The entire NBA family and basketball community is mourning the loss of one of its legends. On Monday morning, it was announced that Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton passed away at the age of 71 from cancer.
A shock to many, the news of Walton’s death is profoundly sad. With a special gift of gab that he parlayed into a lengthy and successful broadcast career, Walton was one of a kind.
On the floor, he was one of the best centers to ever do it.
Besieged by injuries for the duration of his career, Walton, 6 feet, 11 inches, won the NBA championship at just 24 years of age, leading the Portland Trail Blazers past Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in 1977. That season, Walton put up 18.6 points, 14.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3.2 blocks - his block and rebound averages leading the league that year. After losing the first two games of the Finals, the Blazers reeled off four straight against the 76ers, with “Big Red” dominating in the clinching Game 6 with 20 points, 23 rebounds, 8 blocks, and 7 assists.
The following season, he won the league’s Most Valuable Player award, averaging 18.9 points, 13.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.5 blocks.
While 1977 and 1978 would be Walton’s only All-Star campaigns (he missed ‘78-‘79, ‘80-‘81, and ‘81-‘82 with foot injuries), his career renaissance took place in 1985-1986, when he won Sixth Man of the Year on one of the greatest NBA teams in history. That season, he played a career-high 80 games, filling a crucial role for the Boston Celtics.
Two years later, Walton retired at age 35.
Beginning in 1990, Walton analyzed the game for the NBA on CBS and later the NBA on NBC, providing great and entertaining color commentary with the also late Steve “Snapper” Jones. Walton went on to ESPN, and most recently was the color commentator on college basketball games with Dave Pasch as the play-by-play man. Walton also worked Clippers’ games with Ralph Lawler as well as providing commentary for the Sacramento Kings.
With an exuberant and colorful personality, Walton was an entertaining a commentator as you could find, with his arbitrary tangents about different subject matter forming a very unique style. By all accounts according to those who knew him, he was an outstanding human being, which is the ultimate compliment that can bestowed upon someone.
Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993, Walton is also regarded as one of the greatest college basketball players of all-time. In three years at UCLA, Walton averaged 20.3 points, 15.7 rebounds, and 5.5 assists, and won three consecutive National Player of the Year awards from 1972-1974, as well as back-to-back national championships and Final Four Most Outstanding Player Recognition in 1972 and 1973. In the 1973 national title game against Memphis State, he put up 44 points and had 13 rebounds on a remarkable 21-for-22 from the field. His UCLA teams went 60-0 in his first two years there.
While Walton’s exceptional ability and early success only provided a glimpse of what fans could have gotten over a 10-15 year period, he still left a mark on the NBA that will last forever.
The legend will be missed.
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