The Pistol

[chickenhead]

Man o man, what a player. Before my time unfortunately. And I say the best bball handle ever handed out. The Pistol.

If you're willing to put up with some rather lame music choices, see a great highlight real here:

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=6343c2a23cb6bf2a4b1e28dc58ac6fb7.998798&cache=1

Amazing how far ahead of his time this guy was...his passing and ball handling are unreal. And let's not forget he is still the all-time leading college scorer.

1968: 43.8ppg
1969: 44.2ppg
1970: 44.5ppg

with no 3 point line! Unbelievable. Special special talent. And did it all with a very serious heart defect. Amazing.

[chickenhead]

a great mix of just college

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8qUZILi8IM&mode=related&search=

[JustRalph]

I sucked at Basketball as a kid. I loved it though. I did as I always did and went to the library and checked out a book on Basketball Fundamentals. It was by Pistol Pete. I used the drills for months. I stopped being the last kid picked real kick. I loved the guy.

[Shacopate]

Huge handle, sick passing skills and a radar for the basket.

Way ahead of his time.

[Shacopate]

Imagine what his numbers would be if they had the 3 pointer back then.

[bigmack]

Hell of a guy - Hell of a player

http://www.hornetsreport.com/images/jazz/autograph.jpg

[Wiley]

A few months ago there was a good article in Sports Illustrated on Pete's upbringing under his father Press Maravich. Per the article, his father's intention all along was to raise Pete as a prodigy to become basketball's first 'million' dollar player with his flashy style and big offensive numbers play.

What I took from it, Pete worked day and night as the classic gym rat as much to get his father's approval over a pure love of the game based on a reference to the fact it was mentioned Pete had not picked up a basketball in years prior to his fatal pick up game in '88. Also Pete went through many years of fighting demons - drugs, alcohol etc. before becoming a born again Christian and strong family man only a few years before his death. It could also be said Pete never got over the label of never being a winning player as his teams, except his last year for the Bird's '80 Celtics in which he was an off the bench role player and made the Eastern Conference finals, rarely had winning seasons never coming close to a championship with him as the star.

It was mentioned, Pete was one of a few or only players from the past that could play in today's game and his style of play would be better suited today. I don't necessarily agree given Pete's lack of interest in playing defense and being a defensive liability today would be even more glaring than what it was playing in the less than stellar defensive era of the pros in the '70's.

I guess Press Mavarich, Pete's dad, was a good friend of John Wooden and he and Wooden often consulted each other on coaching, etc. Wooden said after Press showed him Pete's ball handling and shooting skills as a young kid, he wondered why Press didn't teach him to play defense at the same level. I think the idea was that Press knew it was the flashy offensive skills that will make him a star. Also, I think it was a teammate at LSU who said Pete was usually too tired to play defense given all of his flare and movement on the offensive end.

Here is his bio http://www.nba.com/history/players/maravich_bio.html

Funny, only in Pete's last year of pro ball, 1980, after his knees were shot did he get to play with the three point line, he went 10 for 15 from the three point arc.

[skate]

Pistol (85 points?) was the guy that broke Arizons record for most points in one game.

Arizon (?) was the first to perfect the jump shot and hit around 70 points in one game.

[Stevie Belmont]

Book just came out on Pisol Pete..

Pistol The Life of Pete Maravich By Mark Kriegal

Early reviews say it's a goodie....

[JustRalph]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zejZklkti1w&NR

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Y5KAaercTI

One thing I always noticed about Maravich's jumper was the arc he put on the ball. He shot the ball very high up in the air compared to others.

Also the amount of shots that were "nothing but net"

I forgot what a player he was until reviewing some of this video. Notice the passing ability also...............some of the passing comes at the end of the video presentations.........check them out

[chickenhead]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DwcB6voExhI&mode=related&search=

Johnny Cash and The Pistol -- can;t go wrong. Check out the juke move he puts on (jerry west?) at the around 2:15. Seen it imitated...but that is the original