How exciting a player was Pete Maravich?
Blake: Well, I was the one who made the move to draft Pistol Pete, of course. He was, perhaps, too flamboyant. Pistol was a show unto himself and, eventually, turned out to be a pretty good role player when he got to Utah and Boston. But, sometimes the ball stopped at Pete even though he was one of the great showmen of all time. He was a great showman in college and he was a great showman in the NBA. But, of course, Maravich really never played on any great teams in which you can accentuate his showmanship. He was not a great defensive player, but he was a great scorer and a great showman. And, you know, it’s a shame that he couldn’t have played on a team to take advantage of his great abilities. Q: How about Rick Barry? Blake: Barry is one of the greatest shooters of all time. I mean, Rick, if anything, was too hard on himself and his teammates because he thought that everybody should be as good as Rick Barry. Why players today don’t use the underhand free-throw shot, I’ll never know.
