One of the true great guards of the 70s and one of the few truly awesome people from that decade of basketball. Unlike many of his contemporaries Walt Frazier never had drug problems or egotistical off the court issues which defined the NBA in the 70s. Instead he was a steadfast anchor for the Knicks leading them to two NBA titles. Frazier attended little Southern Illinois where he was anything but a star. He played three years there, including one on the Freshman team, and in all three of those years he was a good but not great player. He appeared in 50 games averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds. The struggling New York Knicks took a change on the guard and selected him with the 5th overall pick in 1967. The Knicks where coming off their first playoff appearance in 7 seasons and their highest win total since 1954 needed a new star and at first it appeared that they still had not found him. Frazier averaged only 9 points a game as a rookie but the Knicks started to see some success.

Frazier would averaged 20 or more points a game for six consecutive years from 1970 until 1975 and make the all-star team every year from 1970 until 1976; including in 1975 where he was named the games MVP. He lead the Knicks back to the finals in 1973 where they captured another NBA title.

In 1977 the Knicks signed Jim Cleamons and had to give the Cleveland Cavaliers Frazier as compensation. By this point though Frazier’s game had diminished to were he was no longer a star. He had a nice first year in Cleveland averaging 16 points a game but injuries started to happen. He missed all but 12 games the following season and in 1979 when an injury happened the Cavs released Frazier after 3 games.

In total Frazier played in 825 career games with averages of 19 points and 6 rebounds. He was named one of the top 50 greatest players in 1996, had his jersey retired by the Knicks and was elected to the hall of fame in 1987.

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