Atlanta Hawks: Bob Pettit
Greatest Player: Dominique Wilkins
Bob Pettit spent the entirety of his 11-year career with the Atlanta Hawks organization –one year in Milwaukee and a decade in St. Louis.
During that time, the former No. 2 pick of the 1954 Draft was a statistical force on par with the elite contemporaries of his era like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Pettit was a two-time scoring champ with a career 26.4 scoring average along with 16.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Top 10 Final PPG scorers sorted by TS% in the Finals:
— Baltej (@Baltej_hoops) March 7, 2020
1. Kevin Durant: 67.42%
2. Shaq O'Neal: 59.00%
3. Steph Curry: 58.89%
4. MJ: 55.90%
5. Kyrie Irving: 55.77%
6. LeBron James: 55.14%
7. Olajuwon: 53.42%
8. Jerry West: 53.21%
9. Rick Barry: 50.35%
10. Bob Pettit: 50.07% pic.twitter.com/vn5ws8j84d
Under Pettit’s lead, the Hawks ended a five-year playoff drought to become near-perennial Finals participants, advancing to the final stage in four out of five years. But due to the presence of Bill Russell and the dynastic Celtics, the Hawks only emerged champions a single time, in 1958.
Pettit led the way that year by averaging 29.3 points and 17.0 rebounds per game — the clear-cut Finals MVP if the award existed back then –to help take down Boston in six games, the first and only title in franchise history.
His trophy case is filled with a Rookie of the Year trophy, two MVPs and four All-Star game MVPs, tied with Kobe Bryant for the most all-time.