Bob Pettit - Dutch

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Robert E. Lee "Bob" Pettit (born December 12, 1932, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954-1965). He was the first recipient of the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971. He also went by the nickname "Dutch" in college. In 1954, the Milwaukee Hawks selected Pettit in the first round of the NBA Draft. Many were skeptical about Pettit making the transition from college to the rough-and-tumble NBA. Rookies often struggle adjusting to the pro game, but not Pettit — in 1955 he won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award after averaging 20.4 points and 13.8 rebounds per game. After this season, the Hawks moved to St. Louis. Pettit was moved to forward as a pro. "In college I played the standing pivot," he said in a April 1957. "My back was to the basket. In the pros, I'm always outside. Everything I do is facing the basket now. That was my chief difficulty in adjusting, the fact that I had never played forward before." In his second season, Pettit won his first scoring title with a 25.7 average, and led the league in rebounding (1164 for a 16.2 average). He was also named MVP of the NBA All-Star Game after scoring 20 points with 24 rebounds; he would win subsequent MVP All-Star Game honors in 1958, 1959, and 1962. He also won his first of two NBA regular season MVP awards (the other was in 1959). In 1958, Pettit, Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan led the Hawks to an NBA Championship, defeating the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals (the Hawks had acquired Macauley and Hagan from Boston for the draft rights to Russell). Pettit put an exclamation point on the Hawks' 110-109 game 6 victory by scoring a then-playoff record of 50 points. Both teams would also meet in the 1957, 1960 and 1961 Finals, with Boston winning each time. Pettit's league leading scoring average of 29.2 points per game in the 1958-59 season was an NBA record at the time, that season he was also named as the Sporting News NBA MVP. In the 1960-61 season, Pettit pulled down 20.3 rebounds per game, making him one of only five players to ever break the 20 rpg barrier. In the following season, he scored a career best 31.1 points per game. Pettit ended his career in 1965, becoming the first NBA player to eclipse the 20,000 points mark (20,880 for a 26.4 average). His 12,849 rebounds were second most in league history at the time he retired, and his 16.2 rebounds per game career average remains third only to Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. In 1971, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Pettit is often credited as revolutionizing the power forward position in the NBA. Because of his scoring and rebounding ability, he is considered the predecessor to Elgin Baylor, Jerry Lucas, Elvin Hayes, Bob McAdoo, Kevin McHale, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

Category: Sports
Uploaded: March 4th, 2008 @ 1:22 pm
Author: VeoShock

Length: 03:11
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Tags: basketball

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