132. Dick McGuire
Sometimes play makers who don’t focus on their own stats get forgotten over time, but luckily for Dick McGuire he never fell into that trap. Many casual fans today don’t know his name but by most hardcore fans he is well remembered.
After four solid years at St Johns McGuire entered the BAA draft and was selected by the New York Knicks. Before the season the BAA and NBL merged to form the NBA.
McGuire made an immediate impact on the Knicks his rookie season. He lead the team and league in assists, became their starting point guard and averaged just under 9 points a game. His second year he once again lead the team in assists and made his first all-star game.
McGuire helped the Knicks reach three straight NBA finals from 1951 until 1953, unfortunately the Knicks lost all three of those series; two of them to the George Mikan lead Lakers.
He was a seven time all-star, and in 1959 at age 33 became the older all-star ever, and record since broken.
In the late 50s the Knicks began to struggle and after 8 seasons with the Knicks McGuire was traded to the Fort Wayne Pistons for a first round draft pick. The Pistons relocated during that off-season to Detroit.
While with Detroit he made two more all-star appearances and became a player coach in 1959, his last NBA season. He remained the Pistons head coach for three more seasons. He was briefly the coach of the Knicks as well from 1965 until 1968.
His brother was Al McGuire who coached Marquette University to the 1977 NCAA title, Al and Dick McGuire are also the only pair of brothers to be inducted into the basketball hall-of-fame. McGuire had his jersey retired by the Knicks in 1992 and worked as a consultant for the Knicks until February 3, 2010 when he died of an aneurysm at age 84.
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