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YouTube Gold: Pistol Pete Maravich

His scoring won him fans but his passing and ballhandling awed his peers

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Utah Jazz v New Jersey Nets
PISCATAWAY, NJ: Guard “Pistol” Pete Maravich #7 of the New Orleans Jazz jumps for a lay up during an NBA game against the New Jersey Nets circa 1977-79 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images

Pete Maravich, who played some of his high school ball in Raleigh, remains an under appreciated basketball genius.

At LSU he averaged 44.2 pug and scored a total of 3,667 points. Keep in mind there was no three point shot, no no shot clock and he couldn’t play as a freshman.

More important than all of that was his sheer creativity. When you get good enough at anything, whether it’s guitar or juggling or basketball, you can do some tricks that most other people can’t even imagine.

In Maravich’s case, he could create in the middle of a game, find ways to make spectacular passes spontaneously, fake defenders out of their shorts - he could do things that few other people in the history of the game could do.

Check this video out with an eye for the spontaneous creativity. It’s like a jazz musician riffing something totally unexpected.

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