Unsung Lakers heroes of the past: Bob McAdoo
In this ongoing series, we will take a trip to yesteryear to highlight some Los Angeles Lakers players whom some fans may have forgotten. These players didn’t get the billing that some others enjoyed, but they were very instrumental to the Lakers’ success.
In the 1970s, Bob McAdoo was a legitimate NBA superstar, but his stock declined toward the end of the decade, and in the early 1980s it looked like his career may have been over. But the Lakers took a flyer on him, and it turned out to be a decision that helped them go from a one-hit wonder to “Showtime.”
From an MVP to a 'malcontent'
Many younger basketball fans may not be aware of the fact that McAdoo was once one of the NBA’s dominant big men. He was the No. 2 pick in the 1972 draft by the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers), and his 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds a game earned him the Rookie of the Year award.
The very next season, he began a run that only a few players in any era have ever matched. He led the league in scoring for three straight seasons with averages of 30.6, 34.5 and 31.1 points a game, and he was named the regular season MVP for the 1974-75 campaign. During that three-year span, he also put up 13.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots a game.
At 6-foot-9, McAdoo could play the 4 and 5 positions, and he was one of the league’s first great jump-shooting big men. In those days before the 3-point line was added to the NBA, he regularly hit jumpers from distance, but he also didn’t shy away from taking the ball to the hoop when the opportunity presented itself.
Unfortunately, the Braves were never an elite team, and they ended up trading him to the rebuilding New York Knicks early in the 1976-77 season. There, McAdoo’s career started spiraling downward. His production declined, and he would soon have trouble staying healthy.
New York sent him to the Boston Celtics during the 1978-79 campaign. After half a season there, he was dealt to the Detroit Pistons, who jettisoned him to the New Jersey Nets midway through the 1980-81 season. By now, he appeared to be in definite decline and his playing time had been drastically slashed.
This was around the time McAdoo was being called a malcontent by the national media for his perceived selfishness and unwillingness to play through injury. He didn’t play early in the 1981-82 season, and at the age of 30, it looked like he was done.
But that was when the Lakers played lifeguard and threw him a buoy.
McAdoo was the missing piece to 'Showtime'
With a rookie named Magic Johnson leading the way, the Lakers won the 1980 NBA championship, but after Johnson missed much of the following season, they were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs. It looked like they were a one-hit wonder, and they had lots of work to do.
Early in the 1981-82 season, they got off to an uneven start that resulted in head coach Paul Westhead being fired after Johnson asked to be traded through the media. Pat Riley, then a modest assistant coach, took over for Westhead, and he wanted to unleash his greyhounds in a fast-breaking style that would come to be known as “Showtime.”
But he knew L.A. needed help in the frontcourt. He discovered that a benchwarmer named Kurt Rambis had the ability and willingness to do the dirty work, but he still needed another reinforcement up front.
McAdoo was available, and although some were skeptical he would fit in, the team sent a future second-round draft pick and cash to New Jersey for him. The trade occurred on Christmas Eve, and it was like a gift from the heavens for him.
However, he would have to come off the bench for the Lakers, and it would be a major adjustment for the former MVP. But McAdoo didn’t show a hint of his alleged bad attitude, and with him providing instant offense off the bench, Showtime was born in earnest.
Even better, McAdoo showed a willingness to also defend and rebound. He averaged 9.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 18.2 minutes a game during the regular season, and the Lakers headed into the playoffs heating up like a summer morning in Woodland Hills. They swept through the initial rounds of the playoffs into the NBA Finals, where they dispatched Julius Erving’s Philadelphia 76ers in six games to capture another world championship.
In that final sixth game, McAdoo scored 16 points and added nine rebounds and three blocks. He was the X-factor in L.A.’s triumph.
McAdoo would play three more seasons with the Lakers. In each of those campaigns, they would reach the championship series, and they won it all yet again in 1985, this time against the hated Boston Celtics.
When they lost in 1983 and 1984, McAdoo missed part of the finals both times due to injury. If he had been healthy, particularly in 1984, when they fell in seven games to Boston, the outcome may have been different.
McAdoo left L.A. and played one final season with the Sixers in the 1985-86 campaign before starting a second basketball career in Europe. While his best individual years were spent in upstate New York, his most successful and fulfilling years came in Southern California as he helped launch “Showtime.”
