Dolph Schayes
Teams
Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers - 1949-64
Playoffs
Appearances - 14 (1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963)
Conference Finals - 9 (1950,1951,1952,1954,1955,1956,1957,1959,1961)
NBA Finals - 3 (1950,1954,1955)
Championships - 1 (1955)
Awards and Honors
All-NBA First Team - 6 (1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1957,1958)
All-NBA Second Team - 6 (1950,1951,1952,1956,1959,1960,1961)
Finals MVP - 0 (1955)
Hall of Fame - 1973
All-Time Ranks
Rebounds Per Game - #18
Total Rebounds - #30
Free Throw Percentage - #68
Total Points - #73
League Leads
Total Rebounds (#1-1951, #3-1953,1957, #4-1955,1956,1958, #5-1952,1954,1959,1960)
Free Throw Percentage (#1-1958,1960,1962, #2-1954,1956,1957,1959,1961, #3-1953,1955)
Rebounds Per Game (#1-1951, #4-1953,1955,1957,1958, #5-1952,1954,1956,1959)
Points Per Game (#2-1958, #4-1957, #5-1950,1953,1956)
Total Points (#2-1958, #3-1957, #5-1953,1956)
Assists Per Game (#5-1950)
Dolph Schayes started college at age 16, attending NYU, and during his freshman season led the team to the championship game. He graduated when he was 20 with a degree in aeronautical engineering, and was drafted by the New York Knicks of the BAA and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the NBL, who traded him to the Syracuse Nationals, where he decided to sign.
During his rookie season in the NBL, Schayes was named the Rookie of the Year, and the NBL and BAA merged after the season to become the NBA. In the first season of the official NBA, Schayes, a power forward, finished #5 in the league in assists and led the Nationals to the Finals, knocking off the Knicks in the Conference Finals before falling to the Minneapolis Lakers in the Finals.
In his second NBA season, the first season in which rebounds were recorded, Schayes led the league with 16.4 per game. The team barely made the playoffs, but pulled off an upset over the top-seeded Warriors to advance to the Conference Finals again, where they fell to the Knicks in a rematch.
Despite his numbers dipping the next year, Schayes made his first All-NBA First Team the next year after leading the Nationals to the best record in the East. They faced the Knicks in the Eastern Finals for the third year in a row, this time losing to their cross-state rivals again.
In 1954, Schayes was finally able to lead the Nationals back to the Finals, where they met the Lakers once again. The teams alternated wins throughout the series, but Schayes struggled, averaging only 9.3 points per game, and they lost the Finals in 7 games.
They finally broke through the next year. Schayes averaged 18.5 points per game, his best up to that point in his career, along with 12.3 rebounds, and led the Nationals back to the NBA Finals, where they knocked off the Fort Wayne Pistons behind 19 points per game from Schayes. The Finals MVP award did not exist at the time, but if it did, Schayes would have been the easy winner.
The Nationals made the playoffs as the result of a tiebreaker the next year, but still advanced to the Eastern Finals, but this time the Philadelphia Warriors prevented them from reaching their 3rd straight Finals. In 1957-58, he scored a career-high 24.9 per game, grabbed 14.2 rebounds, and led the league in free throw shooting with a .904 average. He would lead the league in free throw shooting 2 more times, in 1960 and 1962, pretty impressive for a power forward.
Schayes was the league's original iron man, playing in 706 straight games between 1952 and 1961 without sitting out. He was the first player in league history to reach 15000 points, but had fallen behind Bob Pettit by the time he retired. After the 1963 season, the team moved to Philadelphia and became the 76ers, and Schayes was named player-coach, though he hardly used himself as a player and retired after that season. He coached the team for 3 more years and won a Coach of the Year award before being fired for failing to reach the Finals.
Schayes was one of the league's first dominant big men, though he was often overshadowed by George Mikan, who played at the same time and won 5 championships, but Schayes was able to lead his team to the Finals 3 times and was the best player on a championship team as well. He was a league rebounding and free throw percentage leader, and never missed the playoffs in his career, though he did not play in the playoffs in his final season. Even though it's been more than 50 years since he retired, Schayes is still one of the greatest to ever play the game.
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