If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...

[Jet Sufferer]

It boggles the mind, what team would you like to see him on? In today's game with high scoring point guards, I would like to see him play point guard. If you could take one guy from the past who's game was tailor made for today's game it would be the Pistol.

Imagine Pistol as Kobe or LeBron's point guard!? If you're not old enough to remember him, he was as exciting as any player who ever lived. Dr. J was my favorite player from his days with the Nets, like Jordan when he got an opening to get to the hoop you were on the edge of your seat, every time Maravich simply touched the ball, your heart started racing. Give Pistol today's finishers to run with and you would see the greatest show in the history of basketball.

Here's some quotes from people who saw him play.


“I modeled myself after him, (and) he was only a couple years older than me. He was so far ahead of the game as far as ball-handling and creativeness. Back then it was like, ‘Oh, that’s showboating.’ No, he took the game to another level.”–Mike D’Antoni

“All those things that made him a great player, they were also his curse. It was hard for him to blend his game with other players. He had been groomed to see how many points he could score rather than how many games he could win. That’s the enigma of Pete Maravich.”–Paul Westphal

“We’re all doing things he did first.”–Steve Nash

“Pistol Pete is a legend to all who understand the history of basketball.”–Jason Kidd

“Pete was ‘The Man.’ I’d just sit there and shake my head and say to myself: ‘How’d he do that?’”–Magic Johnson

“Oh my. He did things with the basketball that players - still today - can’t do. If Maravich was playing today, he’d be a god.” — Isiah Thomas

“(Oscar) Robertson was the best guard I ever played against. Jerry West was the best I ever played with. And Pete is the best I’ve ever seen.”–Elgin Baylor

“I’ve got a lot of Pistol Pete in my game.”–Steve Nash

“Like a master chess player, Pete Maravich saw things that nobody else did.”–Bill Walton

“He was the greatest ball handler I’ve ever seen in my life. He could do things with the basketball that were unbelievable.”–Rick Barry

“A lot of guys break the laws of gravity. Pete breaks the laws of physics.”–Red Auerbach

“I learned all my tricks from Pete Maravich.”–Kobe Bryant

“The stuff that Pistol did with the ball was the breaking ground for what we can do today.”–Jason Kidd

“You talk of Jerry West or Oscar Robertson or any of those great ones who scored and passed so well. Maravich is better. He’s a show.”–Lou Carnesecca

“The best showman of all time? I’d probably have to say Pistol Pete.”–Isiah Thomas

“He was one of the truly great players that could fill an arena. He was an excellent player. He could dribble with both hands, shoot with both hands, and see the whole court. I enjoyed playing with Pete. His biggest influence to my mind was his ability to pass. When he stepped on the court, it was like a warning sign: ‘Watch out. I know how to play this game.’”–Larry Bird

“Through following basketball and enjoying his flair for the game, I feel as though I knew him. He was a great scorer and a great passer at the same time. The passes he made were unbelievable. He was so ahead of his time.”–Magic Johnson

“Pistol was a big influence on me. I’ve often tried his moves on the basketball court. What he did on the court are things that players today still can’t do.”–Isiah Thomas

“He was the original. When you talk about ‘Showtime,’ you talk about creativity, and bringing a whole different concept to the game of basketball. Pete was the original. He opened the minds of a lot of players as to how the game should be played. What he could do with the basketball at full speed was incredible. He was the best ball handler I ever saw. Ever.”–Pat Riley

“The way Pete played transcended the game. He was an artist. His canvas was the floor and his brush was the basketball. Only one guy got to be Elvis. And only one guy got to be Pistol Pete.”–Paul Westphal

“He was a startling player. One of a half dozen I’ve ever seen who I’d buy a ticket to see play. He was as dazzling a passer and as great a ball handler as I’ve ever seen. He was like a great singer with a style all his own, a pacing that was different, a flair for the unusual.”–Chick Hearn

“He was unstoppable. It’s as if they had melted down all 12 Harlem Globetrotters and then filled up this skinny 6-6 white frame with everything they had.”–Ralph Wiley, ESPN

“He personified why I love basketball; why I enjoy watching it; writing about it; why sports itself is such an important part of human existence.”–Curry Kirkpatrick, Sports Illustrated

“He was to basketball what the Sgt. Pepper album was to pop music: revolutionary and liberating.”–Bob McEwen, Rochester Times Union

“Today’s game is about spacing, drawing double teams, and shooting off the pass. No one in the history of the game was better at that than Pete. He could do more things with the ball than anyone who ever played, and do them all well.”–Alvin Gentry

[billmatic]

He does.

[Brankles]

Pistol Pete Maravich is my favorite player of all time and I too modeled my game after him.

His life was pretty sad, though. He was basically a basketball robot from the time he was 4 or 5 years old. Press Maravich, his dad, pushed him to play non-stop and he carried a ball everywhere he went. He struggled with a lot of personal problems because his life was only basketball, but when he played it was pure artistry. No one has even come close to what Pistol did with a basketball at the NBA and college level.

44 ppg in college without a three point line. Supposedly he woulda averaged 50+ had there been one.


Pistol is one of those guys that was so skilled a ball-handler, passer, and shooter that he could have played in any generation and succeeded.

[DC]

Probably JJ Redick. One of the closest players to what Pete did.

[Brankles]

Quote: Originally Posted by billmatic

He does.

LMFAO!

I will never get over that. What a ridiculous statement.

[Jet Sufferer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Brankles

Pistol Pete Maravich is my favorite player of all time and I too modeled my game after him. His life was pretty sad, though. He was basically a basketball robot from the time he was 4 or 5 years old. Press Maravich, his dad, pushed him to play non-stop and he carried a ball everywhere he went. He struggled with a lot of personal problems because his life was only basketball, but when he played it was pure artistry. No one has even come close to what Pistol did with a basketball at the NBA and college level. 44 ppg in college without a three point line. Supposedly he woulda averaged 50+ had there been one. Pistol is one of those guys that was so skilled a ball-handler, passer, and shooter that he could have played in any generation and succeeded.

When Dale Brown came to LSU he charted every Pistol Pete game at LSU taking account for the 3 point line. Pistol Pete averaged THIRTEEN 3 pointers a game, which would have made his average FIFTY SEVEN points a game not 44 points a game. Bill Walton told this story on TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk-JJX2SRHc

[youvalss]

I read somewhere that Pete's dad used to drive him to school and Pete would be dribbling outside the car window at the same time. But there are many myths, hard to know what the truth is.

[ehh]

He's the one player from before my time that I wish I could have seen play.