Oscar Robertson
Teams
Cincinnati Royals - 1960-70
Milwaukee Bucks - 1970-74
Playoffs
Appearances - 10 (1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1971,1972,1973,1974)
Conference Finals - 5 (1963,1964,1971,1972,1974)
NBA Finals - 2 (1971,1974)
Championships - 1 (1971)
Awards and Honors
Rookie of the Year - 1961
MVP - 1 (1964,1965,1969)
All-NBA First Team - 9 (1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971)
All-NBA Second Team - 2 (1970,1971)
Hall of Fame - 1980
*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)
All-Time Ranks
Assists Per Game - #3
Total Assists - #7
Points Per Game - #9
Total Points - #15
Total Rebounds - #87
League Leads
Assists Per Game (#1-1961,1962,1964,1965,1966,1968,1969, #2-1963,1967, #3-1971, #4-1973)
Total Assists (#1-1961,1962,1964,1965,1966,1969, #2-1963,1967,1971, #3-1968)
Points Per Game (#1-1968, #2-1964,1967, #3-1961,1965,1966, #4-1963, #5-1962,1969)
Total Points (#2-1964,1967, #3-1961,1962,1963,1965,1966, #5-1969)
Free Throw Percentage (#1-1964,1968, #2-1965,1971, #4-1967, #5-1969)
Field Goal Percentage (#3-1963, #4-1961,1962,1967)
In his three seasons at Cincinnati, Oscar Robertson won 3 College Player of the Year Awards and won 3 scoring titles, and was the all-time leading college scorer until Pete Maravich surpassed him a decade later. He was then selected by the Cincinnati Royals as a territorial pick, meaning that they gave up their first-round pick in order to secure his rights before the draft started.
Robertson ran away with the Rookie of the Year award, averaging 30.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 9.7 assists per game, the last of which led the league, and became the first guard ever to average double figures in rebounds for a season. His team, however, finished in last place in the West and missed the playoffs.
His second season was one for the record books. He averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds (a career high), and 11.4 assists, which led the league again, becoming the first player to ever average a triple-double for an entire season. He also had 41 triple-doubles during the season, which stood as the record for 55 years until it was broken by Russell Westbrook in the final game in 2017. He did lead the Royals to the playoffs that year, but they lost to Detroit in the first round.
He fell just short of a triple-double average the next year, but the Royals were improving. They had moved to the Eastern Conference after the Warriors moved to California, and Robertson led them to the Conference Finals, where they fell to Bill Russell and the Celtics after a tough 7-game series.
Robertson had his best season the next year, averaging a career high with 31.4 points per game, while grabbing 9.9 rebounds per game, and leading the league with 11.0 assists and .853 shooting from the free throw line. He was named the league MVP that season and led the Royals back to the Conference Finals, but the Celtics knocked them off again, this time in 5 games.
Robertson was still the best player in the league the next year, though he didn't win the MVP, but he did lead the league in assists for the 4th time in just his 5th season in the league. He was never able to make another deep playoff run with the Royals, with this being the first of three straight seasons where they lost in the first round, followed by 3 seasons of missing the playoffs completely.
Robertson led the league in assists 3 more times with the Royals, in 1966, 1968, and 1969, making it 7 times overall, and won the scoring title and led the league in free throw shooting in 1968 as well. All of those efforts went to waste, however, with no playoff success coming, and the Royals finally traded away their star in 1970, sending him to the Milwaukee Bucks.
He joined a team there with a budding superstar named Lew Alcindor (later to change to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), and he was the missing piece the Bucks needed. He never averaged 20 points per game in his time with the Bucks, while never averaging less than 24 with the Royals, but in his sidekick role he was able to help the Bucks to a championship in his first season with the team. They swept the Bullets in the Finals, with Robertson averaging 23.5 points and 9.5 assists for the series.
The team remained good over the next 3 years, making the Conference Finals again in 1972, then reaching the Finals again in 1974, with Robertson remaining Kareem's main sidekick. Milwaukee lost the 1974 Finals to the Celtics in 7 games, after which Robertson retired after averaging a career low 12.7 per game that year.
Robertson's triple-double season remains his biggest legacy to this day, but he spent a decade as one of the top players in the league, winning 7 assist titles and a scoring title during that time, but was never able to reach the NBA Finals during his superstar years. Once he took a reduced role, he reached 2 Finals in 4 years and finally won a championship, but there is no doubt that he was one of the greatest to ever play the game.
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