Reflections on the Extraordinary Basketball Life of Pat Williams
Pat Williams, who built the powerful 1983 Philadelphia 76ers team that stormed to the NBA championship with a 12-1 postseason record, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 84. Williams was the General Manager of the 76ers from 1974-86, a period during which the 76ers reached the NBA Finals four times (1977, 1980, 1982-83) while reaching the Eastern Conference Finals seven times (1977-78, 1980-83, 1985).
This has been a sad week for fans of the 1970s and 1980s 76ers; on Tuesday, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant passed away. Bryant played for Williams' 76ers in the mid to late 1970s, and was part of the "Bomb Squad" reserve unit, along with World B. Free. Free and former 76ers coach Gene Shue reunited with the San Diego Clippers in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
Williams took over a moribund 76ers team and quickly turned them into a championship contender by drafting Doug Collins, signing George McGinnis away from the ABA's Indiana Pacers, and then acquiring Julius Erving from the New York Nets after the 1976 ABA-NBA merger. The 76ers' owner at that time, Fitz Eugene Dixon, had only recently purchased the team and was not very familiar with pro basketball. After Williams informed Dixon that Erving was available for the then-astronomical price of $6 million (including compensation to the Nets plus a long term contract for Erving), Dixon asked who Erving was. Instead of replying that Erving was a three-time regular season MVP, Williams explained simply that Erving is "the Babe Ruth of basketball." Dixon then told Williams "Fine and dandy," and the rest is history: Erving spent the last 11 seasons of his pro career with the 76ers, winning the 1981 regular season MVP and earning five All-NBA First Team selections while leading the 76ers to the league's best overall regular season record from 1976-83 plus the aforementioned seven Eastern Conference Finals appearances, four NBA Finals appearances, and one NBA title.
Williams had a "20-20-20" vision for Erving, McGinnis, and Collins, convincing those three stars that the 76ers would be best served by having a balanced attack with three 20 ppg scorers as opposed to an offense featuring one 30 ppg scorer and two 15 ppg scorers. The 76ers posted the Eastern Conference's best regular season record in 1976-77 (50-32) with Erving averaging 21.6 ppg, McGinnis scoring 21.4 ppg, and Collins chipping in 18.3 ppg. All three players made the All-Star team, and Erving and McGinnis earned All-NBA Second Team selections as well. The 76ers lost 4-2 in the NBA Finals to a Portland Trail Blazers team featuring Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas.
The 76ers gradually moved away from the 20-20-20 approach toward an approach recognizing that Erving was clearly the team's best player. Erving averaged an NBA career-high 26.9 ppg in 1979-80 and he finished second in regular season MVP voting to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose L.A. Lakers defeated Erving's 76ers 4-2 in the NBA Finals after rookie Magic Johnson had 42 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists in game six to earn Finals MVP honors.
Erving won the 1981 NBA regular season MVP, becoming the first non-center to capture that honor since Oscar Robertson won the 1964 NBA regular season MVP and foreshadowing the way that non-centers would soon dominate MVP voting--but during that era a team needed a dominant center to win an NBA title, and even the great Erving could not win an NBA title with a center duo of Darryl Dawkins and Caldwell Jones trying to match up with Hall of Fame big men Bill Walton, Washington's duo of Wes Unseld-Elvin Hayes, Jack Sikma, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Robert Parish; teams led by those big men won every NBA title between 1976 and 1982. Williams solved the 76ers' big man problem by acquiring Moses Malone prior to the 1982-83 season. Malone, who had already won the 1979 and 1982 regular season MVPs, teamed with Erving to form one of the greatest duos in pro basketball history: Malone won the 1982-83 regular season MVP after averaging 24.5 ppg and a league-leading 15.3 rpg, while Erving was fifth in 1982-83 regular season MVP voting, his fourth straight top five finish. The 1983 76ers' 12-1 playoff record stood as the all-time standard for postseason excellence until the 2001 L.A. Lakers went 15-1 in an expanded playoff format, followed by the 2018 Golden State Warriors going 16-1 after the NBA again expanded the playoff format.
Although Williams enjoyed his greatest professional success while working in the NBA, he began his sports career in baseball, not basketball. He played catcher on a scholarship for Wake Forest, and then he spent two years playing in the minor leagues before moving into a front office role for the Miami Marlins, then a minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1967, The Sporting News honored Williams as the Minor League Executive of the Year.
Williams first became involved with the NBA in 1968, and he worked for several different franchises. He began his NBA career with the Philadelphia 76ers, enjoyed a successful tenure as the Chicago Bulls' General Manager, briefly took that same role with the Atlanta Hawks, and then returned to Philadelphia in 1974. In 1989, Williams
helped to launch the Orlando Magic expansion franchise, and Williams was a pillar in Orlando ever since that time, not only building the Magic into a championship contender but also attempting to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to Orlando.
Nick Anderson, the first player chosen in the NBA Draft by the expansion Orlando Magic in 1989 with the 11th overall pick, posted a heartfelt tribute to Williams that reads in part, "I'm totally devastated. This is a sad day for Basketball and Orlando. My kids asked 'Why you crying Daddy?' and I told them because I lost a father for the second time. The last time I felt this tore up was when my father passed away. And now my basketball father Pat Williams has gone to join my dad in Heaven."
During Williams' tenure with the Magic, the expansion team quickly became a contender, reaching the NBA playoffs in their fifth season, and then making four straight playoff appearances from 1994-1997. The Magic drafted Shaquille O'Neal in 1992, and acquired Penny Hardaway in a draft day trade in 1993. Those two players led the Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals.
Williams was also a motivational speaker, and the author of more than 100 books, including The Winning Combination: 21 Keys to Coaching and Leadership Greatness. Williams was not only a shrewd personnel evaluator and savvy businessman, but he was a wonderful ambassador for basketball. In 2012, Williams received the John Bunn Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame short of induction. He was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame and the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame. Faith and family were always foremost for Williams, who raised 18 children (14 of whom were adopted) with his wife first wife Jill.
I interviewed Williams twice. He was very generous with his time, and very forthcoming with his answers. Williams will be deeply missed by all of the people whose lives he touched, and his impact and legacy will never be forgotten.
Labels: Doug Collins, George McGinnis, Julius Erving, Nick Anderson, Orlando Magic, Pat Williams, Philadelphia 76ers
posted by David Friedman @ 11:54 AM
