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Bob Rule
American basketball player (1944–2019) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bobby Frank Rule (June 29, 1944 – September 5, 2019) was an American professional basketball player. He played at center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Seattle SuperSonics, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Milwaukee Bucks. He was selected to the first team NBA All-Rookie team. In his second and third NBA seasons, he was in the top 10 in scoring average, where virtually every other player in that category for those two seasons were eventually inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. His career was derailed in the fourth game of his fourth season by an Achilles tendon injury from which he never fully recovered.
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Early years
Rule was born on June 29, 1944, in Riverside, California.[1] He played high school basketball at Riverside Polytechnic High School.[2] As a 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) senior in 1962, he was All-Citrus Belt League (CBL) first team at center. He was second in scoring in the CBL behind future NBA player Jim Barnett from rival Ramona High School.[3][4]
College career
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Early in his college career, Rule played under the legendary Jerry Tarkanian, then head coach at Riverside Community College. It was under Tarkanian that Rule honed his defensive and footwork skills.[5] In 1964, Rule was named the Most Valuable Player of the California Junior College State Championships after leading the Riverside City College Tigers to a 35–0 record and the school's first state championship team.[2] Looking back years later, in retirement, Tarkanian commented that Rule "might be the best player I ever coached" and that Rule was "the most dominant player in the history of California junior college basketball."[6] Among the players Tarkanian coached in college were Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony and Isaiah Rider.[7][8]
Rule then transferred to and starred at Colorado State for two seasons.[5] As a junior (1965-66), the 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Rule played forward, averaging 16.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game; leading the Rams in rebounding.[9] In 1966, Rule and Colorado State made the NCAA tournament but lost to a Houston team that featured future Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes.[10] Rule led the Rams with 18 points, in the 82–76 loss to Houston.[11] Rule's teammates included future American Basketball Association and American Football League player Lonnie Wright, and future NBA player Dale Schlueter.[9][12][13][14]
As a senior (1966-67), Rule averaged 14.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.[15] Rule played in the Amateur Athletic Union for the Denver Capitol Federal during the 1966–67 season and was named an All-American.[16]
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NBA career
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Seattle SuperSonics
A second round pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1967 NBA draft, 19th overall,[17] Rule quickly became one of the stars of Seattle's expansion franchise.[18][19] As a rookie 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) undersized center, Rule averaged 18.1 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.[20][21] He was named to the 1967–68 first-team NBA All-Rookie Team, along with teammate Al Tucker, future Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, and future Hall of Fame guards Earl Monroe and Walt Frazier.[22][23][24][25] Rule scored 47 points in a November 21, 1967 game against the Los Angeles Lakers; and combined with fellow rookie Al Tucker for 71 points against the Lakers in that game.[26]
Rule's 18.1 points per game average stood as the SuperSonics rookie record for forty seasons, until broken by Kevin Durant in 2008, with a 20.3 points per game average.[27][28] His 71 combined point total with Tucker was a rookie duo record for the SuperSonics until broken by Durant (37) and Jeff Green (35) with 72 points, in an April 2008 double-overtime game against the Denver Nuggets.[29][30] Rule's rookie rebounding average of 9.5 is the second best ever by a SuperSonics rookie, behind only Pete Cross's 12.0 in the 1970–71 season.[31] Cross had taken Rule's place at center that season when Rule suffered a season ending injury that derailed his career.[31] Rule's 47 points against the Los Angeles Lakers is still a SuperSonics rookie record.[21]
Rule's game grew stronger during the next two seasons. In the 1968–69 season, he averaged 24.0 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game.[32] He was sixth in the NBA in scoring average that season, and 14th in rebounding average. Every player who ranked above him in scoring average is in the NBA Hall of Fame (Elvin Hayes, Earl Monroe, Billy Cunningham, Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson), as were the three ranked immediately below him (Gail Goodrich, Dave Bing and Hal Greer).[33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]
In the 1969–70 season, he averaged 24.6 points per game and 10.3 rebounds per game; leading Seattle in both categories.[41] He was seventh in the NBA in scoring average and 15th in rebounding average. Every player in the top 10 in scoring that season other than Rule is in the NBA Hall of Fame (Hayes, Cunningham, Monroe, Bing, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lou Hudson, Connie Hawkins and John Havlicek).[42][43][44][45][46][47] Rule scored 40 or more points on five separate occasions (including a then-SuperSonics record of 49 points in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers),[48][49] and played in the 1970 NBA All-Star Game.[19][50]
In the 1970–71 season, Rule began the season averaging 32.7 points per game and 13.7 rebounds per game over the first three games. He had 37 points and nine rebounds against the Detroit Pistons, 36 points and 15 rebounds against the Boston Celtics (and future Hall of Fame center Dave Cowens) and 25 points and 17 rebounds against the Phoenix Suns.[51][52][53][54] In the fourth game, after scoring 21 points and pulling down five rebounds in the first half against the Portland Trailblazers,[55] Rule had a season-ending torn Achilles tendon,[56] ending his season at 29.8 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game, for his 3½ games.[57][19]
Hall of Fame player and coach Lenny Wilkens, who both played with and coached Rule during his peak in Seattle,[58][32][41] said “Bob could score, no question about that . . . He had tremendous hands. He would grip the ball like a grapefruit". Rule played well against the great NBA centers.[21] In two years playing against the Boston Celtics and Bill Russell, he averaged around 25 points per game, including a November 8, 1968 game in Boston where he scored 37 points and had 15 rebounds against the Celtics and Russell. On December 15, 1968, he scored 37 points against Wilt Chamberlain and the Los Angeles Lakers.[21][59][60] In a November 21, 1969 game against the Milwaukee Bucks and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he had 35 points and 11 rebounds.[61] In a November 25, 1969 game against the San Francisco Warriors and Hall of Fame center Nate Thurmond, he had 24 points and 16 rebounds; and a 33 point 11 rebound game against them a few weeks later.[62][63][64] On December 6, 1969, he had 40 points and 12 rebounds against the Baltimore Bullets and Hall of Fame center Wes Unseld.[65][66] In late December 1969, he had 25 points and nine rebounds against the New York Knicks and Hall of Fame center Willis Reed.[67][68]
After his injury, however, Rule never regained his All-Star form and saw limited playing time thereafter.[21] By 1974 his career was over.[69]
Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks
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Personal life and death
After his playing career ended, Rule worked for the Youth Basketball Academy in the San Diego area. He lived in Menifee, California, just south of Riverside.[21]
Rule was inducted into the Riverside City College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.[5]
Rule died on September 5, 2019, in Riverside, at his childhood home where his sister resided.[70][27][21]
NBA career statistics
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Regular season
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References
External links
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