50 Greatest NBA/ABA Players Not In the Hall Of Fame

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John Drew was a high-flyer out of Gardner-Webb who starred for the Atlanta Hawks in the late 1970s and early 1980s before becoming a top-flight sixth man for the emerging Utah Jazz teams in the middle of the 1980s.

While he’s not likely to gain enough support to enter the Hall of Fame, based on his suspension for cocaine use in December 1984, his play certainly warrants some consideration.

Drew topped 20 points per game six times in his 11-year career and also averaged a double-double as a rookie, when he played out of position as a 6-foot-6 power forward.

In 739 career games, Drew averaged 20.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 29.5 minutes per game, shooting 47 percent overall.

He was a second-round pick out of Gardner-Webb, which played at the NAIA level and had just become a four-year institution, in the 1974 NBA Draft and debuted a few weeks after his 20th birthday.

He was the No. 1 option for an Atlanta team that turned into a contender under coach Hubie Brown in the late 1970s, but Drew was part of the price the Hawks paid to acquire franchise icon Dominique Wilkins from the Jazz in the fall of 1982.

The Alabama native had a great knack for finishing through contact and getting to the foul line, finishing in the top 10 in free throw attempts seven times in 11 NBA seasons, and he led the NBA in offensive rebounds as a rookie in 1974-75.

Despite his career ending prematurely, Drew is 49th on the NBA all-time list with 5,774 free throw attempts.