San Antonio Spurs: 15 players you may have forgot played in San Antonio
No. 11: Louie Dampier (1976-77 to 1978-79)
For some, this might be the first you’ve heard of Louie Dampier. As a brief synopsis: Dampier is one of the unofficial pioneers of the 3-point era, a seven-time All-Star, who, along with Kentucky Colonel teammate Darel Carrier, would be referred to as the “Splash Brothers of the 1960s.”
At peak power, Dampier averaged 24.8 points per game and took 7.1 3-point attempts per game (in 1969, mind you), hitting at a 36.1 percent clip, and would go on to lead ABA all-time leaderboards in points, minutes, assists, games, and 3-pointers made.
Keeping true to the theme, the San Antonio Spurs were the last to enjoy the fruits of that. The Spurs drafted Dampier in the ABA dispersal draft on Aug. 5, 1976, where, at age 32, Dampier would play the last three years of his professional career.
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Dampier made brief appearances as a starter, particularly after left knee surgery sidelined All-Star guard James Silas. But, once the Spurs brass saw the benefits of running Gervin at guard, those plans would cease. Still, Dampier had quite the impact and fondly remembers containing fellow Hall of Fame guard Maurice Cheeks in the 1979 East Semifinals.
Though he was a shell of himself by then, Dampier became an integral part of a George Gervin and Larry Kenon-led team that came a few bounces shy of the 1979 NBA Finals (led 3-1 against the Washington Bullets).
The race against time wasn’t quite fair; the Spurs never got a chance to use Dampier under the league’s newly-implemented 3-point line in 1979-80. But, in the little time that he was there, the San Antonio Spurs were in the middle of their own postseason streak, and he was a key reason for that being the case.