Bill Walton said math validates the claim Pete Maravich would average 57 points today: "Dale Brown went back and charted all the games"

BASKETBALL NETWORK ^ | 4/19 | Damien Peters

[nickcarraway]

Walton is adamant "Pistol Pete" would do the unprecedented things under today's rules.

To this day, Pete Maravich remains one of the most underrated players in NBA history purely due to the era he played in. Maravich was ahead of his time, especially as a scorer, and Hall of Famer Bill Walton made sure to remind people how great Pete really was.

During a TV appearance in 2007, Walton discussed the incredible Maravich biography written by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill. But while recognizing the former New Orleans Jazz guard's greatness, "Big Red" might've taken his praise too far.

"The amazing thing about Pete is 44 points per game, in his career, for three straight years in an era with no three-point line. Dale Brown, who coached LSU after Press and Pete were there, went back and charted all the games with the running score – Maravich free-throw, Maravich 22-foot jumper, Maravich layup – and he calculated that with the current college 3-point line rule at 19'9" Pete Maravich would have averaged 13 three-point makes per game, which would have given him a career average of 57 points per game under today's rules!" Walton said.

That guy was unbelievable! We love him, we miss him terribly, what a great man, what a great human being," he added.

An all-time scorer

While Maravich's numbers don't jump off the page, his career average of 24.2 points per game is nothing to sniff at.

Where Pete really made his mark was in college, as he grew into an NCAA legend at a time when college basketball was just as popular as the NBA. Maravich spent four productive seasons at LSU before being selected third overall in the 1970 draft and setting the league on fire.

His best season as a pro came in 1977, when "Pistol Pete" was crowned the league's scoring champion, averaging 31.1 points per contest in one of his five All-Star campaigns.

An outrageous claim

Despite Maravich undoubtedly being an all-time great, Walton's claim he would average 57 points per game in today's NBA is utterly ludicrous.

Although he suggests the math was done to validate his claim, there are multiple factors he hasn't considered when trying to project what players in the '70s would average in the modern league landscape.

For one, there is an assumption that the level of scoring would translate when it's clear that the league has never been more talented in scoring the ball, coupled with advanced defensive schemes and vastly different rules. More importantly, it's rare in today's game that any player would average close to 30 points per game without developing a three-point shot.

While Walton's comments may have been in good faith, they do add stigma to casual fans who take comments like this for the Bible when comparing eras.

[kawhill]

I apologize, at times I don’t articulate my self especially well. The point I was wanting to make is that if I’m a head basketball coach, of a college or professional basketball team, or an AD or owner then it seems to me what I want to do is find and recruit or draft a player who is at the very top of their peers stat wise in all facets of the game of basketball. Scoring, rebounding, assists, steals blocked shots, tipped passes, saves, everything. That is the basketball player I want on my team. Jordan and Bryant are two examples. When they played basketball were they at the top of the league or near it in all of those stat’s? I don’t know. I can think of only one player that I have seen in my 64 year old lifetime who has that overall level of talent: Caitlin Clark. If she isn’t the best scorer in the nation that day she might be in two other categories. Every time, if she’s not the best she’s probably two or three. Tell me about other players who could do all that. Regards.

[wardaddy]

I forgot that connection with him and those sports writers who did the SLA thing for Rolling Stone

Something like that

Bill and Emily Harris

Leftist militant shit seemed passé by then

Like Tangled Up In Blue

Walton>kook politics

[wardaddy]

Walton likely did get more interest than most black players

White and proto hippie

Made for media coverage then

I was already rightish when I met him

It was mostly just bullshit about the Dead and cascades

I was in Boston to meet reps from Muzo in Colombia

They were my first contact for down there

And introduced me to the ever lovely Christina Sanchez

Both Irish Connecticut private school kids from Washington depot

They taught English in bogota

And brought emeralds home

Funny how things have their genesis

I met their Tufts classmate at a party in Houston and he told me about them

He worked for schlumberger

They married and had kids quick

Catholic

Her folks lived next to Leon Hess

I’m meandering obviously on a crisp cloudlessly 55 degree tn morning on a hilltop having morning stogie and diet sun drop

Overlooking dog park

Harlinsdale farm

Franklin is bucolic which is why y’all are invading lol