Utah Jazz: Where does Donovan Mitchell rank among guards in franchise history?

If this list were based on pure name recognition, the man they called Pistol would likely rank higher. However, one major variable holds the former face of the New Orleans Jazz back: team success.

Indeed, Maravich manned the point guard position for history’s more-aptly named Jazz team from 1974-75 to 1979-80, and the squad did not do a lot of winning in that time period. In fact, the Jazz’s best season with Pistol Pete came in 1977-78, when the club went 39-43 and narrowly avoided the playoffs.

Whether Maravich was lacking in support from teammates, or alienating them as a frontrunner to what’s now referred to as a heliocentric offense is up for debate. His best individual season came in 1976-77, when he averaged 31.1 points, 5.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game. The next leading scorer from that group was Los Angeles Lakers legend Gail Goodrich, who contributed 12.6 points per game for the Jazz in his age 33 season.

If you have enough knowledge to type more than a few sentences about any other player on that roster, you should consider petitioning FanSided to start a New Orleans Jazz page. You’d make a wonderful site expert.

Regardless of whether Maravich was a cause or victim of the New Orleans Jazz’s failures, they simply piled up too many losses during his tenure for him to rank any higher than fourth on this list.  On the other hand, if you’re in the market for highlight reel passes, he’s number one by a wide margin.