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Mack Calvin

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Mack Calvin
Personal information
Born (1947-07-27) July 27, 1947 (age 77)
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
High schoolLong Beach Polytechnic
(Long Beach, California)
College
NBA draft1969: 14th round, 187th overall pick
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers
Playing career1969–1981
PositionPoint guard
Number20, 21, 24, 33
Career history
As player:
1969–1970Los Angeles Stars
1970–1972The Floridians
1972–1974Carolina Cougars
1974–1975Denver Nuggets
1975–1976Virginia Squires
1976Los Angeles Lakers
1976–1977San Antonio Spurs
1977–1978Denver Nuggets
1979–1980Utah Jazz
1980–1981Cleveland Cavaliers
As coach:
1975Virginia Squires
1992Los Angeles Clippers
Career highlights and awards
Career ABA and NBA statistics
Points12,172 (16.1 ppg)
Rebounds1,923 (2.5 rpg)
Assists3,617 (4.8 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Mack Calvin (born July 27, 1947) is an American former basketball player. A five-time ABA All-Star, Calvin recorded the second most assists in ABA history, and was later named to the ABA All-Time Team.

High school career

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Calvin was born in Fort Worth, Texas and attended Long Beach Poly in California.

College career

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A 6'0" point guard from Long Beach City College and the University of Southern California, Calvin was a 14th-round draft pick of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers in 1969.

In his final college season, Calvin and his Trojans defeated the UCLA Bruins, 46–44, in Pauley Pavilion, ending several of the Bruins' consecutive win streaks: 17 straight over USC, 41 in a row overall, 45 consecutive in Pacific-8 Conference play, and 51 straight at Pauley.[1]

Professional career

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He played seven seasons (1969–1976) in the now-defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) and four seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Calvin began his professional career with the ABA's Los Angeles Stars, averaging 16.8 points per game in his first regular season to make the ABA All-Rookie Team. Despite finishing 43-41, in the 1970 ABA Playoffs Calvin, George Stone, and Craig Raymond, helped the Stars make an unexpected trip to the ABA Finals.[2] On the way there, during a win over the Dallas Chaparrals in the division semifinals, Mack scored a postseason career high 44 points, while adding 16 assists.[3][4] In the finals, Calvin averaged 15.8 points and 5 assists per game during a 4-2 series loss to Roger Brown and the Indiana Pacers.[5] The following season, he averaged a career-high 27.2 points for The Floridians, in the process setting the ABA records for most free throws made (696) and most free throws attempted (805) in one season.[6] During the 1974-75 ABA season, Calvin helped the Nuggets to a 65-19 record by averaging 7.7 assists per game, both of which were best in the league.[7] However, in the Western Division Finals, Denver was eliminated by Indiana in a seven game series.[8] In 1976, Calvin played while also briefly coaching the Squires. In total during his ABA career, Calvin tallied 10,620 points and 3,067 assists (second in ABA history behind only Louie Dampier's 4,044) and appeared in 5 All-Star games.

Calvin joined the Lakers for the 1976–77 NBA season but saw a sharp decline in playing time. He was able to match the same level of production per minute he reached while in the ABA, though. He spent his four seasons in the NBA with five teams—the Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs, the Denver Nuggets (which had joined the NBA in 1976), the Utah Jazz, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the 1978 NBA Playoffs, during his second Denver tenure, Calvin and the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference Finals, before being eliminated by the Seattle SuperSonics.[9] Calvin retired in 1981 with an NBA career scoring-average of 7.0 points per game.

Coaching career

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He coached Virginia Squires in the ABA (1975–76) for six games and Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA (1991–92, as an interim head coach in February 1992 for two games).

References

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  1. ^ Jerry Crowe, "Mack Calvin waited it out with USC to beat UCLA", Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2009
  2. ^ "1969-70 Los Angeles Stars Roster and Stats". Basketball Reference.
  3. ^ "Mack Calvin Playoffs Game Highs". Basketball Reference.
  4. ^ "1970 ABA Western Division Semifinals Game 4: Dallas Chaparrals at Los Angeles Stars". Basketball Reference.
  5. ^ "1970 ABA Finals Stars vs. Pacers". Basketball Reference.
  6. ^ The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia. Villard Books. 1994. pp. 208–209. ISBN 0-679-43293-0.
  7. ^ "1974-75 ABA Season Summary". Basketball Reference.
  8. ^ "1975 ABA Western Division Finals Pacers vs. Nuggets". Basketball Reference.
  9. ^ "1977-78 Denver Nuggets Roster and Stats". Basketball Reference.
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