Bill Sharman
Teams
Washington Capitols - 1950-51
Boston Celtics - 1951-61
Playoffs
Appearances - 10 (1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961)
Conference Finals - 8 (1953,1954,1955,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961)
NBA Finals - 5 (1957,1958,1959,1960,1961)
Championships - 4 (1957,1959,1960,1961)
Awards and Honors
All-NBA First Team - 4 (1956,1957,1958,1959)
All-NBA Second Team - 3 (1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960)
Hall of Fame - 1976
*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)
All-Time Ranks
Free Throw Percentage - #14
League Leads
Free Throw Percentage (#1-1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1959,1961, #2-1958, #3-1952, #4-1960)
Field Goal Percentage (#2-1954, #4-1953, #5-1956)
Points Per Game (#5-1958)
Bill Sharman was a multi-sport star at USC, starting at First Base on the College World Series champions, while also being named an All-American in basketball. After college, he played both sports professionally, spending 6 seasons as a minor league baseball player in the Dodgers' system before focusing full-time on basketball.
He was drafted by the Washington Capitols, and was a decent player in limited playing time before the team folded midway through the season. He was drafted by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the dispersal draft, who then immediately traded him to the Boston Celtics, which was the best thing that could have happened to him.
During his 10 seasons in Boston, he played alongside some of the all-time greats, including Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, and Sam Jones. He led the Celtics in scoring 4 times, and did it with his incredible efficiency. In that era, it was extremely rare for a guard to shoot over 40% from the field, but Sharman did it in 9 straight seasons, and even finished in the top 5 of the league 3 times, despite standing only 6'1".
He was also the first great free throw shooter in history, leading the league 7 times, a record he shares with Rick Barry (including Barry's time in the ABA). In 1959 he set the record with a .932 free throw rate, and that record stood for nearly 20 years before it was finally broken. Even after all these years, his career percentage is still #14 of all time.
Once Bill Russell arrived in Boston in 1956, the Celtics finally started winning championships, with Sharman playing an important role on each title team, though he was never the best player on any of those teams, thanks to the presence of Cousy and Russell.
After his retirement as a player, Sharman went on to become a great coach, including leading the Lakers team that won a record 33 games in a row and a championship in 1972, after having coached the Utah Stars to the ABA title the season before. He is one of only 5 men to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, joining John Wooden, Lenny Wilkens, and former teammates Bill Russell and Tom Heinsohn.
Sharman was the league first great shooting guard, even though he was never a true superstar player. He was never the reason a team won a title, but he was an important contributor on 4 championships within a 5-year period, which is why he deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest players of all time.
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