How many of these college players could average 44 ppg if they shot 1,053 times per year like "Pistol"?

Question

Rick Barry - Maimi - 29.8 - HOF
Elgin Baylor - Seattle - 31.8 - HOF
Larry Bird - Indiana State - 30.3 - HOF
Bill Bradley Princeton - 30.2 - HOF
Austin Carr - Notre Dame - 34.6
Elvin Hayes - Houston - 31.0 - HOF
Rick Mount - Purdue - 32.3
Calvin Murrphy - Houston - 33.1 - HOF
Oscar Robertson - Cincinnati - HOF

Pistol's daddy was his coach and he had the green light to shoot any time he wanted to.

"Pistol" was not a pure shooter (a pure shooter is a good outside shooter that hits 50% of his shots); he shot 43%. He was a gunner.

purefire (- 4) - You know nothing about baseketball because all but 2 of these players are in the Hall of Fame.

What does the 3 pt shot have to do with this question? That is not my question; if you want that answered then please post it.

Oscar - to add to your 3 players, Barry, Bird and Carr were also good ball handlers.

toughguy - I really thought you would have more to say.

Please answer the question. Who on that list could average 44 ppg if they took as many shoots as the "Pistol" did?

I love the "Pistol"; I am from Louisiana.

Where are the real/true basketball fans?

Answer 1

The real/true basketball fans on here are trying to figure out why Kobe changed his number. LOL !!!!

Interesting question, which is almost impossible to answer. Here is the formula that I came up with:

1053 fga per year X 3 years = 3159 total fga

3159 fga X each players fg% = fg made

fg made X 2pts each = total fg points

total fg points + free throws made = total points scored

total points scored divided gamed played = ppg

For example..Larry Bird

3159 X 53% = 1674 fg
1674 X 2pts= 3348 points
3348 + 542 ft points = 3890 total points
3890 divided by 94 games played = 41.4 ppg

This is going off of their college career stats and assuming that their free throws don't go up, which they probably would being that they would shoot more. Here's a couple others:

Rick Barry: 51.3 ppg
Oscar Robertson: 47.9 ppg
Calvin Murphy: 44.6 ppg
Elgin Baylor: 46.8 ppg

I used this formula for Pistol and it worked out to 44.2 ppg, so it should be somewhat accurate. Thanks for the great question.

Answer 2

Most of these players had better players around them than Pete did who was a great shooter. These players had more overall skill than Maravich and played more of a total game. For instance Oscar Robertson could haved averaged 44 pts a game but would have had to give up over 10 assists per game to do it. Yeah Smitty I remember reading the papers and seeing where Maravich would have 50 pts and the rest of the team had about 20.

Answer 3

Maravich needed to shoot often because he was the main scoring threat for his team. If he didn't shoot, his team's opportunity to win were diminished. Look down the list of players you provided. Few, (Mount, Murphy and Robertson), were creative off the dribble, but none were as good at it than The Pistol. Like him or not, he did a lot of program building for LSU.

Answer 4

Little mixed reaction to your question.....I understand it but Pete was still a great shooter......remember also that they did not have the 3pt shot when he played....what would he have averaged?....

Answer 5

But Maravich was also a great pure shooter.......as well as playmaker..........some of the names on that list...........were minor players........at best.