Wes Unseld

Wes Unseld
Unseld in 1975
Personal information
Born (1946-03-14) March 14, 1946
Louisville, Kentucky
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school Seneca (Louisville, Kentucky)
College Louisville (1965–1968)
NBA draft 1968 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the Baltimore Bullets
Playing career 1968–1981
Position Center
Number 41
Career history
As player:
1968–1981 Baltimore / Capital / Washington Bullets
As coach:
1988–1994 Washington Bullets
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 10,624 (10.8 ppg)
Rebounds 13,769 (14.0 rpg)
Assists 3,822 (3.9 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006
Medals
Representing United States United States
Pan American Games
1967 Winnipeg Team Competition
Universiade
1967 Tokyo Team Competition

Westley Sissel Unseld (born March 14, 1946) is an American former basketball player. He spent his entire NBA career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988.

Early life and college career

Unseld starred for the Seneca High School team that won Kentucky state championships in 1963 and 1964. At the University of Louisville in 1965, he played center for the school's freshman team, averaging 35.8 points and 23.6 rebounds over 14 games. Unseld lettered for Louisville as a sophomore (1965–66), junior (1966–67), and senior (1967–68), scored 1,686 points (20.6 average) and grabbed 1,551 rebounds (18.9 average) over 82 games. He led the Missouri Valley Conference in rebounding all three years.

Unseld as a member of the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team.

Unseld earned NCAA All-American honors in 1967 and 1968 and led Louisville to a 60–22 record during his collegiate career, making trips to the NIT tournament in 1966 and NCAA tournament in 1967 and 1968. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Professional career

Unseld was drafted by the Kentucky Colonels in the 1968 American Basketball Association draft, and was drafted second overall in the first round by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1968 NBA draft.[1]

As a rookie, Unseld helped lead the Bullets (who had finished in last place in the Eastern division the previous year) to a 57–25 record and a division title. Unseld averaged 18.2 rebounds per game that year, and became the second player ever to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the Most Valuable Player Award in the same year (the first to do this was fellow Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain). Unseld was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and also claimed the Sporting News MVP that year.

Unseld was one of the best defensive players of his era, and in 1975, he led the NBA in rebounding. The following season, he led the NBA in field goal percentage with a .561 percentage.

Famed for his rebounding, bone-jarring picks and ability to ignite a fast break with his crisp, accurate outlet passes, Unseld made up for his lack of size (6'7") with brute strength and sheer determination. Unseld took the Bullets franchise to four NBA Finals, and won the championship in 1978 over the Seattle SuperSonics, in which he was named the Finals MVP. He ended his playing career following the 1980–1981 season, and his #41 jersey was retired by the Bullets shortly thereafter.

In 984 NBA games – all with the Bullets – Unseld averaged a double-double, with averages of 10.8 points and 14.0 rebounds per game, as well as 3.9 assists per game, averaging over 36 minutes played per game. Unseld was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988, and in 1996, he was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time.[2]

Executive and coaching career

After his retirement in 1981, he moved into a front office position with the Bullets, where he served as vice president for six years before being named head coach in 1988.[3] He resigned following the 1994 season with a 202–345 record (.369).[4][5] Unseld became the team's general manager in 1996 and guided the team to the playoffs once during his tenure.

Personal life

Unseld's wife, Connie, opened Unselds School in 1979. A coed private school located in southwest Baltimore, it has a daycare program, nursery school and a kindergarten-to-eighth grade curriculum. Connie and daughter Kimberley serve as teachers at the school.[6][7] Unseld works as an office manager and head basketball coach. His son, Wes Unseld Jr., is currently the assistant coach of the Denver Nuggets.[8]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
† Denotes season in which Unseld won an NBA championship
* Led the league

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1968–69 Baltimore 82–36.2.476–.60518.22.6––13.8
1969–70 Baltimore 82–39.4.518–.63816.73.5––16.2
1970–71 Baltimore 74–39.2.501–.65716.94.0––14.1
1971–72 Baltimore 76–41.7.498–.62917.63.7––13.0
1972–73 Baltimore 79–39.1.493–.70315.94.4––12.5
1973–74 Capital Bullets 56–30.8.438–.6559.22.81.00.35.9
1974–75 Washington 73–39.8.502–.68514.8*4.11.60.99.2
1975–76 Washington 78–37.5.561*–.58513.35.21.10.89.6
1976–77 Washington 82–34.9.490–.60210.74.41.10.57.8
1977–78† Washington 80–33.1.523–.53811.94.11.20.67.6
1978–79 Washington 77–31.2.577–.64310.84.10.90.510.9
1979–80 Washington 82–36.3.513.500.66513.34.50.80.79.7
1980–81 Washington 63–32.3.524.500.64010.72.70.80.68.0
Career 984–36.4.509.500.63314.03.91.10.610.8
All-Star 5015.4.500–.6007.21.20.40.06.2

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1969 Baltimore 4–41.3.526–.78918.51.3––18.8
1970 Baltimore 7–41.3.414–.78923.6*3.4––10.4
1971 Baltimore 18–42.2.462–.56818.83.8––13.2
1972 Baltimore 6–44.3.492–.52612.54.2––12.3
1973 Baltimore 5–40.2.417–.47415.23.4––9.8
1974 Capital Bullets 7–42.4.492–.60012.13.90.60.110.1
1975 Washington 17–43.2.546–.65616.23.80.91.210.7
1976 Washington 7–44.3.462–.54212.14.00.90.67.0
1977 Washington 9–40.9.556–.58311.74.90.90.77.4
1978† Washington 18–37.6.530–.58712.04.40.90.49.4
1979 Washington 19–38.7.494–.60913.33.40.90.710.3
1980 Washington 2–43.5.500.000.66714.03.50.01.59.0
Career 119–41.1.493.000.60814.93.80.80.710.6

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wes Unseld". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Wes Unseld". NBA Encyclopedia Playoff Edition. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
  3. ↑ "N.b.a.; Unseld Is Named Bullets' New Coach". The New York Times. January 4, 1988. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Bullets' Unseld Quits as Coach". The New York Times. April 25, 1994. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  5. ↑ Terry, Mike (April 25, 1994). "Unseld resigns after 7 seasons as Bullets coach". Washington Post. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Eye on the Entrepreneur – Silver anniversary for Unseld's School". The Daily Record. Baltimore. February 27, 2004.
  7. ↑ Neale, Barrett (December 2010). "Unselds Are Still Heroes, But In Scholastic Arena" (156 ed.). Press Box (Baltimore, Maryland).
  8. ↑ "Meet the 2016-17 Nuggets Coaches". Denver Nuggets. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
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