Remembering Pete Maravich, the lone HOFer who played for both the Celtics and the Jazz…
On Friday, January 5, the Boston Celtics will face the Utah Jazz in their first meeting of the season at TD Garden. While the Jazz aren’t quite as well-known as the Celtics, 34 players have played for both teams.
Only one of the 34 is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Pete Maravich. Let’s take a deeper look at the man simply known as “Pistol Pete,” who died playing the game he loved 36 years ago on January 5, 1988.
Pete Maravich’s NBA career came to an end with the Boston Celtics.
Pete Maravich finished his 10-year NBA career with the Boston Celtics. After the Jazz placed him on waivers due to knee problems, he joined a rookie named Larry Bird midway through the 1979-80 season. He joined with the Celtics and appeared in 26 regular-season and postseason games.
The Celtics improved from a 29-win team to a league-high 61-win squad under Bird’s leadership. They advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing in five games to the Philadelphia 76ers
Maravich, a five-time NBA All-Star, was the Atlanta Hawks’ third-round pick in the 1970 NBA Draft. He played for the Hawks for his first four NBA seasons, including the last two as an All-Star.
Prior to the 1974-75 season, the Hawks traded Pistol Pete to the expansion New Orleans Jazz. Maravich led the NBA in scoring in his third season with the Jazz, averaging 31.1 points per game. He also had the highest minutes per game average in the league (41.7). In his final three seasons in New Orleans, Maravich was an All-Star.
Before the 1979-80 season, the Jazz packed up and relocated to Utah. Injuries had caught up with Maravich, who had only played 17 games for Utah before being removed on waivers.
With the Celtics, he averaged 11.5 points per 17 minutes. At times, he resembled the old Pistol Pete, such as when he played 42 minutes in a starting role against the Indiana Pacers on March 18, 1980. He scored 31 points on 12 of 18 shots from the field and 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.
Because freshmen were not permitted to play on the varsity level in the late 1960s, Maravich’s college statistics represent his three years of play. Maravich scored 3,667 points in three seasons with the Tigers, a record that holds more than 50 years later.
Maravich averaged 43.8 points and 7.5 rebounds as a sophomore, and that was just the beginning. He scored 44.2 points as a junior and 44.5 points as a senior.
Maravich accomplished all of this without the use of a 3-point line. There was also no shot clock back then.
Maravich died on January 5, 1988, during a pickup basketball game. He was 40.
According to co-author Marshall Terrill of “Pete Maravich: The Authorised Biography of Pistol Pete,” Maravich wished he had spent more time in Boston.
“Pete totally bought into the Celtic mystique, and Boston was the only team he dreamed about playing for when he was a kid,” Terrill told Boston Sports Media Watch at the time. “When I say he wished to be a Celtic, I mean it literally. He had that objective in mind since he was eight years old and had visualised it for more than a dozen years.”
Mike Thomas is a veteran sports reporter for Heavy.com who focuses on the Boston Celtics. He formerly worked for Sportscasting as an NBA and NFL writer and was the Sports Editor for The Herald News in Fall River, Massachusetts for 16 years. More information on Mike Thomas
The Boston Celtics’ chances of reuniting with an old friend are slim.
Typically, Boston Celtics fans yearn for that one transaction that will propel their club to the top of the NBA trade deadline. However, the greatest move this year may be to make no move at all.
The Celtics have the best record in the NBA (26-7) and perhaps the greatest starting five. Their roster is top-heavy in terms of salary, which will likely preclude them from reuniting with former Celtics first-round pick Kelly Olynyk.
The Boston Celtics are reportedly interested in Kelly Olynyk.
We’re a month away from the trade deadline, and that’s when the rumours really start to fly. One rumour that has been circulating is the Celtics’ interest in Olynyk.
Olynyk began his 10-year NBA career in Boston, where he spent the first four seasons. In the 2013 NBA Draft, the Celtics picked Olynyk with the 13th overall choice. Olynyk was chosen two slots ahead of Milwaukee Bucks standout and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to Celtics supporters.
Marc Stein, a veteran NBA reporter, is one of many who have written about Boston’s interest in bringing back their former big man. Stein noted at the time, “League sources say Boston is among the teams that is monitoring Utah’s Kelly Olynyk in advance of a potential trade pursuit.”
The offensive-minded centre averaged 9.5 points and 4.7 rebounds in his tenure in Boston. Olynyk is averaging 8.2 points and 5.4 rebounds for the Utah Jazz this season.
Olynyk is in the final year of his three-year, $37,195,122 contract. Olynyk is the Jazz’s seventh highest-paid player this season, earning $12,195,122. He’ll almost certainly be moved to a contender before the deadline, so Utah can at least get something for him before his contract ends.
If the Celtics acquired Olynyk in a trade, they would have to return at least $11 million in salary. That would be impossible given Boston’s present compensation structure.
This year, four of Boston’s starters earn at least $30 million, while Derrick White earns more than $18 million. The Celtics would not involve any of their starters in order to get Olynyk, but putting together a package featuring players of Boston’s bench would be difficult.
Sixth-man Al Horford earns $10 million and is critical to Boston’s success. Payton Pritchard, at $4,037,277, is Boston’s next most expensive player after Horford.
That is an issue.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune’s Andy Larsen, if the Celtics wanted to move Olynyk without including their top six players, “it would take five of the cheaply paid players going out of the Celtics’ end of the trade for a deal to work under league rules.”
Larsen continued, “In a two-team trade, the Jazz would have to find five roster spots for those players.” Would the Jazz be willing to trade or cut four guys on their roster (other than Olynyk) to make a deal work? “I don’t think so.”
The Celtics do not require any changes. Sure, their bench may use some fine-tuning, but if they don’t change anything before the deadline, they’ll be fine.
Yes, Olynyk is most certainly leaving Utah, but he is unlikely to return to Boston.
Mike Thomas is a veteran sports reporter for Heavy.com who focuses on the Boston Celtics. He formerly worked for Sportscasting as an NBA and NFL writer and was the Sports Editor for The Herald News in Fall River, Massachusetts for 16 years. More information on Mike Thomas
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