20 Second Timeout

Gene Shue's Remarkable NBA Career Should Never be Forgotten

Gene Shue, the only person to make five NBA All-Star teams and win two NBA Coach of the Year awards, passed away on April 3 at the age of 90. Shue's multifaceted NBA career began in 1954 when the Philadelphia Warriors made him the third overall selection in the draft, and continued into the early 1990s when he served as the Philadelphia 76ers' General Manager. 

Shue did not immediately become a star NBA player, and he did not even average at least 10 ppg until his third season--but he emerged as a All-Star in his fourth campaign, and then he made the All-Star team five years in a row. In 1960, Shue made the All-NBA First Team alongside Hall of Famers Bob Cousy, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and Bob Pettit. Shue ranked sixth in the league in scoring (1712 points, 22.8 ppg) and 11th in assists (295, 5.5 apg) that season. He made the All-NBA Second Team in 1961 behind Cousy and Oscar Robertson but ahead of rookie Jerry West, among others.

Shue scored 10,068 points in his 10 season NBA career at a time when the 10,000 point club was considered a "select circle" of great players listed in the annual official NBA Guide. Shue's playing career ended in 1964, and just two years later his coaching career began as he took the reins for the 4-21 Baltimore Bullets. The Bullets, founded in 1961 as the Chicago Packers, had yet to post a single winning season, but in Shue's second full season the team posted the best record in the league, 57-25. That quick turnaround earned Shue the first of his Coach of the Year awards. The Bullets were swept by the rising New York Knicks--who won two of the next four NBA titles--but in 1971 Shue guided the Bullets to the NBA Finals, where they were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks. Hall of Famers Wes Unseld and Earl Monroe had their most productive individual seasons during Shue's run in Baltimore. The team moved to Washington, D.C. in 1973, but Shue resigned because he did not want to move to Washington, D.C. Instead, Shue became the coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, who had just finished the worst season in NBA history up to that time (9-73). In the next four seasons, Philadelphia's win total increased to 25, 34, 46, and 50. The 76ers added a lot of talented players during that time--including Doug Collins, George McGinnis, and Julius Erving. Shue guided that trio to the 1977 NBA Finals, where the 76ers took a 2-0 lead over the Portland Trail Blazers before losing four straight games to Bill Walton and crew. The 76ers fired Shue after the team started 2-4 during the next season.

Shue then took over his third reclamation project, becoming the coach of the San Diego Clippers in 1978; in the previous two seasons, the Clippers--then known as the Buffalo Braves--won 30 games and then won 27 games. The Clippers won 43 and 35 games during Shue's two years with the team, but did not qualify for the playoffs in either season. Shue then returned to the Bullets franchise, now known as the Washington Bullets. He led the team to the playoffs three times in five full seasons, winning his second Coach of the Year award in 1981. The Bullets fired Shue with 13 games remaining in the 1986 season, and he finished his coaching career with a brief, unsuccessful return to the hapless Clippers, who had relocated to L.A.

Shue's .477 career regular season winning percentage (784-861) is not a fair representation of his coaching skills, because he repeatedly took over bad teams, and he generally made those teams better. He was renowned for his ability to connect with players who had been cast off by other teams, and for his innovative coaching strategies; for example, to alleviate pressure against his guards when he coached Philadelphia he sometimes had his centers bring the ball up the court. Also, he was an early adopter of the three point shot: Shue coached the Clippers during the first season that the NBA used the three point shot (1979-80), and his team led the league in three pointers made (177) and three pointers attempted (543) while ranking second in three point field goal percentage (.326). During the 1979-80 season, the Clippers' Brian Taylor ranked first in three pointers made (90--more than all but three teams that season!), first in three pointers attempted (239), and fifth in three point field goal percentage (.377). Those numbers may seem small in light of the NBA's three point revolution during the past few years, but at that time Shue's Clippers were one of the few NBA teams that attempted three pointers in any situation other than as a desperation heave with the shot clock/game clock expiring or down by three points with time running out. 

I am not sure how many people participated in the NBA as a player, coach, or executive in five different decades, but that list must not be very long, and Shue's name is on it.

Labels: Baltimore Bullets, Detroit Pistons, Gene Shue, Julius Erving, Philadelphia 76ers, Washington Bullets, Wes Unseld

posted by David Friedman @ 11:40 PM

2 comments