BILL SHARMAN

Perhaps the greatest shooter of his day and certainly the most meticulous, Bill Sharman played during an era that was inhospitable to accurate shotmaking. Baskets had stiff and sometimes slanting rims. Arenas were poorly lighted and roofs occasionally leaked. Boston Garden, with an ice rink under the parquet, was renowned for its slippery floor. However, even these manifold impediments could not thwart Sharman’s dead-eye jumper, a tool that only increased in importance after the introduction of the 24-second shot clock. Posting a .436 field goal percentage during the 1952-53 season, he became one of the first NBA guards to cross the .400 threshold. He also was a lifetime 88.3% free-throw shooter and on Christmas Day in 1957, recorded his 55th consecutive conversion.

Sharman was the perfect complement to Bob Cousy in the Celtics backcourt. Many years later, he noted: “When I played college ball, I played forward. I was a pretty good shooter. But I never did handle the ball. Cousy is maybe the greatest ball handler of all time. I could run around and get free. It was just wonderful the relationship we had on and off the floor.”

Sharman invented the shootaround routine that college and pro teams use before games today. As head coach in Los Angeles for the 1971-72 season, he led his former rivals to their first championship and was named NBA Coach of the Year. One of his players, Jerry West, remembered his first encounter with Sharman as a rookie during the 1960-61 season. After he hit seven straight jumpers over the veteran Celtics guard, Sharman took a swing at him. “Bill was tough,” West observed. “I tell you this, you did not drive by him. He got into more fights than Mike Tyson. You respected him as a player.”