40. Greg Smith – The Fifth Starter
The Stats: Four seasons played in Milwaukee. 9.7/8.4/2.2/0.0/0.0 on 49.3/00.0/66.3.
The Accolades: Started on the Bucks 1971 championship team. Drafted 50th overall in 1968, part of the first Bucks team in NBA history.
The Breakdown: Greg Smith is very much a right place, right time kind of guy. Smith managed to break 10 points a game just once in his 10 year career. That one season just so happened to be 1971, the year the Milwaukee Bucks won their first and only NBA title.
Thus, Smith goes down in history. And rightfully so. Smith recorded career-bests in points and assists per game that season, and had the second-most rebounds per game of his career. He also stepped up big time in the playoffs, averaging 11.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game on 54.7 percent from the field.
Smith understood that with Jon McGlocklin, Bob Dandridge, Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar starting alongside him, he didn’t have to do much for the Bucks. So he played smart, efficient basketball and made sure to not hurt his team, which was all Milwaukee needed from him to win a title that season.
Next: Number 39