DAVE BING: THE ULTIMATE PRO

I got hooked on in today’s episode of “Basketballography” on Basketball TV (BTV). It featured a player named Dave Bing, who long before Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Chauncey Billups, and Rip Hamilton came along, is considered as the greatest Detroit Pistons player of all-time. The 6-3, Washington (DC) native was selected as the second pick over-all of the Pistons in the 1966 NBA rookie draft. He went on to play 12 seasons and posted norms of 20.3 ppg, 6.0 apg, and 1.3 spg in 901 total games with the Pistons, Washington Bullets (now Wizards), and Boston Celtics. He won the rookie-of the-year honors in 1966-67 and was named All-Star game MVP in 1976. He reluctantly accepted the award in that year’s mid-season spectacle all because Bing thought his Bullets teammate Phil Chenier is more deserving of the all-star spot than him. That shows how humble and unselfish Chenier was, as a player and as a person. Before playing in the NBA, Bing starred for three years at Syracuse University, where he averaged 24.8 ppg, and 10.3 rpg in 76 total games. Bing is the perfect example of how an NBA player should be after his playing days. Bing went on to become a successful businessman in Motor City and became the City Mayor in 2009. Basketball legend and hall-of-famer Oscar Robertson called Bing as the perfect example of professionalism, according to the Detroit News.

“Dave Bing is the perfect example of professionalism, class, dignity, and humanity. He cares. He gets involved with the world.”