Oscar Robertson was the NBA’s first great big point guard –
a player who stretched the boundaries of what people thought point guards
should be able to do.
Magic Johnson made the “Triple-Double” popular and Russell Westbrook
has averaged a triple-double the past two seasons. But those two players are
just crossing territory uncovered by the Big O. Robertson famously became the
first player to average a triple-double in 1961-1962 when he averaged 30.8 points,
12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists per game. He very nearly did It again in
1963-1964 when he missed averaging 10.0 rebounds per game by two boards.
There’s black ink all over Robertson’s resume. He led the NBA
in scoring once (1967-1968), free throw percentage twice (1963-1964 and 1967-1968)
and in assists seven times (1960-1961, 1961-1962, 1963-1964, 1964-1965,
1965-1966, 1967-1968 and 1968-1969). His 9.5 assists per game for his career
still ranks fourth all-time and his 25.7 points per game remains ninth.
His advanced stats weren’t quite as dominant. He never led
the league in PER – he played in the Wilt Chamberlain era – but he did top 25.0
six times in his first seven seasons. He did lead the league in win shares once
(1964-1965) and in 1963-1964 he was second to Wilt despite being one of just
six players to ever top 20.0 win shares in a season. Robertson played before Box
+/- and VORP were calculated.
With all of these accomplishments, why is Robertson outside
of the top 20? His Cincinnati Royals teams were mostly middling and he didn’t
play for championship level teams until he was past his prime. Robertson played
10 seasons in Cincinnati (after playing three seasons at the University of
Cincinnati) and the Royals missed the playoffs four times and were bounced in
the first round in four of the six years they did make the postseason. That
means Robertson missed out on a lot of playoff points.
Finally, at the age of 32, Robertson was traded to Milwaukee
Bucks in one of the most lopsided deals in history. The Royals got Flynn
Robinson and Charlie Paulk and Milwaukee got the perfect player to feed Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar. With Robertson running the show, the Bucks blitzed the NBA, going
66-16 in the regular season and 12-2 in the playoffs. Robertson guided the Bucks
to the NBA Finals again in 1972-1973, where they lost to Boston in seven games.
Robertson retired after the year and Milwaukee fell to 38-44
even with a healthy Abdul-Jabbar.
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Oscar
Robertson bio info
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Career
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1960-1974
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Games
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1,040
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Points
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25.7
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Rebounds
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7.5
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Assists
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9.5
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FG Pct.
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48.5%
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All-Star games
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12
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NBA MVPs
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1
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NBA titles
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1
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Playoff seasons
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10
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Playoff games
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86
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Points
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22.2
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Rebounds
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6.7
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Assists
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8.9
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FG Pct.
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46.0%
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Hall of Fame
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1980
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Top 100
rankings
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||
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Points
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Top 100 ranking
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1-year
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373.25
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26th
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5-year
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1,648.00
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25th
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10-year
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2,965.29
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22nd
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Career
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3,546.96
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30th
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Oscar
Robertson at his peak
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|||
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1963-1964
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Robertson
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Top 5
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Points
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PER
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27.6
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26.07
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Win Shares
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20.6
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18.43
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Box +/-
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NA
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NA
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VORP
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NA
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NA
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Total Advanced Stats
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48.2
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44.50
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108.31
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Playoff PER
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24.7
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24.42
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Win Shares
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2.0
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2.28
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Box +/-
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NA
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NA
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VORP
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NA
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NA
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Total Advanced Stats
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26.7
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26.70
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100.01
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Reg. Season Win %
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68.35
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68.35
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Playoff Win %
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40.00
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40.00
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MVP Voting (75 points)
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362/480
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56.56
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Playoff MVP (25 points)
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0
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0
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Total Score
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373.25
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Robertson’s 10 greatest seasons
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1963-1964
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373.25
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1970-1971
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332.57
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1962-1963
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328.54
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1965-1966
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318.17
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1964-1965
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295.47
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1966-1967
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294.09
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1961-1962
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292.56
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1971-1972
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259.68
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1972-1973
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244.85
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1973-1974
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226.11
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Career
winning percentage
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|||
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W
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L
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Pct.
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Regular Season
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627
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413
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60.29%
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Playoffs
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46
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40
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53.49%
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