Pistol Pete Maravich was one of the best players ever to play the game. The other day, I was at a G League NBA game which caused me to think about NBA careers. When you were a kid playing basketball back in my day, a lot of us idolized Pete Maravich. He was an amazing ball handler and could score. Way ahead of his time.
Pete Maravich set the all-time college scoring record in the 1960s. There was no three-point line. But, it’s bigger than that. There was no postseason for Maravich except one time his team went to the NIT. Postseason points go into all the college scoring stats. His LSU team wasn’t that good. Maravich also had to sit out his freshman season, so not only were his points scored without a three-point line but in three years without a postseason, not four with at least one guaranteed postseason game.
Here is his college stat line. 83 games, 44.2. Points per game, 43.8% Field goal percentage. For what it’s worth, he averaged over 40 per game his freshman year in the SEC Freshman League.
There have been various estimates of what Maravich would have scored had a three-point line been in college when he played. Some people think he would have had 57 points per game. Maybe. But, his FG% almost certainly would have been lower. The game then was to start at 25 feet and drive to the bucket. If you got stopped, pull up from 12 feet and hit the midrange jumper, or dish under the basket to an aircraft carrier for a layup. Today, you’d kick it out to someone spotting up on the three-point line.
However, that line of thinking discounts the change in the way the game is played. He probably wouldn’t have had 57 ppg. He likely would have taken more three-point shots given the statistical geeks telling him to do it. Defenses would have been tailored to defend him too. It is just impossible to compare eras.
I think Maravich’s record deserves an asterisk. I don’t mean to demean the accomplishments of Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis. He’s scoring a lot of points and he certainly is an accurate shooter. He also shoots 90% from the charity stripe. Maravich shot more free throws per game but only hit them at a 77% clip. That’s because Maravich drove to the hoop a lot and drew fouls. Davis is a spot-up shooter. That being said, he can fill it up.
Davis has played in 143 Games with 3,642 points, 25.5 Points per game with a 40.9% Field goal percentage. His FG% is very very good. Top class. Davis has made 584 three-pointers, and if you subtract one point from each of those Davis would be at 3,058 points.
You can make arguments that Davis is playing against weaker competition since he plays in the Horizon League, not the SEC. That’s true, but players are significantly better today than they were back then. They are quicker, faster, stronger, and bigger. It also ignores the fact that there weren’t a lot of Blacks playing in the SEC in Maravich’s day. I think we can agree that Blacks are dominating when it comes to basketball. The SEC had very few if any back in Maravich’s day. Here is the 1969 LSU team photo.
Here is the royalty of the SEC conference, Kentucky. Legend Adolph Rupp was the coach and the stud player was a big kid out of Batavia, Illinois, Dan Issel.
Davis is small, 6’1”, and is not nearly the ballhandler or player Maravich was. Maravich was 6’4”. But, Davis is a helluva shooter, especially when you consider shooting percentages around the current NCAA. There are enough bricks thrown up to build a house from the three-point line and free-throw shooting in college and the NBA is pretty abysmal.
It doesn’t matter that Davis is not ever going to be one of the top 100 players in the history of the game like Maravich was. It is very likely that he won’t ever play in the NBA. It’s a pretty great accomplishment to do what he has done but I don’t think anyone should compare him to Maravich.
It was a different time and a different sort of game. I don’t think Davis would have dominated in Maravich’s era, but I do think Maravich would have been dominant today.
Do you have any favorite contemporary NBA players?
Outstanding. I remember watching Pete on TV.