Bob McAdoo

Robert Allen 'Bob' McAdoo (born September 25, 1951, in Greensboro, North Carolina) is a retired American professional basketball player who spent a fourteen-year career playing the center and power forward positions in the National Basketball Association.

Basketball career

NBA

Drafted in the first round of the 1972 NBA Draft by the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers) following two seasons at Vincennes Junior College, and one season at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, McAdoo soon became one of the NBA's premier players. McAdoo won the 1973 NBA Rookie of the Year Award in his first season, and earned the first of three consecutive NBA scoring titles in only his second season. His 2nd season (1973-74) remains the last time an NBA player has averaged both 30.0 points per game and 15.0 rebounds per game over the course of a season. McAdoo also led the NBA in field goal percentage in 1973-74, shooting 54.7 percent. That year he enjoyed his first (of five) All-Star selection. In 1974-75 he was awarded the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, averaging 34.5 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.12 blocks per game, while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 80.5 percent from the free throw line. He also led the league in fan voting for the 1975 All-Star Game with 98,235 votes.

After this stellar beginning, McAdoo played several injury-plagued seasons for the New York Knicks, the Boston Celtics, the Detroit Pistons and the New Jersey Nets. Although these seasons were solid statistically, many analysts and fans felt that McAdoo's career was stagnating, mostly because the teams he played for were not title contenders. However, McAdoo enjoyed a much more memorable end to his career, winning two NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1982 and 1985 as the team's sixth man and a teammate to fellow Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy. He finished his NBA career with the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1985-86 season.

In the 1970s and 1980s, McAdoo lived in Ramsey, New Jersey.

Europe

He then played in Italy, in the Tracer Milano team, as one of the best US-players ever seen in Europe and the Euroleague. In his first year he led Milan to the Italian and European Championship (two times) both, with an average of 26.1 points and 10.2 rebounds. Later he played for Filanto Forlì (1990-1992) and Teamsystem Fabriano (1992-1993), retiring in 1993, aged 42.

Honors

McAdoo's style was very modern for his time. Although a 'big man' at 6 ft 9 in (2.06m), he had no problems taking shots from the perimeter, which, in his prime, made him a nearly unstoppable force on offense. Thus, he can be regarded as a precursor of players such as Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace or Dirk Nowitzki. For all his achievements, Bob McAdoo was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000. Despite his two championships, scoring title, and MVP award, McAdoo was not named to the NBA's Fifty Greatest Players in 1996. In 2008 he was named to the 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors.

Bob McAdoo is currently in his 11th season as an assistant coach for the Miami Heat of the NBA. He still holds the Clippers record for most minutes played per game (40.1), field goals made per game (11.1), field goal attempts per game (22.1) and defensive rebounds per game (10.3).

See also

• List of Individual NBA Scoring Champions

References

External links

• nba.com history players
• nba.com coachfile
• Euroleague.net 50 greatest contributors
• basketball-reference.com
• Career basketpedya.com
• The Bob McAdoo Song as recorded by Buffalo Teammate Randy Smith in 1976