From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
Jim McMillian
American basketball player (1948–2016)
American basketball player (1948–2016)
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Jim McMillian |
| image | Jim McMillian Bologna.jpg |
| height_ft | 6 |
| height_in | 5 |
| weight_lb | 215 |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Raeford, North Carolina, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S. |
| high_school | Thomas Jefferson |
| (Brooklyn, New York) | |
| college | Columbia (1967–1970) |
| draft_year | 1970 |
| draft_round | 1 |
| draft_pick | 13 |
| draft_team | Los Angeles Lakers |
| career_start | 1970 |
| career_end | 1981 |
| career_position | Small forward |
| career_number | 5 |
| years1 | – |
| team1 | Los Angeles Lakers |
| years2 | – |
| team2 | Buffalo Braves |
| years3 | – |
| team3 | New York Knicks |
| years4 | |
| team4 | Portland Trail Blazers |
| years5 | 1979–1981 |
| team5 | Sinudyne Bologna |
| stats_league | NBA |
| stat1label | Points |
| stat1value | 8,736 (13.8 ppg) |
| stat2label | Rebounds |
| stat2value | 3,319 (5.3 rpg) |
| stat3label | Assists |
| stat3value | 1,557 (2.5 apg) |
(Brooklyn, New York)
- NBA champion (1972)
- Italian League champion (1980)
- First-team All-American – USBWA (1969)
- 2× Second-team All-American – NABC (1969, 1970)
- Third-team All-American – UPI (1969)
- Third-team All-American – AP (1970)
- 3× First-team All-Ivy League (1968–1970)
- 3× Haggerty Award (1968–1970)
- First-team Parade All-American (1966)
James M. McMillian (March 11, 1948 – May 16, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. After starring at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, McMillian played college basketball for the Columbia Lions. He led Columbia to a three-year mark of 63–14, and their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1968, his sophomore year. The tourney ended with a third-place finish for Columbia in the East regional, and Columbia ended that 1967–68 season the sixth-ranked college team in the nation.
"Jimmy Mac" not only was a three-time All-American and All-Ivy Leaguer, he was All-East each year, the ECAC Sophomore of the Year, and became the first person to earn the Haggerty Award in each of his three varsity seasons. He is also known for doing a reverse behind the back layup in the 1972 NBA Finals, winning the 1972 championship in the end.
He scored 1,758 career points then a record, now second and averaged 22.9 points per game second-best then and now. McMillian is also second in career rebounds (743) and holds the season records for field goals in a season (253) and career (677). But despite their outstanding winning percentages, his Columbia teams managed only one Ivy League title in a period when they battled tough Princeton teams with Geoff Petrie and John Hummer and Penn teams with Dave Wohl and Corky Calhoun.
A tall forward, he was drafted in the first round as the 13th overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA and was also a pick of the Utah Stars of the ABA. He chose the Lakers and spent three years there, scoring 3,714 points, an average of 15.3 per game. In 1972, he helped lead the Lakers to an NBA Championship, averaging 19.1 points per game in the playoffs. He was a key factor in the Lakers' record-setting 33-game winning streak that season. McMillian, who was in his second season that year, replaced Elgin Baylor at forward and the team immediately launched their streak. After the retirement of Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers needed a center and traded McMillian to the Buffalo Braves for Elmore Smith. He later played for the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers.
At the end of his career he moved to Italy and played for Sinudyne Bologna for two seasons winning two Italian titles and reaching the final of the European Champions' Cup in 1981 where he did not play due to a serious injury.
McMillian's younger brother, Lloyd, played college basketball for the Loyola Marymount Lions and Long Beach State 49ers.
McMillian died from complications of heart failure on May 16, 2016.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
|- | 81 || || 21.6 || .459 || || .769 || 4.1 || 1.6 || || || 8.4 |- | 80 || || 38.1 || .482 || || .791 || 6.5 || 2.6 || || || 18.8 |- | 81 || || 36.5 || .458 || || .845 || 5.5 || 2.7 || || || 18.9
| - |
|---|
| 62 |
| - |
| 74 |
| - |
| 67 |
| - |
| 81 |
| - |
| 23 |
| - class="sortbottom" |
| 631 |
Playoffs
|- |12||||43.5||.436||||.676||5.4||1.8||||||15.1 |- |15||||41.6||.447||||.857||5.7||1.5||||||19.1 |- |17||||37.1||.466||||.733||4.8||2.2||||||20.1 |- |6||||37.3||.413||||.688||8.8||2.0||.7||.2||14.5 |- |7||||34.3||.453||||.929||4.9||2.0||1.6||.3||13.0 |- |9||||38.7||.473||||.868||4.1||2.1||1.6||.4||17.2 |- |6||||22.3||.453||||.833||3.5||1.8||1.2||.0||8.8 |- class="sortbottom" | 72 || || 37.8 || .451 || || .791 || 5.2 || 1.9 || 1.3 || .3 || 16.6
References
References
- (May 17, 2016). "Jim McMillian, Key Player for Lakers Title Team, Dies at 68". The New York Times.
- (February 8, 2001). "McMillian Starred for Lion Teams, And in NBA". Columbia Daily Spectator.
- "BATS web - Il Basket del Bats: formazioni del campionato italiano (1976-1980)". Il Basket del Bats.
- (December 13, 1976). "Long Beach State Excels, As Does 'Other' McMillian".
- (May 17, 2016). "Jim McMillian, 9-year NBA veteran with 4 teams, dies at 68". ESPN.
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about Jim McMillian — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report