Elvin Hayes - The Big E

Elvin Ernest Hayes (born November 17, 1945 in Rayville, Louisiana) is a retired American basketball player. He is a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Hayes joined the NBA with the San Diego Rockets in 1968 and in his rookie year, he scored a career-high 54 points against the Detroit Pistons on November 11 of that year. As a rookie, Hayes led the NBA in scoring with 28.4 points per game, averaged 17.1 rebounds per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. Hayes' scoring average is the fifth best all-time for a rookie, and he remains the last rookie to lead the NBA in scoring.

In Hayes' second season, he led the NBA in rebounding, becoming the first player other than Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain to lead the category since 1957 (Chamberlain was injured during much of the season). In Hayes' third season, 1970-71, he scored a career best 28.7 points per game.

In 1972, Hayes was traded to the Baltimore Bullets, where he teamed with Hall-Of-Famer Wes Unseld to form a fierce and dominating frontcourt combination that led the Bullets to 3 NBA Finals (1975, 1978, and 1979), and an NBA title over The Seattle SuperSonics in 1978. He shined brightly, especially in the NBA playoffs. During the Bullets' championship season (1978), he averaged 21.8 points and 12.1 rebounds per game in 21 playoff games. One year later, he set an NBA Finals record for most offensive rebounds in a game (11), in a May 27, 1979 game against the SuperSonics. Hayes had a career scoring average of 21.0 points and 12.5 rebounds per game.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• basketball

[billsh2o]

this video sucks

[BrendonWayne2p]

The only award he got was the ALL ROOKIE TEAM... Wes Unseld averaged half the points(14) and only one more board per game(18) and got MVP along with ROY. The Bullets had a 57-25 record, Elvins team was only 37-45. Still they made the playoffs and with those ridiculous numbers should have got co-rookie of the year!!

[Gurgle727]

@gregrieke20 he was 6'11"

[Osani65]

I met him once when he came back home to Rayville. Very cool gentleman.

[Ariamaluum]

His teammate, Stu Lantz, said that Wes should have won the MVP but that Elvin should have won the Rookie of the Year.

[Brookssee821]

Elvin Hayes should have won rookie of the year based on stats. His stats were better that year than Unseld. Also Chamberlain did better stat wise than Unseld that year so Unseld should not have won MVP either.

[gregrieke20]

Man, I love Hubie Brown, but Elvin Hayes was not the Rookie of the Year, in fact it was Unseld. Also Elvin was 6'9", not 6'11"