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The
NBA’s Washington Capitols believed otherwise. The team drafted Sharman
later that year, burning a second round draft choice on a player that, they
hoped, would eschew baseball in favor of the sport in which his was most
gifted. Sharman listened to the team’s offer, and then signed a contract.
He was suddenly a two-sport athlete, a year-round player who would change
uniforms nonstop until 1955, when it became clear that a Major League
baseball career wasn’t going to materialize.
Basketball, on the other hand, proved far more rewarding. Sharman averaged
a team-high 12.2 point-per-game during his rookie season with the Capitols,
this at a time when NBA games were low-scoring affairs, the shot clock still
four years away from changing the game forever. Washington would fold 31
games into the regular season, and Sharman landed in Fort Wayne following
the dispersal draft. But Sharman never played for the Pistons. He was
traded, along with Bob Brannum, to the Boston Celtics in exchange for the
draft rights to Charlie Share. It was the first of many shrewd transactions
by head coach Red Auerbach, who needed a player to help ease the scoring
burden shared by Bob Cousy and “Easy” Ed Macauley.
In
1951-52, his first season with the Celtics, Sharman concentrated on fitting
in with his new teammates. Cousy and Macauley were clearly the stars,
averaging 21.7 and 19.2 points, respectively, and both players proved it by
averaging more than 40 minutes-per-game. Sharman, by contrast, averaged
just 22 mpg, but still managed to score 10.7 points per game and shoot .859
from the free-throw line. Boston finished in second place in the Eastern
Division with a 39-27 record, but the lack of a dominant center cost them in
the
division semifinal series against New York. It would prove to be a
recurring theme for the pre-Bill Russell Boston Celtics – a better than
average team, but not good enough to win it all. Still, the pieces were
slowly coming into place, and Sharman was a perfect compliment to Cousy in
the Celtics’ backcourt.
A
season later, Sharman earned Auerbach’s complete trust and found himself
rewarded with a more integral role in the Celtics’ fast-break attack. He
averaged 16.2 ppg while playing increased minutes, and captured the first of
seven league free-throw crowns. He was also selected to his first All-Star
Game. The Celtics advanced to the Eastern Division Finals where, for the
third straight season, a New York Knick team dispatched them from the
playoffs.
1953-54 was a near repeat of the previous season. Boston’s original Big
Three produced big numbers, with Macauley leading the league in field goal
percentage, Cousy leading the league in assists, and Sharman leading the
league in free-throw percentage. All three were All-Star Game players for
the second consecutive season. Cousy, for his part was named All-Star Game
MVP. Still, the Celtics remained one of the smaller teams in the league,
potent on offense but unable to compete with the elite teams on the glass.
Auerbach’s selection of junior-eligible Frank Ramsey offered hope, but only
in future seasons. The Celtics again fell in the Eastern Division Finals,
this time 0-2 to the Syracuse Nationals.
A new
era dawned with the 1954-55 NBA regular season, as the 24-second shot clock
placed a new premium on scoring from the perimeter. Sharman found the new
pace to his liking, as his average increased to 18.4 ppg and he once again
found himself in the NBA All-Star Game. This time it was his turn to garner
MVP honors – thanks to a brilliant fourth quarter performance that propelled
the East to a 100-91 victory over the West at Madison Square Garden. His
third consecutive free-throw crown capped a season of personal highs,
proving him to be nearly perfect from the foul line, and his top-ten finish
in field goal percentage raised the bar for guards throughout the league.
Another Eastern Division Finals loss, again at the hands of the Nats, ended
the Celtics’ season in frustration.
Auerbach drafted tough man Jim Loscutoff prior to the 1955-56 campaign, and
the rookie joined a Celtics team with Sharman in his prime. Sharman’s 19.9
ppg average was a career-high. His free-throw crown was his fourth in as
many years. He was again an All-Star, and for the first time in his career
he was chosen for the All-NBA First Team. Despite the breakout season, a
semifinals loss to the Nats convinced Auerbach that changes needed to be
made if the Celtics were to compete for an NBA Championship. He would have
to break up the nucleus of the team – but who would go? Cousy was arguably
the Celtics’ best player, and easily its most popular. Sharman was now his
All-NBA counterpoint in the backcourt. That left Macauley, the lithe big
man who could do wonderful things on the offensive end of the court, yet
found himself wildly overmatched against the game’s goliath’s when it came
time to rebound and defend. So Auerbach and owner Walter Brown concocted
what would become the biggest trade in NBA history, offering Macauley and
the rights to Cliff Hagan to the St. Louis Hawks for the right to draft Bill
Russell.
The
arrival of Russell, along with fellow rookie Tommy Heinsohn, vaulted the
Boston Celtics to a special place among the NBA elite. Sharman’s 21.1 ppg
led the team, earned him a second consecutive All-NBA First Team nod, and
cemented his reputation as one of the best shooting guards of his
generation. He was again the league leader in free-throw percentage. He
was an All-Star for the fifth consecutive season. And, for good measure, he
was able to add a monumental achievement to his growing cache of awards and
accolades: Bill Sharman, world champion. The Celtics, with Russell leading
the way, finished the 1956-57 regular season with a 44-28 record and a first
place finish in the Eastern Division. From there, the team purged itself of
years of playoff disappointment, reaching the 1957 NBA Finals and winning
Game 7 in thrilling fashion. That double-overtime win against the Hawks not
only gave Boston its first title, it launched arguably the greatest dynasty
in the history of professional sports.
Dolph
Schayes ended Sharman’s grip on the free throw crown a season later, and an
ankle injury to Bill Russell cost the Celtics a second consecutive NBA
title. Still, Sharman turned in another impressive season-long performance;
he helped the Celtics clinch the NBA's best record, at 49-23, while shooting
.424 from the field and averaging a career-best 22.3 points-per-game. He
was again an All-NBA First Team selection. He was also an All-Star.
Baseball was suddenly a distant dream, something that he no longer pursued
professionally, and he found himself leading the NBA into a bold new era,
one that lifted his sport out of the periphery and into the national
consciousness.
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