101 Greats of European Basketball

NBA and
EuroLeague champ
There are players who have won the NCAA
and the EuroLeague, such as Jiri Zidek Jr.,
color commentator for Euroleague TV.
There have also been players who first
won the EuroLeague title and then that of
the NBA, like Zan Tabak, Toni Kukoc and
Manu Ginobili. But I really can’t recall anyone like Bob
McAdoo, who first won the NBA and later the EuroLeague!
The brilliant career of McAdoo, who was born in
Greensboro, North Carolina on September 25, 1951,
started at Vincennes Junior College of Indiana, where
he played from 1969 to 1971. It was then that he moved
on to the University of North Carolina and during the
1971-72 season took his team to third place at the
NCAA Final Four. His great season, with averages of
19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, made McAdoo one of
the most desired players around. In the NBA draft held
on April 10, 1972, the Buffalo Braves (today’s LA Clippers)
chose McAdoo as the second overall pick.
NBA top scorer three-peat
McAdoo won the Rookie of the Year award for
the 1972-73 NBA season with 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds
per game. In his sophomore season as a pro,
he averaged a double-double, with a league-leading
30.6 points and 15.1 rebounds. Since then, no player
has averaged 30 and 15 in a single season. His field
goal accuracy, 54.7%, was also great. Obviously, he
was selected to the all-star game, something he would
repeat four more times. After the 1974-75 season,
McAdoo was named MVP and finished as the league’s
top scorer with an average of 34.5 points, in addition
to 14.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. He also
shot 51.2 percent from the field and 80.5 percent on
free throws. That year he was the top vote-getter for
the all-star game with 98,325 votes. In the 1975-76
season, still in Buffalo, his average was 31.1 points,
leading the league in scoring for a third consecutive
season.
After the Braves, McAdoo joined the New York
Knicks from 1976 to 1979 and later played for the Boston
Celtics (1979), Detroit Pistons (1979-1981), New
Jersey Nets (1981), Los Angeles Lakers (1981-1985)
and Philadelphia 76ers (1986). With the Lakers, he was
part of the great team formed by Magic Johnson, Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. Together, they
won NBA championships in 1982 and 1985. McAdoo’s
brilliant career in the NBA came to an end with 18,887
points (22.1 ppg.), 8,048 rebounds (8.4 rpg.) and 1,147
blocks (1.5 bpg.).
When, in the summer of 1986, McAdoo signed for
a Tracer Milano, which was then coached by Dan Peterson,
he was almost 35 years old and many doubted
his ability to play at a high level. The start of the European
season confirmed the doubts. On October 30,
1986, Tracer lost in Thessaloniki to Aris by 31 points,
98-67. Nikos Galis destroyed the team with 44 points.
Aris already led by 60-34 at the halftime break. In the
rematch, played on November 6 in Milan, one of the
biggest comebacks ever in European competitions
took place. Tracer won 83-49 to take the two-game,
home-and-away series. After a quiet first half, McAdoo
led his team with 21 points and 9 rebounds. When it
101 greats of european basketball
Bob McAdoo
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