The 50 Greatest Players in Milwaukee Bucks History
By Ti Windisch
Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
38. Elmore Smith – A Real Big Buck
The Stats: Two seasons played in Milwaukee. 13.4/9.8/1.1/0.9/2.7 on 50.3/00.0/62.1.
The Accolades: Fourth-best Buck in terms of rebounds per game, averaged a double-double in 1976.
The Breakdown: It’s hard to see any positives coming from trading away Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but getting three of the franchise’s 50 greatest players does tend to soften the blow just a bit. Along with Elmore Smith, Milwaukee also got two other players on this list for Kareem.
Being the center to replace Kareem can’t have been easy, but Smith held his own despite the tough circumstances. In his only full season with the Bucks, Smith averaged 15.6 points, 11.4 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game! Smith was a classic kind of center–he scored down low, he rebounded and he blocked shots.
Unfortunately Smith would be dealt halfway through the next year, in large part due to Swen Nater becoming Milwaukee’s primary center for a season, before he would end up losing out to Kent Benson. The Bucks really messed up passing on Nater and Smith in this era, but luckily they still managed to find a lot of success over the next decade thanks to some players found much farther along on this list.
Next: Number 37