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Max Zaslofsky

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Max Zaslofsky
Zaslofsky in 1948
Personal information
Born(1925-12-07)December 7, 1925
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedOctober 15, 1985(1985-10-15) (aged 59)
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High schoolThomas Jefferson
(Brooklyn, New York)
CollegeSt. John's (1945–1946)
Playing career1946–1956
PositionShooting guard
Number10, 5, 14, 6
Coaching career1966–1968
Career history
As player:
1946–1950Chicago Stags
1950–1953New York Knicks
1953Baltimore Bullets
1953Milwaukee Hawks
1953–1956Fort Wayne Pistons
1956Trenton Capitols
1957–58Wilkes-Barre Barons
As coach:
1966–1968New Jersey Americans/New York Nets
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points7,990 (14.8 ppg)
Assists1,093 (2.0 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Max "Slats" Zaslofsky (December 7, 1925 – October 15, 1985) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) where he was selected to the all-league first-team from 1947 to 1950.[1] In the 1947–48 BAA season, at 21 years of age, he led the BAA in scoring, and in the 1949–50 NBA season, he led the league in free throw percentage (.843).

Early life

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Zaslofsky, who was Jewish, was the son of Russian immigrant parents, Morris and Ida.[2] He had two older brothers, Irving and Abe.[2] He grew up in Brooklyn, attended cheder until he had his bar mitzvah, and spent many hours as a child on the playgrounds trying to perfect his two-handed set shot.[2] Raised on Riverdale Street in the predominantly Jewish section of Brownsville, he attended Thomas Jefferson High School, where he was an All-PSAL selection in basketball and also played for the baseball team.[2] He graduated from high school in 1943, and then spent two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II.[3]

College career

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He attended St. John's University, where he played basketball for one season. The 20-year-old Zaslofsky started at guard and averaged 7.8 points per game. He was named honorable mention All-Metropolitan as St. John's posted a 17–5 record and played in the postseason National Invitation Tournament (NIT).[3]

Professional career

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After his freshman season, he left St. John's to join the Chicago Stags of the newly organized Basketball Association of America, the forerunner of the National Basketball Association.[4]

While playing for the Chicago Stags, Zaslofsky was named All-NBA First Team 1946–47 at the age of 21.[5] He was the youngest player to hold that distinction for nearly 60 years until he was surpassed by LeBron James in 2005–06. In 1947–48, he led the league in scoring.[5] At 22 years, 121 days old, he was the youngest player to lead the league in scoring until 2010, when Kevin Durant broke his mark.[6] In 1949–50, he led the league in free throw percentage (.843).[7]

After the Stags broke up, Zaslofsky joined the New York Knicks. During the 1951 NBA Playoffs, Zaslofsky played 14 games and averaged a postseason career-best 17.9 points, as well as 4.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists, as the Knicks made it to the NBA Finals before losing a seven-game series to the Rochester Royals.[8] The following year, he led the Knicks to the 1952 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Minneapolis Lakers, again in a seven-game series. On August 24, 1953, he was traded by the Knicks with Jim Luisi and Roy Belliveau to the Baltimore Bullets for Jim Baechtold.[9] On November 25, 1953, he was traded by the Bullets to the Milwaukee Hawks for Bob Houbregs.[9] On December 21, 1953, he was traded by the Hawks to the Fort Wayne Pistons for Chuck Share.[9] In 1956 he ended his career as the league's third-leading scorer of all time, behind George Mikan and Joe Fulks.[2] In addition to his 1946–47 first-team All-NBA honors, Zaslofsky was named to the All-NBA first team in 1947–48, 1948–49, and 1949–50. He also played in the 1952 NBA All-Star Game.

He later coached for two seasons in the American Basketball Association with the New Jersey Americans/New York Nets. He went 53–103 in two seasons with the club before resigning in March 1969.[7]

Zaslofsky was nominated for the NBA 25th Anniversary Team in 1971. He is one of only two members nominated to the team that are not elected in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Personal life

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Zaslofsky is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame (1993).[10][3]

Zaslofsky died in 1985 at age 59 due to complications from leukemia. He was survived by his wife, Elaine, two daughters, a son, and two grandchildren.[4]

BAA/NBA career statistics

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Legend
  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
 *  Led the league

Regular season

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Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1946–47 Chicago 61 – .329 .737 – .7 14.4
1947–48 Chicago 48 – .323 .784 – .6 21.0
1948–49 Chicago 58 – .350 .840 – 2.6 20.6
1949–50 Chicago 68 – .351 .843* – 2.3 16.4
1950–51 New York 66 – .354 .775 3.5 2.1 12.7
1951–52
 New York 66 32.0 .336 .755 2.9 2.4 14.1
1952–53 New York 29 24.9 .384 .690 2.6 1.9 11.9
1953–54 Baltimore 11 38.0 .352 .767 3.9 3.0 16.4
1953–54 Milwaukee 9 33.2 .341 .712 3.1 2.6 15.1
1953–54 Fort Wayne 45 25.9 .382 .693 2.0 2.2 11.0
1954–55 Fort Wayne 70 26.6 .328 .702 2.7 2.9 11.2
1955–56 Fort Wayne 9 20.2 .358 .857 1.8 1.8 9.8
Career 540 28.3 .343 .769 2.8 2.0 14.8
All-Star 1 25.0 .429 1.000 4.0 2.0 11.0

Playoffs

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Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1947 Chicago 11 – .302 .659 – .4 13.5
1948 Chicago 5 – .341 .787 – .0 19.4
1949 Chicago 2 – .306 .778 – 3.0 22.0
1950 Chicago 2 – .469 .833 – 3.0 22.5
1951 New York 14 – .406 .740 4.1 2.7 17.9
1952 New York 14 36.1 .373 .809 3.1 1.6 16.2
1954 Fort Wayne 4 24.5 .306 .867 .8 1.5 8.8
1955 Fort Wayne 11 11.7 .409 .800 1.5 1.6 4.7
Career 63 25.3 .360 .772 2.8 1.6 14.3

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cohen, Robert W. (March 14, 2013). Pro Basketball's All-Time All-Stars: Across the Eras. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810887459 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b c d e Stark, Douglas (September 11, 2017). When Basketball Was Jewish: Voices of Those Who Played the Game. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9781496203137 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b c "Welcome to Jews In Sports Online". www.jewsinsports.org.
  4. ^ a b Goldaper, Sam (October 17, 1985). "MAX ZASLOFSKY IS DEAD AT 59; STAR IN EARLY DAYS OF KNICKS – The New York Times". The New York Times.
  5. ^ a b Schumacher, Michael (December 6, 2008). Mr. Basketball: George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers, and the Birth of the NBA. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781596919037 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Latzke, Jeff (April 15, 2010). "Durant becomes NBA's youngest scoring champ". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Marcus, Jeff (April 28, 2003). A Biographical Directory of Professional Basketball Coaches. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9781461726531 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Max Zaslofsky Per Game Playoffs
  9. ^ a b c "Max Zaslofsky Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more". Basketball-Reference.com.
  10. ^ "Max Zaslofsky". www.jewishsports.net.
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