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Game state source: whynba · Retrieved Oct 9, 6:37 pm EDTNBA legend. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Biography, honors and career statistics below.
Walt Bellamy
Career at a glance
Walt Bellamy played 14 NBA regular seasons between 1961 and 1975, appearing in 1,043 games and averaging 20.1 points, 13.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He played for 6 teams: Chicago (1961–63, 159 games), Baltimore (1963–66, 168 games), New York (1965–69, 268 games), Detroit (1968–70, 109 games), Atlanta (1969–74, 338 games), New Orleans (1974–75, 1 games). His best scoring season was 1961–62 with Chicago: 31.6 points per game over 79 games.
He rebounded best in 1961–62 at 19.0 per game. The season table marks him as the league leader in field-goal percentage once. In the playoffs he appeared in 7 postseason runs (46 games, 18.5 points per game).
Multiplying each season’s games by its scoring average gives roughly 20,900 regular-season points (an estimate from per-game figures, not an official total). Among the 404 players with at least 200 NBA games profiled on whynba, Bellamy ranks No. 8 in rebounds per game.
whynba analysis of the season-by-season statistics below (Wikipedia revision, CC BY-SA 4.0). Totals are estimates from per-game averages.
About Walt Bellamy
Walter Jones "The Big Bell" Bellamy (July 24, 1939 – November 2, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. He played 13 full seasons as a center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for four different franchises. Bellamy was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice: in 1993 for his individual career and again in 2010 as a member of the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team.
He was a star player for Indiana University in basketball, where he averaged 20.6 points and 15.5 rebounds per game over a three-year career, with a.517 field goal percentage. Bellamy was named an All-American and first-team All-Big Ten while at Indiana as a junior and senior. After his junior year, Bellamy was invited to join the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team. In the Olympic Games that year, the U.S. gold medal team won every game by an average of over 40 points and is considered among the best amateur level basketball teams of all time.
Bellamy was the first overall pick of the 1961 draft, when he was selected by the expansion team Chicago Packers. In his rookie season, he averaged 31.6 points and 19 rebounds per game on his way to winning Rookie of the Year in what has been called one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history. He had a double-double in every game in which he played during his rookie season.
- Born
- July 24, 1939 New Bern, North Carolina, U.S.
- Listed height
- 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
- Listed weight
- 225 lb (102 kg)
- Position
- Center
- High school
- J.T. Barber (New Bern, North Carolina)
- College
- Indiana (1958–1961)
- NBA draft
- 1961: 1st round, 1st overall pick
- Playing career
- 1961–1974
Career highlights and awards
- 4× NBA All-Star (1962–1965)
- NBA Rookie of the Year (1962)
- Consensus second-team All-American (1961)
- First-team All-American – USBWA (1960)
- Second-team All-American – NEA (1960)
- Third-team All-American – UPI (1960)
Career statistics
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961–62 | Chicago | 79 | – | 42.3 | .519* | – | .644 | 19.0 | 2.7 | – | – | 31.6 |
| 1962–63 | Chicago | 80* | – | 41.3 | .527 | – | .674 | 16.4 | 2.9 | – | – | 27.9 |
| 1963–64 | Baltimore | 80 | – | 42.4 | .513 | – | .651 | 17.0 | 1.6 | – | – | 27.0 |
| 1964–65 | Baltimore | 80* | – | 41.3 | .509 | – | .685 | 14.6 | 2.4 | – | – | 24.8 |
| 1965–66 | Baltimore | 8* | – | 33.5 | .452 | – | .597 | 12.8 | 2.3 | – | – | 19.0 |
| 1965–66 | New York | 72* | 72 | 42.8 | .512 | – | .627 | 16.0 | 3.0 | – | – | 23.2 |
| 1966–67 | New York | 79 | 78 | 38.1 | .521 | – | .636 | 13.5 | 2.6 | – | – | 19.0 |
| 1967–68 | New York | 82 | 64 | 32.9 | .541 | – | .662 | 11.7 | 2.0 | – | – | 16.7 |
| 1968–69 | New York | 35‡ | 31 | 32.5 | .507 | – | .619 | 11.0 | 2.2 | – | – | 15.2 |
| 1968–69 | Detroit | 53‡ | 31 | 38.2 | .512 | – | .663 | 13.5 | 1.9 | – | – | 18.8 |
| 1969–70 | Detroit | 56 | – | 20.9 | .547 | – | .562 | 7.1 | 1.0 | – | – | 10.0 |
| 1969–70 | Atlanta | 23 | – | 37.2 | .491 | – | .605 | 13.5 | 3.8 | – | – | 15.5 |
| 1970–71 | Atlanta | 82 | – | 35.5 | .493 | – | .604 | 12.9 | 2.8 | – | – | 14.7 |
| 1971–72 | Atlanta | 82 | – | 38.9 | .545 | – | .585 | 12.8 | 3.2 | – | – | 18.6 |
| 1972–73 | Atlanta | 74 | – | 37.9 | .505 | – | .538 | 13.0 | 2.4 | – | – | 16.1 |
| 1973–74 | Atlanta | 77 | – | 31.7 | .486 | – | .608 | 9.6 | 2.5 | .7 | .6 | 13.1 |
| 1974–75 | New Orleans | 1 | – | 14.0 | 1.000 | – | 1.000 | 5.0 | .0 | .0 | .0 | 6.0 |
| Career | 1,043 | – | 37.3 | .516 | – | .632 | 13.7 | 2.4 | .7 | .6 | 20.1 | |
| All-Star | 4 | 3 | 20.8 | .500 | – | .526 | 7.5 | 1.0 | – | – | 12.0 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Baltimore | 10 | – | 42.7 | .468 | – | .663 | 15.1 | 3.4 | – | – | 20.9 |
| 1967 | New York | 4 | – | 39.3 | .519 | – | .586 | 16.5 | 3.0 | – | – | 18.3 |
| 1968 | New York | 6 | – | 46.2 | .421 | – | .625 | 16.0 | 3.5 | – | – | 20.0 |
| 1970 | Atlanta | 9 | – | 40.9 | .468 | – | .717 | 15.6 | 3.9 | – | – | 16.8 |
| 1971 | Atlanta | 5 | – | 43.2 | .594 | – | .759 | 14.4 | 2.0 | – | – | 20.8 |
| 1972 | Atlanta | 6 | – | 41.2 | .488 | – | .628 | 13.7 | 1.8 | – | – | 18.5 |
| 1973 | Atlanta | 6 | – | 41.2 | .395 | – | .452 | 12.2 | 2.2 | – | – | 13.7 |
| Career | 46 | – | 42.2 | .471 | – | .642 | 14.8 | 3.0 | – | – | 18.5 |
Per-game averages. † won an NBA championship · * led the league · ‡ NBA record (as marked).
Profile observation date unavailable.
- Height
- 6′ 10″
- Weight
- 225 lb
- Position
- Center
- Jersey
- Not listed
- Country
- USA
- School / last affiliation
- Not listed
- Draft year
- 1961
- Draft pick
- Round 1 · Pick 1
Height, Weight, Position, Country, Draft year, Draft pick: blank in the NBA.com profile, filled from the Wikipedia infobox credited in the About section above.
Roster observations
These dates show when our saved NBA directory observations listed this player with a team. They are not signing, trade or contract dates, and this is not a complete career history.
No roster observations are stored for this player. Historical profile details above do not establish a current team assignment.
Profile source
Biographical fields reflect the saved official profile at the check time shown above. Team assignments use the dated directory evidence in Roster observations. Offseason rosters and jersey numbers can change.
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