Originally Posted by
CDu
Davis has played 5 years, and tomorrow will be his 143rd game (Maravich played just 83). The shot clock is largely irrelevant, as teams actually played generally faster back in the late-60s than they do today. They ran up and down the court and chucked up a lot of shots. For example, LSU averaged 75 FGA and 29 FTA per game in Maravich's senior year. Alabama (2nd in tempo this year) averages just 62 FGA and 24 FTA per game. And that's ignoring turnovers, which weren't tracked in Maravich's era but are now.
Maravich's main limitation relative to today's players is games played. The pace of play difference more than offsets the differences in shot clock and 3pt line. Maravich averaged 44.2 points on 38.1 FGA per game. But he also benefited from being totally showcased while playing for his dad, and playing in an era in which team defense wasn't nearly as sophisticated or as good as it is today.
It's just really hard to compare, sort of like it's hard to compare any starting pitcher today to Cy Young.