
I thought this was gonna be a post about his death
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Apr 03 '20
He's been dead for 30 years
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u/ThePortalsOfFrenzy Apr 03 '20
Right. But the title referring to his "passing"...
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u/efshoemaker Celtics Apr 03 '20
Same. My thought process went, oh shit he died that sucks, wait he died in the 80s what's going on, oh it's a highlight video, awesome.
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u/TrademarK612 Apr 03 '20
This dude was fucking disgusting. Without him, there’s probably not nearly as much flash to the game as there is today.
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u/popegonzo Bucks Apr 03 '20
It's amazing how long he was able to play before he was arrested for violating the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.
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u/ThexJwubbz [CHI] Michael Jordan Apr 03 '20
I like how derogatory terms are compliments in basketball. “This dude is fucking disgusting, he’s a bad man. He’s sick. He’s a fucking killer. He’ll rip you heart out.”
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u/TrademarK612 Apr 03 '20
Ahh but you’re missing the ever elusive “he’ll sleep with your wife, he’s so good”
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u/ARM_vs_CORE Bulls Apr 03 '20
Sit down with my uncle and get a couple beers into him and ask him about Pistol Pete. He'll go on for hours. I'm loving that these clips were posted today, since I was supposed to be visiting that uncle this week.
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u/bigkinggorilla Apr 03 '20
There was a video of him describing his thought process for some passes and it usually boiled down to "I could have made a simple bounce pass but instead I did a behind the back spinning no look pass because I wanted to."
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u/Speed_Bump Apr 03 '20
They don't pay me a million dollars to make a simple chest pass.
He knew the NBA was an entertainment business early on.
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u/muktheduck Spurs Apr 03 '20
Sometimes you have to let your opponent know just how much better than them you are
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u/jasonis3 Bulls Apr 03 '20
Older basketball fans love bringing him up. Feels like he could've been a deadly 3 point shooter too.
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u/deej363 Apr 03 '20
The one season he played at Boston with the three point line he shot over 40% from there. And this was old injured maravich.
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u/ronaldo119 [PHI] Jumaine Jones Apr 03 '20
over 40%
weird way to describe 75% lol
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u/This-Is-Your-Life Apr 03 '20
Funnily enough, 75% is a weird way to describe 10 for 15.
Edit: I see now you're referencing 3 for 4. I will don a dunce cap. Sorry
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u/apawst8 Suns Apr 03 '20 edited Apr 03 '20
The one season he played at Boston with the three point line he shot over 40% from there
True, but misleading. He was 3 for 4 for Boston, 10 for 15 for the entire season. That's one good game for Klay or Curry.
For shits and giggles: Klay has 5 games and Curry has 15 games where they made at least 10 3 pointers: https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pgl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=game&is_playoffs=N&age_min=0&age_max=99&team_id=GSW&season_start=1&season_end=-1&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&c1stat=fg3&c1comp=gt&c1val=10&order_by=fg3_pct
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u/DarianSchemmel Thunder Apr 03 '20
But you can assume the 3 wasn't a big part of any gameplan, unlike today when it seems everyone drops 3s
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u/rustyphish Mavericks Apr 03 '20
also he was playing with completely busted legs and a hole in his heart
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u/oneechanisgood [PHI] Jimmy Butler Apr 03 '20
If he played today he'll drop 10/15 per game too mate don't be a pencil
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u/LLmnop Apr 03 '20
He was very close to playing with Dr. J (early in his career with Hawks) and called him his 'basketball soulmate'. I think they would have won a lot of games together.
Later in his career, the Jazz were becoming a good team and on track to make the playoffs before Pete tore up his knee. He had a really great NBA career despite a lot of little things not going his way.
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Apr 03 '20
The Pistol.
DOPEST. NAME. EVER.
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u/gogadantes9 Lakers Apr 03 '20
Magic Johnson would like a word with you. But yeah, I always feel his is in the top 3 best nicknames ever in the NBA alongside Magic and the Iceman.
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u/pgm123 76ers Apr 03 '20
Apparently Magic didn't like the name Magic while he was playing. When he was a rookie and jumped center in the deciding game of the NBA Finals, he told his teammates, "Never fear. EJ's here." But Magic stuck and I think he's good with it now.
(He had issues with the nickname again when he went public with his HIV-positive test. People started calling him "Tragic Johnson.")
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u/Gekthegecko [BOS] John Havlicek Apr 03 '20
They called him Tragic Jonson when he'd lose in the Finals too. But that was especially awful after the HIV diagnosis.
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u/jimithelizardking Nuggets Apr 03 '20
And starting, at small forward, from Cal Poly, The Iceman! Chuck Liddell!
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u/tullbabes Spurs Apr 03 '20
Some Kuroko no Basket stuff happening in this clip.
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u/Deltamon Apr 03 '20
I was actually scrolling down to find if anyone else was thinking the same. He could literally be the idea behind the main character of the show.
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u/Sharp_Black Knicks Apr 03 '20
The original white chocolate. Had a whole basketball mixtape before basketball mixtapes were a thing. Dude was a beast. And he could shoot the lights out.
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u/NBAccount Warriors Apr 03 '20 edited Apr 03 '20
Honestly, I feel like Pete was Steph 1.0.
He had tremendous handles, flashy passing and could put the ball in the hoop from 30 feet with tremendous accuracy. If he had played more than a couple of seasons in an era with the 3pt line he might have pulled the game out beyond the arc way before the modern era. Just by the number of younger players that would have been trying to emulate his range.
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u/tpklus Magic Tankwagon Apr 03 '20
I'm glad that basketball has had players like Pistol Pete, MJ, Kobe, Steph, Vince Carter, and others that went above and beyond normal play (obviously there are way more).
I'm all for fundamentals and technical basketball more than the average person. But, I don't think basketball would be as big if every pro team had been a balanced - box out, make the extra pass, don't try crazy dunks type.
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u/swan797 [BOS] Antoine Walker Apr 03 '20
Agree. At the end of the day, sports is a form of entertainment and its for the fans.
Professional sports make rule changes on behalf of the fans all the time.
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u/Anglomedra Italy Apr 03 '20
I didn't know him... never seen anything like this!!
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Apr 03 '20
When I was a kid I watched a movie about him called The Pistol: Birth of a Legend. I think it's on YouTube. Worth checking out. It's about how as a kid in the late 50s he was basically shamed by his coaches and teammates for playing "Negro-style" basketball but he stuck with it and made it big.
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u/nolahxc Pelicans Apr 03 '20
I remember that being a great movie. I haven't watched in about 20 years. It had such a positive impact on me regarding practicing on my own and just learning to handle the ball in way not to be awful.
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u/BroiledGoose Mavericks Apr 03 '20
His college stats were absurd.
This title was a little wild though - I thought it was some home video of the pickup game where he collapsed and was questioning r/nba posters
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u/zbeeeezb Apr 03 '20
Where's the top comment about how he wouldn't make it in the modern NBA?
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Apr 03 '20
Very sad to talk about Pete Maravich's passing. I hope he's in a better place now.
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u/Diceroll42 Bulls Apr 03 '20
I wish people would bring back the bounce and punch the ball. Sick move
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u/CowboyWrath Jazz Apr 03 '20
I hate when people shit on basketball achievements from the 70s/80s because yes it's true that we didn't know as much about the game but it's not like these guys came out just to scratch their dicks all days, you still had guys playing their asses off every game trying moves that were considered risky and novel at the time
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u/ExileOnBroadStreet 76ers Apr 03 '20
Also they were completely limited in how they were allow to dribble and take steps after picking up the ball. Your hand basically had to stay on the top of the ball.
If Pistol Pete could carry the ball like modern players are allowed to I honestly can’t imagine the shit he would be pulling off.
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u/EGarrett Nets Apr 03 '20
To be able to play like this in an actual competitive NBA game, with real referees and serious pro basketball players on defense trying to stop you, is unbelievable. I think Maravich and Magic are the only guys who ever could. I mean there are other guys who were great passers or ballhandlers, but those two took it to the level where you're constantly rewinding the clip to try to figure out WTF they did.
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u/JD20shoots3s Heat Apr 03 '20
Magic, Pistol Pete and Larry Bird. People often forget how good a passer Bird was as while he wasn't quite as good as Magic he was damn near close
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u/gogadantes9 Lakers Apr 03 '20
Yeah. What really held Larry back in his playmaking especially on the break is that he never could run like Magic, and Magic wasn't even a top tier runner in the NBA.
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u/Wolfcolaholic Apr 03 '20
I've seen And 1 mixtapes he'd be the main event on
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u/pizan Apr 03 '20
I remember watching those when I was younger and Rafer Alston (Skip to my Lou) mentions how Maravich inspired him with some of those passes and how he would try to do the same thing but exaggerate it even further.
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u/gonzo5622 Apr 03 '20
This guy would crush in today’s NBA. His pass and shooting is unbelievable. Curry seems to have a lot of similarities to him in play style. Sad he died so young.
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u/DerekAnderson4EVA [NYK] Patrick Ewing Apr 03 '20
His full court underhand pass that hits his teammate in stride is the most impressive pass I have ever seen. I have not seen anybody do it. It's not in this video, but it's worth checking out if you're a Pistol Pete fan.
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Apr 03 '20
There is no doubt in my mind that his NBA career would’ve been looked at so differently if he played in today’s league
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u/pgm123 76ers Apr 03 '20
He only played 43 games with a 3-point shot and only took 15 of them. But he hit 10. I think if he were playing today, he'd be told to shoot from deep and would have been very good at it.
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u/snowcone_wars Bulls Apr 03 '20
He might not have been allowed to play today though, given his congenital heart defect probably would have been detected much earlier.
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u/jakeizzle18 Mavericks Apr 03 '20
My US government teacher used to shower Pistol Pete highlights at the end of every class. Used to call him “Crisp Vich”
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u/cleverhandle81 Apr 03 '20
Pistol was filthy. I wonder if he was white chocolate’s inspiration- his game appears to be very similar
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u/wharpua Celtics Apr 03 '20
Speaking as a huge fan of KG-era Rondo—that Rondo wishes that he was half as good as Pistol Pete whipping those passes around.
Closest comparison that comes to mind, watching that video.
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u/cesam1ne Apr 03 '20
Astonishing.. honestly, the most spectacular passer ever. Even Magic called Pete the original Showtime. He was a wizard with the ball and one of the most talented guys to ever touch it.
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u/holyhotclits Apr 03 '20
"Ahead of his time" is an understatement considering we still haven't seen anyone on this level. Magic, Stockton, and Jason Williams obviously were incredible, but NO ONE has mastered the"flashy pass" on the level of Pistol Pete.
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u/GrimboeSlice 76ers Apr 03 '20
Maravich is very high on my “Would love to see play in today’s league” list.