Elgin Baylor
Elgin Gay Baylor ( born September 16, 1934 in Washington, DC ) is a retired American professional basketball player. Between 1958 and 1971 he played in the U.S. professional league NBA team for the Minneapolis Lakers / Los Angeles Lakers. Baylor is 1,96 m tall and played the position of forward. He is one of the strongest offensive wingers basketball history, alongside Rick Barry, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Furthermore, he was between 1975 and 1979 coach of the New Orleans Jazz and 1986-2008 General Manager of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Career
High School and College
Growing up in the U.S. capital Washington played Baylor ( 1952-55 ) at the Springarn High School visited only by African Americans. As the first black he was elected to the city of Washington's selection. In the fifties, the colleges began to recruit African-Americans, but Baylor did not pass the entrance exams. He went to the College of Idaho, although these were only offered him a football scholarship. Baylor never played there but football, but opted again for basketball. After only one year, he joined the school and went to Seattle University. He had, however, due to the change of the season 56/57er expose.
In the two following years, Baylor was one of the best players in the NCAA. With an average of 29.7 points and 20.3 rebounds per game In 1957 he was appointed to the All-American Second Team. A year later he came after a season with 32.5 points and 19.3 rebounds even the All-American First Team. The (except Baylor ) rather sparse team of Seattle University came in 1958 to the NCAA finals, but it lost to the Kentucky Wildcats with 72-84. Baylor was named outstanding player of the finals ( Most Outstanding Player) appointed and joined the NBA. The Minneapolis Lakers selected him first in the draft of 1958.
NBA
Baylor brought the Lakers instantly successful. After a season in which he was voted " Rookie of the Year " ( Rookie of the Year ), he led the Lakers to the NBA Finals. There, however, they lost against the Boston Celtics. In his second season Baylor broke a ten- year-old NBA record when he scored 64 points against the Celtics on November 8, 1959. For a new -finals his achievements, however, were not enough, the Lakers were subject in seven games in the Western Division Finals against the St. Louis Hawks. After the 59/60 season, the Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.
In his first three years in Los Angeles Baylor reached his career peak. Over 34 points he made in the season 60/61 per game. On November 15, 1960, he scored against the New York Knicks 71 points, breaking his own record. With Jerry West, who came into the NBA in 1960, Baylor was the probably the best duo in the league. In the season 61/62 he scored 38.3 points per game, the highest average points, the ever reached a winger. However, he was forced to do this year his military service at Fort Lewis, Washington. For the Lakers, he was allowed to play only on weekends, and was able to participate in only 48 of 80 games this season. Had he been allowed to play the entire season, he probably would have scored the first winger 3000 points in a season. So this performance Michael Jordan were reserved.
In the season 61/62 and 62/63 were subject to the Lakers twice the Celtics in the NBA Finals. In the fifth game of the final series between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics in 1962, Baylor scored with 61 points, the most points ever to have been scored by a player in a final match - a record that still exists today. This brand was also long time the highest score in a playoff game until Michael Jordan in the second game of the Erstrundenserie against the Boston Celtics scored 63 points ( Jordan, however, needed two extensions for this performance ) on 20 April 1986.
On April 3, 1965, Baylor suffered a serious knee injury. The doctors had to remove part of his kneecap him. For the Lakers, the season was already in the first play-off round ends because Baylor turned out for the rest of the season. After this injury, Baylor was not the same player. Previously, he was an acrobatic Highflyer, who with his inexhaustible arsenal of movements displaced people in awe. But now he lost his speed and bounce. Accordingly, in the following season he scored just 16 points per game and was first appointed to his career, not the All- NBA 1st Team.
In the following season, Baylor changed his game dramatically. He relied more on his art now than on his athleticism. So he made a comeback, scoring 24 points per game and was re-appointed to the All- NBA team. The Lakers again subjected to the final, but subject for the umpteenth time against the Celtics. In order to break the supremacy of Boston, took a Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke in 1968 reinforcement in the person of Wilt Chamberlain. However, despite the concentrated offensive power from West, Chamberlain and Baylor, the Lakers were subject to 1971 two more times in the final.
Injury Plagued and now 36 -year-old ended Baylor after nine games in the 1971/72 season of his career. Ironically, the Lakers won in exactly that year their first championship since the days of George Mikan. Baylor assistant coach in 1974 at the New Orleans Jazz, which made him in December 1976 for the head coach. After a rather disappointing record of 86-135 in three and a half years, Baylor was released in 1979. Between 1986 and 2008 he was General Manager of the Los Angeles Clippers. During this time, the Clippers only reached four times the playoffs.
With a total score of 23,149 and an average of 27.4 points in 846 games Baylor is one of the best throwers NBA history. Since, however, he played in the Wilt Chamberlain era, he was never a scorer NBA season. He stood nine times in the finals of a championship (1x College, 8x NBA) and lost every time. He never won the award for MVP, but spent seven years in the top five in the election, in 1963 even second behind Bill Russell. On 2 May 1977, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.