Peter Press Maravich, also known as Pistol Pete Maravich, was one of the game’s greatest magicians of the basketball. Pistol Pete was Magic Johnson before the basketball world ever witnessed the Los Angeles Lakers legend.
In fact, Magic Johnson once admitted to Pistol Pete’s two sons, Joshua and Jaeson, that he borrowed the term “Showtime” from their father. Magic told Joshua and Jaeson that Pistol Pete “was the real showtime.”
Pistol Pete did things with the basketball that nobody saw back in his time, but he was more than just a flashy player; Pistol Pete was the real deal. In the NBA, Pistol Pete played 10 seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, the New Orleans Jazz/Utah Jazz, and the Boston Celtics.
In those 10 seasons, Pistol Pete averaged 24.2 points on 44.1% shooting. He also added 4.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. Pistol Pete led the league in scoring during the 1976-77 season with a 31.1 points per game average.
Pistol Pete was also named an All-Star five times, and he made four All-NBA teams (2x First Team, 2x Second Team selections). These numbers were pretty good for Pistol Pete, but the NBA never saw the best version of the player.
In fact, Pistol Pete struggled to get used to the pace and play of the NBA in his early years. Then, injuries ruined the later seasons of his career and ultimately led to his early retirement.
No, the NBA never truly saw the best of Pistol Pete Maravich. The best version of the player who started showtime in the game of basketball was his college years.
Pistol Pete: The Greatest College Player Of All Time?
College basketball fans just discovered some interesting news recently. Antoine Davis of the University of Detroit Mercy ended his college career just three points shy of tying Pistol Pete Maravich for the all-time total points scored in men’s NCAA basketball.
The crazy stat that came along with this news was that Davis has played five years of college basketball and 144 games. Pistol Pete, on the other hand, played only three years and 83 games for Louisiana State University.
What makes this stat even crazier is the fact Pistol Pete achieved this with no three-point line, which Davis has taken full advantage of, averaging 10.9 three-point attempts and 4.1 three-point makes per game in his college career.
NBA legend Bill Walton once claimed that if Pistol Pete played when threes were counted that he would have averaged 13 three-point makes per game, and his career average would have been 57.0 points per game.
Yes, Pistol Pete was known for his long ball shots. In his NBA career, Pistol Pete only played one season with the three-point line, his last year, and shot 66.7% (10-15 in 43 games).
Antoine Davis averaged 25.4 points per game in his NCAA career, which is a great scoring average for any basketball player, especially in college. This pales in comparison to Pistol Pete’s record all-time NCAA scoring average of 44.2 points per game.
On top of his incredible scoring average, Pistol Pete scored 60 or more points four times, with 69 being his career high. Pistol Pete was a 3x All-American, 3x SEC Player of the Year, and the 1969-70 Consensus Player of the Year.
The only knock on Pistol Pete’s college career was the fact that he never won an NCAA title, and his team’s record was only 49-35 in his three years. This is compared to the other player, normally dubbed the G.O.A.T. of college basketball, Lew Alcindor ( Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), who won three national championships while compiling a 88-2 record in his three seasons.
Still, with all his incredible college records, from the most career points (3,667), highest career scoring average (44.2 ppg), most field goals made (1,387), attempted (3,166), and having the most career 50-point games (28). It’s safe to say Pistol Pete is considered one of the greatest college players of all time, if not the greatest.
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