Sep 1

Sep 1 Oscar Robertson : The Big O

Oscar Robertson: The Big O - Elite at almost Everything

The story of NBA great Oscar Robertson

Great players do not need catchy nicknames to remind sports fans of who they are.

Greatness shows itself whether it is on a podium or buried on a bad team. Names such as; “His Airness”, “Flash”, “The Truth”, “Magic”, are all names that without batting an eyelash, people know exactly whose face belongs to those nicknames.

When fans hear the name “The Big O”, there is no mistaking who that is.

Although he only won one title, his impact on the way the game is played today is still being recognized and credited to him. Continuing with the list of The Greatest NBA Players I n NBA History, here is the career of Oscar Robertson.

Oscar Robertson, the Man

Today, the basketball world celebrates players like Lebron James, someone who can play point guard with above-average height and strength for that position.

Magic Johnson is thought to have revolutionized the point-guard position, and also to be the template for James’ game. That is a nice sentiment but is also a blatant example of recency bias.

Oscar Palmer Robertson stood at 6 feet, 5 inches, and weighed over 200lbs during his playing career, which lasted 14 seasons. Robertson began his career at the perfect time in the NBA.

The big man, the center position, was long to be considered the most admirable position on the court.

Robertson’s game proved that dominance with size and strength can be successfully combined with the elegance and grace necessary to play the point-guard position.

Robertson in the NBA Draft

Robertson was drafted in 1960 by the Cincinnati Royals as a Territorial Pick.

The original concept of Territorial picks was to introduce a rule to help teams acquire popular players from colleges in their area who would presumably have strong local support.

Although the special draft rule was widely respected throughout the league, the first pick which was a non-territorial pick was still considered to be first overall in the NBA draft. Territorial Picks were sent the way of the dinosaur in 1966 when the league overhauled the drafting system.

Robertson was signed by the Royals with a $33,000 signing bonus, which was big-time loot for an individual professional basketball player at that time in history.

Robertson was the King of assists

Not surprisingly, Oscar had a triple-double in his debut as a rookie for Cincinnati, scoring 21 points, grabbing 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Later that same season, Robertson dropped 44 points (first career-high in points), had 15 rebounds, and assisted on 11 of his teams’ baskets for another “shocking” triple-double in his first season. He would finish his rookie season nearly averaging a triple-double (30.5 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 9.7 APG).

In only his second season in the NBA, Robertson became the first player to average a triple-double for the season (30.8 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 11.4 APG).

The Big O set the NBA ablaze with his assist totals throughout his time playing for the Royals, none bigger than when he set the record for the most assists during the regular season of 41 assists.

That record has since been broken by Russell Westbrook who recorded 42 assists in the 2016-17 season. That record stood for over 4 decades before Westbrook broke it.

One of the greatest passers in NBA history? You bet.

Robertson leaves the Royals

Perhaps it was the prolific manner in which Robertson established these records, or it was the way his assists translated into wins, but something fractured the relationship between the team and Robertson.

There are no specific details surrounding the sudden trade that saw the Milwaukee Bucks pick up Robertson.

Suspicion among those closest to the league at that time point to Oscar breaking the record of assists in one season as the start of his ending, the record established by his head coach Bob Cousy.

Things became quite nasty and public between the Royals and Robertson.

Despite his triple-doubles and even a comeback by Cousy as a player, the team continued to miss the playoffs while Robertson represented the team that would eventually become the Sacramento Kings.

In a sense, Robertson owes his Hall Of Fame career to the trade that saw him join rookie Lew Alcindor (later to be known to the world as Kareem-Abdul Jabbar). The two formed a formidable tandem which produced Oscar’s only title of his career (1971).

Triple-Doubles

The triple-double as a statistical category has only been tracked by the NBA since 1979 (coincidence that Magic Johnson was drafted that year?). Without being a math major, anyone can calculate that it was counted as a stat some 20 years after Robertson first played.

Imagine how many records he would still hold, or awards that he would have won had analytics been relevant during his playing days.

Oscar Roberton: The Walking Triple-Double

The career numbers of the Big O are both astonishing and incomplete. Robertson was a victim of being born too early, before the invention of the three-point shot, and the tracking of triple-doubles which did not exist until years after he retired.

Oscar Robertson's Career Accolades

● NBA Champion (1971)

● NBA MVP (1964)

● 12x NBA All-Star

● 3x NBA All-Star Game MVP

● 9x All-NBA First Team

● 2x All-NBA Second Team

● 1961 NBA Rookie Of The Year

● 6x NBA Assists Leader

More Big O Stats

Three other players in history have had more 30-point-per-game seasons than Robertson. Fudging the numbers would show Robertson to average a triple-double in his first 5 seasons.

Robertson still owns the record for assists with 181 total triple-doubles in his illustrious career.

Along with Nate Archibald, Robertson was the first of only two players to lead the NBA in both scoring and assists per game in the same season.

Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame in 1980, Robertson has also been named the Player Of The Century by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Beyond Basketball - Oscar Robertson off the court

Oscar Robertson was much more than a great basketball player.

From his early beginnings growing up in Indiana, Robertson saw, and experienced racism first hand. It was at an early age that he decided that he would use his platform to make a difference once he had made it to the NBA.

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram did not exist during Robertson’s time. Instead, his contributions to society off of the court went without much fanfare but were celebrated nonetheless.

Robertson was particularly interested in improving the living conditions in his old neighbourhood, especially for black people.

Robertson was involved in a landmark lawsuit between the NBA Players’ Association, which he represented, and the NBA. Under his leadership, the players forced a delay in the merger of the ABA and NBA, as well as the draft and free-agency policies were reformed.

Summing up the career of Oscar Robertson

True, Oscar Robertson has only one NBA title to his name.

The influence of Robertson and impact that he had on the game, however, is almost immeasurable. Only someone as great as Robertson can have an award named after him (NCAA Player Of The Year award named after Robertson in 1998.

Only he can boast to having the most triple-doubles in a career, probably forever. And considering that triple-doubles were not tracked as a stat while he played, or the three-pointer, that record could have been put way beyond reach.

Robertson held the single-season assist record for 40 years and is even credited with patenting the famous baseline fade away shot of Michael Jordan.

Robertson is the mould that guards such as Magic, Jordan, and Lebron, guards over 6 feet tall, would be able to learn how to dominate the game from a position traditionally played by smaller individuals.

Here’s to the Big O, Oscar Robertson, one of The 20 Greatest Players In NBA History.