Greg Ballard (basketball)

Greg Ballard

Personal information
Born	(1955-01-29)January 29, 1955 VL Pesaro
1989	Libertas Forlì
1989	Seattle SuperSonics
Career highlights and awards
NBA champion (1978) Consensus second-team All-American (1977) 2× First-team All-Pac-8 (1976, 1977)
Career NBA statistics
Points	9,953 (12.4 ppg)
Rebounds	4,858 (6.1 rpg)
Assists	1,733 (2.2 apg)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Gregory Ballard (January 29, 1955 – November 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player and NBA assistant coach. A collegiate All-American at Oregon, Ballard averaged 12.4 points and 6.1 rebounds over an eleven-season NBA career with the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors and briefly, the Seattle SuperSonics.

Early life

Born in Los Angeles to parents William Ballard and Annie Clark, Ballard had three brothers and four sisters. Ballard graduated from Garey High School in Pomona, California, in 1973, where he also played baseball. A pitcher, Ballard was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 10th round (137th overall) of the 1973 Amateur Draft.^{[1] [2][3]}

College career

Ballard chose basketball and attended the

In his career at Oregon, Ballard had 1,114 career rebounds, still the most in program history, averaging 9.7 rebounds. He averaged 15.9 points, with his 1,829 total career points, ranking fourth in school history.^[5][6]

Ballard set Oregon's single-game scoring record of 43 points, in a National Invitation Tournament game against Oral Roberts University on March 9, 1977.^[6]

NBA career

Washington Bullets (1977–1985)

Ballard was selected by the

In 1978–1979, Ballard averaged 7.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists as the Bullets finished 54–28. They defeated the Atlanta Hawks (4–3) and San Antonio Spurs (4–3) in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. In the 1979 NBA Finals, the Bullets again met the SuperSonics, but were defeated 4–1 in the rematch, as Ballard averaged 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in the series.^[9][10]

Ballard became a starter for the Bullets in 1979–1980, averaging 15.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 steals. The Bullets lost in the first round of the playoffs to Philadelphia (2–0).^[11]

Ballard averaged 15.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists under new Coach Gene Shue in 1980–1981, as Washington finished 39–43 and missed the playoffs.^[12]

Becoming the Bullets' leading scorer in 1981–1982, Ballard averaged 18.8 points along with 8.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals. The Bullets defeated the New Jersey Nets 2–0 in the Eastern Conference playoffs before losing to the Boston Celtics with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish 4–1.^[13]

Playing on the front line with Jeff Ruland and Rick Mahorn in 1982–1983, Ballard averaged 18.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals, as the Bullets finished 42–40, missing the playoffs.^[14]

Washington returned to the playoffs in 1983–1984, with Ballard averaging 14.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals. The Bullets were defeated by eventual NBA Champion Boston 3–1, as Ballard averaged 16.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in the series.^[15][16]

Ballard averaged 13.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 1984–1985. Washington finished 40–42, losing in the playoffs to the Philadelphia 76ers 3–1.^[17]

Golden State Warriors (1985–1987)

On June 17, 1985, Ballard was traded by the Washington Bullets to the

On July 1, 1988, Ballard was released by the Golden State Warriors after not playing in 1987–1988. In 1988–1989, He worked under Coach George Karl as a player/assistant coach with the Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball Association and averaged 8.1 points, 5.3 rebounds with 1.4 assists per game in his 7-game career with the Albany. On February 13, 1989, he signed a 10-day contract with the Seattle SuperSonics and appeared in his final two NBA games.^[18]

In 807 career games, Ballard had career averages of 12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals.^[18][20]

Coaching/scouting career

Ballard became a coach and scout after his playing career ended. In 1989, Ballard was as an assistant coach for

Ballard died on November 9, 2016, from prostate cancer. Ballard was survived by his wife Donna, and their children, Lawrence, Gabrielle and Gregory Jr.^[22][6]

“I would say this about Greg Ballard – and you can ask any question you want but my opening statement would be – for a guy who played in the league for 10 years and was a good player, I found him to be one of the most humble people I have ever met in my life,” said Gary Schmidt, a colleague as a scout for the Boston Celtics. “There was no agenda, there was no attitude, there was no hey-I-played-in-the-league. He was so down to Earth and humble. Just a very good person. Always positive and upbeat.”^[20]

Honors

• Ballard was inducted into the University of Oregon Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.^[23]
• In 1996, Ballard was inducted into the state of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.^[23]
• Ballard was a Pac-12 Conference Hall of Honor inductee in 2009

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com  and Basketball-Reference.com