Atlanta Hawks: Introducing the All-Time First-Team

Forward – Bob Pettit

Another guy in the conversation for the greatest Hawk of all-time is Bob Pettit. For his career, Pettit averaged 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds per game. He also has by far the most accolades of any Atlanta Hawk in history. Pettit was an 11-time All-Star, two-time scoring champ, 11-time All-NBA and a two-time MVP (he also only played 11 total seasons). And to top it all off, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971.

The biggest thing Pettit has going for him is that he played his entire career with the Hawks. All 11 seasons of Bob Pettit’s career were spent with the franchise, from being drafted by the Milwaukee Hawks to playing the next ten seasons with the St. Louis Hawks, Pettit was there.

In his 11 seasons, Pettit and the Hawks made it to the finals 4-times, each time they played the juggernaut Boston Celtics and they came out on top one time in 1958. The fact that they were able to win even one championship against arguably the best team of all-time is super impressive. Those that want to discount Pettit because “basketball wasn’t as good back then” should understand that Pettit played in the same era as Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell so he had a lot to handle on any given night.