Bob McAdoo
Born: November 25, 1951
Position: Center
Height: 6-9 (2.06m)
In the NBA:
His Game:
An amazing shooter (especially for his height), a real scoring machine, great rebounder and leader, McAdoo was a superstar during his first 4 years in the league. Bill Russel once said about him: "He's the best shooter of all time, period." Whenever criticized as a poor defense player, McAdoo answered that the best defense is to score more points than your opponent does, and that's what he practiced too!
His Career:
McAdoo was 2nd in the 1972 draft, selected by the Buffalo Braves. Despite a bad start in his first season, he improved in the mid-season and finished with 18 points, 9 rebounds and the 1972-'73 rookie of the year award.
The following 3 years he was always scoring more than 30 ppg and he lead Buffalo to the playoffs for the first time in the team's short history.
In 1976 he got traded to New York, where he played until 1978-'79. His numbers had fallen a bit but he was still scoring 26 points per game. New York traded him to Boston, the following year he played to Detroit and the next one he played in 2 teams (Detroit and New Jersey)! All those movements had effected McAdoo who finished the 1979-'80 season with 21.1 ppg and the next one played only 16 games and scored only 10.3 ppg.
His career took a new turn when he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1981. He stayed in LA 4 years (1981-'82 to 1984-'85).
His role was different now: he provided the team good scoring off the bench and leadership and the result was 2 championships.
His last season in the NBA was 1985-'86 when he played for the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 10 ppg and 3.6 rpg in 21 minutes each night.
Honors:
A 5-time All-Star (1974-'78), Mc Adoo had a glorious career in the NBA, despite the ups-and-downs. He won an MVP (1975), led the league in scoring in 1974 (30.6 ppg), 1975 (34.5 ppg) and 1976 (31 ppg), won 2 Championships
(1982, 1985) and he was selected in the All-NBA first team in 1975. He also led the league in field goal percentage in 1974 (shooting 54.7%) and was 4th in rebounding in 1975, averaging 14.1 rpg!
Statistics:
| YEAR |
Team |
Games |
Pts |
FT % |
FG % |
3PM |
3-pt % |
Reb. |
Trn |
Ast |
St |
Blk |
Min. |
Star? |
| 1973 |
Buffalo |
80 |
18.0 |
.774 |
.452 |
0 |
.000 |
9.1 |
-- |
1.7 |
-- |
-- |
32.0 |
YES |
| 1974 |
Buffalo |
74 |
30.6 |
.793 |
.547 |
0 |
.000 |
15.1 |
-- |
2.3 |
1.2 |
3.3 |
43.0 |
YES |
| 1975 |
Buffalo |
82 |
34.5 |
.805 |
.512 |
0 |
.000 |
14.1 |
-- |
2.2 |
1.1 |
2.1 |
43.2 |
YES |
| 1976 |
Buffalo |
78 |
31.1 |
.762 |
.487 |
0 |
.000 |
12.4 |
-- |
4.0 |
1.2 |
2.1 |
42.7 |
YES |
| 1977 |
Buffalo / New York |
72 |
25.8 |
.738 |
.512 |
0 |
.000 |
12.9 |
-- |
2.8 |
1.1 |
1.4 |
38.9 |
YES |
| 1978 |
New York |
79 |
26.5 |
.727 |
.520 |
0 |
.000 |
12.8 |
4.4 |
3.8 |
1.3 |
1.6 |
40.3 |
YES |
| 1979 |
New York / Boston |
60 |
24.8 |
.656 |
.529 |
0 |
.000 |
8.7 |
3.6 |
2.8 |
1.2 |
1.1 |
37.2 |
YES |
| 1980 |
Detroit |
58 |
21.1 |
.730 |
.480 |
3 |
.125 |
8.1 |
4.1 |
3.4 |
1.3 |
1.1 |
36.2 |
YES |
| 1981 |
Detroit / New Jersey |
16 |
10.3 |
.707 |
.433 |
0 |
.000 |
4.2 |
2.0 |
1.9 |
1.1 |
0.8 |
20.1 |
No |
| 1982 |
L.A. Lakers |
41 |
9.6 |
.714 |
.458 |
0 |
.000 |
3.9 |
1.2 |
0.8 |
0.5 |
0.9 |
18.2 |
No |
| 1983 |
L.A. Lakers |
47 |
15.0 |
.730 |
.520 |
0 |
.000 |
5.3 |
1.4 |
0.8 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
21.7 |
YES |
| 1984 |
L.A. Lakers |
70 |
13.1 |
.803 |
.471 |
0 |
.000 |
4.1 |
1.8 |
1.1 |
0.6 |
0.7 |
20.8 |
No |
| 1985 |
L.A. Lakers |
66 |
10.5 |
.753 |
.520 |
0 |
.000 |
4.5 |
1.4 |
1.0 |
0.3 |
0.8 |
19.0 |
No |
| 1986 |
Philadelphia |
29 |
10.1 |
.765 |
.462 |
0 |
.000 |
3.6 |
1.7 |
1.2 |
0.3 |
0.6 |
21.0 |
No |
| Career |
Career |
852 |
22.1 |
.754 |
.503 |
3 |
.081 |
9.4 |
2.6 |
2.3 |
1.0 |
1.5 |
33.2 |
YES |
In Europe:
Italian League:
At age 35, McAdoo signed with the Italian team Tracer Milan. Many people were concerned on whether he could still play in a high level at his age and whether he deserved
all the money his big contract granted. McAdoo not only played well but he even played for 6 more years, before
retiring at the age of 41! In his first year in Tracer Milan, he lead the team into winning both the Italian and the European Championship. In that season he averaged 26.1 points and 10.2 rebounds. He retired in 1992, finishing his career in Europe (where he has played for Milan, Forli and Fabriano) with Italian league averages of 26.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.
McDonald's Open:
McAdoo also participated in 2 McDonald's tournaments with
Tracer (later "Philips") Milan in 1987 and 1989. He set some scoring records that remain unbeaten, including the best record for most points in a game (44, 41 and 37) and highest scoring average (40 and 39). He was in the All-tournament best team both times his team participated (1987, 1989).