Dave Bing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Bing (born November 24, 1943 in Washington, D.C.) is a former All-Star player in the National Basketball Association, primarily for the Detroit Pistons from 1966 to 1975. He went on to spend two years with the Washington Bullets and one with the Boston Celtics before retiring at the conclusion of the 1977-78 season.
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[edit] High school and college
The career of Dave Bing began in 1959 where he played at the Spingarn, Washington D.C. high school, where he was a three-year letter winner, he was an all-Inter High, an All-Metro, an All-East member and in 1962 was in Parade magazine and was a member of the All-American Team. After that he attended Syracuse University,where he led Syracuse in scoring as a sophomore (22.2) in 1964, (23.2) as a junior in 1965, and a senior (28.4) in 1966, that year he was 5th in the nation in scoring, he was Syracuse's first consensus All-American in 39 years, named to The Sporting News All-America First Team, and was named Syracuse Athlete Of The Year. His number 22 has been retired at Syracuse University. Dave Bing was also a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity at Syracuse.
[edit] Detroit Pistons
In 1966 Bing joined the NBA as a first round pick of the Detroit Pistons, where in his rookie year he scored 1,601 points (20.0 points per game) and was named the NBA Rookie Of The Year. The next year, he used his sweet shooting touch to lead the NBA in scoring with 2,142 points (27.1 points per game). Bing averaged 20.3 points and 6 assists per game in his 12 NBA seasons, played in seven NBA All-Star Games (1968,1969, 1971–1976, and winning the All-Star Game MVP Award in 1976), was named to the All-NBA First Team twice in 1968 and 1969, and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
His playing style was somewhat unusual for the time. As the point guard he functioned as the playmaker distributing the ball, but also did more shooting and scoring than most others who had this position. At one time a current joke about him and his backcourt partner, Jimmy Walker, was that it was a shame they could only play the game with one ball at a time.
Bing was one of the great players who never led his team to the NBA Finals, a distinction he shared with other NBA greats such as Bob Lanier, Pete Maravich, Connie Hawkins, Dan Issel, and Bernard King.
[edit] Life after basketball
Bing went on to become a successful businessman in the Detroit area after his retirement. At the 1990 NBA All-Star Game, he received the Schick Achievement Award for his work after his NBA career. His number 21 was retired by the Detroit Pistons, and in 1996, he was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time.
