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

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Well-traveled Ricky Pierce was one of the finest sixth men in NBA history, shining most brightly with the Milwaukee Bucks from 1984-91 during a 16-year NBA career.

Pierce was twice named Sixth Man of the Year during his tenure in Milwaukee, winning the award in 1986-87 and again in 1989-90.

Heady stuff for a guy who was basically an extra in the trade that brought Terry Cummings to the Bucks from the Los Angeles Clippers in the fall of 1984.

If took some time for Pierce to find his footing in the NBA after being taken by the Detroit Pistons with the 18th overall pick late in the first round of the 1982 NBA Draft from Rice University.

A seldom-used reserve in Detroit, he was traded to the Clippers and became a part-time starter in his one season there before taking another year to get established as a key member of the Bucks’ rotation.

But he exploded in 1986-87, scoring 19.5 points per game and giving Milwaukee’s second unit a distinct advantage over many opponents.

He was Sixth Man of the Year again three seasons later, despite sitting out 23 games in a contract dispute, because 23 points in 29 minutes per game as a reserve was too good to ignore.

Pierce hung around a long time, finally retiring in 1998 at age 38 following a final season back with the Bucks, while making stops with the Seattle SuperSonics, Gollden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets and Charlotte Hornets along the way.

For his career, he averaged 14.9 points and 2.4 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game over 969 career games, shooting 49.3 percent overall and 87.5 percent at the free throw line. His job was to score and he did it extremely well.

Pierce is 20th on the all-time free throw shooting list.