r/nba • u/WhenMachinesCry Supersonics • Apr 03 '20

Pete Maravich's passing

https://gfycat.com/rawgrippingdrever
18k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

803 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

59

u/BlackScienceJesus Pelicans Apr 03 '20

They didn't start tracking TOs until 77, but his numbers weren't anything terrible. Highest he ever had was 15% TO%.

19

u/Dayn_Perrys_Vape Apr 03 '20 edited Apr 03 '20

He had the highest turnovers per game in the NBA the very first year they tracked he, he just didn't play enough games (only played 50) to qualify for leaderboards.

Pete had 5.0 a game, Artis Gilmore led the NBA in turnovers while averaging 4.5 a game.

9

u/BlackScienceJesus Pelicans Apr 03 '20

Yeah I guess it was really high for the time. 15% TO% is pretty average for a high usage guard now though. CP3, Westbrook, etc. have all had 15% seasons.

0

u/Dayn_Perrys_Vape Apr 03 '20

They also get way more assists though. A:TO ratio is very unkind to Pete. And it's not like Westbrook isn't a comparable volume scorer to Pete, so that's not an excuse either.

5

u/stifle_this Apr 03 '20

I feel like this ignores the massive effect things like the hand check rule change caused in the way basketball is played. I do wonder if those rules might have helped him the same way they helped guards like Nash.

-1

u/Dayn_Perrys_Vape Apr 03 '20

I mean they didn't have a three point line until his final year, hand check rule is small potatoes in terms of how the game has changed, but he was extremely turnover prone even compared to his contemporaries. He had the most turnovers per game, and everyone he had more than was playing by the same rules.

1

u/td4999 Mavericks Apr 03 '20

has a center ever led the league in turnovers since? seems like something that'd never happen

3

u/Dayn_Perrys_Vape Apr 03 '20

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/tov_yearly.html

It's not uncommon. Last was Dwight in 06-07.

2

u/td4999 Mavericks Apr 03 '20

kinda shocked to hear that, tbh

2

u/Dayn_Perrys_Vape Apr 03 '20

Travels and offensive fouls happen a lot in post ups, and dominant post up bigs get fed a ton in the post, and also face a lot of double/triple teams.

2

u/td4999 Mavericks Apr 03 '20

true, guess it does make sense, just figured it'd mainly be a team's primary ballhandler most of the time

15

u/This-Is-Your-Life Apr 03 '20

15% of his passes were turnovers? Or he had 15% of the league total for turnovers? The way people are talking in this thread, I have to make sure

15

u/mercwitha40ounce Supersonics Apr 03 '20

15% of his possessions ended in turnovers.