Long live Pistol Pete

Fri, March 1st, 2024

Author

The Grip
March 01, 2024

The Opening Tip

  • Pistol Pete was light years ahead

  • Wemby vs. Chet is gonna hit for years to come 

  • Daryl Morey is, indeed, a liar

Must watch games

1. Long live Pistol Pete’s 3,667 points

Pete Maravich’s NCAA scoring record, which has stood for 54 years and one month, has only a few days left. Caitlin Clark plays on Sunday. She’s 18 points away and averages 32.2 PPG.

Maravich never did much team winning (college or pro), died 36 years ago, had a greener light than Allen Iverson, played before integration was a given, and was coached by his dad, a Lavar Ball prototype.

And, yet, his NCAA scoring records remain hilarious historical outliers.

By the numbers: 

  • Pete scored his 3,667 points in three seasons and 83 games. Clark’s played 129 college games. The closest mens’ player to Pete’s record played 144 college games. 

  • Pete averaged 44.2 PPG for his career; the three highest NCAA mens’ scoring seasons are Pete, Pete and Pete. 

  • Clark is averaging 5.4 made 3s per game this season. Pete never had a 3-point line … or a shot clock. 

  • As a sophomore (he couldn’t play as a freshman), Pete averaged 39.3 shots per game in a 40-minute game. That’s nearly a shot a minute. 

Clark is the soon-to-be rightful scoring champ, but Pete will never relinquish the title of NCAA’s BA(ddest)MF.

[READ: Pistol Pete’s last shot]

2. Daily GIF: Giraffe vs. Giraffe

Victor Wembanyama dropped 28 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks and 2 steals with five made 3s last night in a win over OKC and his slender rival. He also hit a 3 from near the logo. 

[WATCH: Wemby vs. Chet highlights]

3. Trivia

Who’s the last player to lead the league in PPG and RPG in the same season?

• Shaq 

• Hakeem

• Wilt 

• Moses Malone

Guess, click and see if you're right.

4. Maybe this bottle lady was right

One’s a coincidence, two’s a trend, and three gets its own section in this newsletter, and we now have three accusations that Daryl Morey is, indeed, a liar, hence this section.

  1. James Harden, of course, called Morey a liar this summer. First in China, in front of an already anti-Morey crowd, then via a bottle lady in a nightclub. 

  2. Patrick Beverley called Morey a liar this past trade deadline; Morey allegedly told Pat Bev he wouldn’t be traded. (Narrator: He was.)

  3. Chris Paul went on Dwyane Wade’s podcast this past week, and told the story of how he got traded from Houston to OKC, the TLDR being Morey told him he wouldn’t get traded right before trading him. Watch here.

Morey is the NBA’s Billy Beane in terms of nerd stats, but definitely not people skills.

Quick hits

  • Chuck feels our pain on the never-ending churn of Lakers and Warriors content. 

  • The Knicks have lost 7 of 9 games after getting everyone excited and are only one game out of the play-in race. 

  • LeBron is now nine points from 40,000. 

  • Giannis is a pro-labor king. 

  • New thing to make fun of Chris Paul about just dropped. 

  • Thomas Bryant, who’s currently a suspended member of the Heat, collected his title ring from in Denver last night pregame, then immediately had to leave the court.

Reads

  • In Caitlin Clark, Pete Maravich has a studious and worthy heir [WaPo]

  • The G League isn’t just for NBA long shots anymore [The Ringer]

  • LeBron James might just keep doing this forever [Defector]

That's the buzzer.
Thanks for reading the 363rd edition of The Grip.