Professional basketball has been around for a while now, the NBA itself recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. Throughout the years, there have been truly great athletes that have graced the game, people who are rightly celebrated to this day. Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, all these names come to mind as players that are revered when it comes to basketball discussion.
But there were other players that some have forgotten, and ‘Pistol Pete’ Maravich is one of the best among them. A shooting guard that was one of the league’s premier players during the 70s, Maravich earned 5 All-Star nods, made 4 All-NBA teams, was a scoring champion and had his jersey retired by 3 different franchises.
He had a season where he averaged more than 30 points per game, and in his prime with the New Orleans Jazz over three seasons, he averaged over 28 points per game to go along with 5.7 assists and 1.5 steals. Maravich’s life was marred by tragedy, though, he was nearly killed in a fight once, and he eventually died at the young age of 40 because of heart failure. And while his premature passing has led to some forgetting how good he was, the greats still remember him.
Larry Bird Once Spoke About Pete Maravich’s Greatness
If there’s anyone that recognizes greatness, it’s Larry Bird, he is one of the best to ever do it. And Bird, who played alongside Maravich in the last year of Pistol Pete’s career, once described his greatness in detail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TO57aoJf7I
“The ball was like part of his hand. And I said, he must spend a lot of time, dribbling and dribbling.”
Maravich’s ball-handling ability was truly revolutionary for the era he was in, he was able to speed up a change in the way the game was played. Basketball had primarily been about the big men for most of its history, but Maravich’s shooting and ball-handling brought in a new angle for guards to also dominate. Considering that Michael Jordan became the GOAT while being a shooting guard like Maravich makes it easier to understand Pistol Pete’s impact.
And Larry Bird’s admiration for Pete Maravich was far from one-sided. Pistol Pete himself dubbed Bird the best player in the NBA before his death in 1988. Greatness never dies, though, and Pistol Pete will live on in the memory of the league, its players, and its fans. He was a wizard with the ball and one of the true legends of the game.
