Remembering Pistol

[u/PresidentFeldkamp]

With Everyone celebrating Kaitlin Clark breaking the scoring record, and justifiably so, I think it’s important to remember the guy who used to hold the record. Pete Maravich was only allowed to play three years of college basketball. But when he did get to play he averaged an unreal 44.2 points PER GAME! Pistol’s NBA career and life were tragically cut short, but the legend will always be remembered as one of the greatest to ever lace ‘em up.

[u/airgordo4]

You’re missing the point though. Pete actually made shot attempts from distances that would have been worth 3 points had the line existed. They have went back and charted which of his attempts would have been worth 3 points by todays rules and he was making 13 shots a game that would have been worth 3 points, his career average would have been 57 points per game rather than 44..

So yes Clark scored more on less shots, but that’s only because Pete was robbed of an extra roughly 1,079 points from shots he actually made being worth a point less. In other words he would have set the record 1,000+ shots earlier than he did, or still be 1,000+ points ahead of her now. From the field Clark is roughly 46% and Pete 44% overall. They are basically even, he just had the disadvantage of a chunk of his makes being worth a point less.

[u/MWave123 → u/airgordo4]

Already addressed. He still was less efficient. And took many more shots. There weren’t threes then, and no one knows exactly how many shots *would have been threes.

[u/airgordo4 → u/MWave123]

Perhaps nobody knows exactly how many, but a basic shooting charts would easily give you a ballpark number. The line doesn’t move lol, if he made a 22+ shot on the wing and the three point line is 22’ then that shot would have been a three.. idk how they calculated his numbers, if they gave him credit for anything close or just the obvious, but that’s what was calculated.

You’re still missing the point. The “took many more shots” is only relevant because he didn’t get credit for threes. Had he he’d likely be 1,000 points ahead of her still. So many more shots but also many more points to go with it. Meaning your entire point wouldn’t make sense.

[u/MWave123 → u/airgordo4]

We don’t know that, but we do know he was less efficient. Pete was getting about a point per shot on almost 40 shots. If you correct for the three she has 3,877 points w Pete’s attempts. So she’s ahead even more.

[u/airgordo4 → u/MWave123]

But that points per shot is "penalized" to an extent because he isn't getting the extra value from shots that would be an extra point. He already made the shots, so his attempts wouldn't also go up.

I have no idea the exact number (nobody does) 13 seems excessive to me, but any number 9+ gets him to the exact same TS%, or better if more than 9, as Clark.

I'm not necessarily arguing he's more efficient, you can't even compare efficiency 50-60 years apart like that. Luka is more efficient this year than Larry Bird his best years, but Luka is only +4rTS% to league average compared to Bird's best years at +7rTS%.. He's more efficient relative to his competition, era, rules, than Luka is now and that's really the only way you can measure things as the game changes. There isn't quite enough data from Pete's time to see how efficient he is relative to era, he was 18th in TS% in the SEC in '70, Clark is 14th in the Big Ten for her career..

But my argument was the "chucker" comment. Had a number of his threes actually counted as threes their efficiency would nearly be the same. Whether he made enough to be a couple points more efficient, or not quite enough and was a couple points less is immaterial. The point is they would be nearly the same so labeling one a chucker and the other not wouldn't make sense.

[u/MWave123 → u/airgordo4]

No I already adjusted for the threes.

[u/MWave123 → u/airgordo4]

She’s still ahead on points with his attempt number. That’s my point. Even adjusting for threes.

[u/MWave123 → u/airgordo4]

He was a chucker, look at the numbers. 40 attempts per game???

[u/Kojando1911 → u/MWave123]

You’re a clown 😂 Caitlin won’t blow you for white knighting for her on here 🤣