George Kaftan

George A. Kaftan (February 22, 1928 – October 6, 2018) was an American professional basketball player.

George grew up in New York City and went to Xavier in Manhattan before going to Holy Cross for college. Though just 6'3", Kaftan was the starting center for the College of the Holy Cross team that won the 1947 NCAA basketball tournament. In 1947 Kaftan also won Most Outstanding Player honors after averaging 21 points per game in three games.

Kaftan was selected in the second round of the 1949 BAA Draft. Kaftan later played professionally for the Boston Celtics (1949–1950), New York Knicks (1950–1952) and Baltimore Bullets (1952–1953). He averaged 7.5 points per game in his BAA/NBA career.

Kaftan is a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and the Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame.

Personal Kaftan was of Greek descent. His family's original name was Kaftagouras.

BAA/NBA career statistics Legend GP Games played MPG Minutes per game FG% Field-goal percentage FT% Free-throw percentage RPG Rebounds per game APG Assists per game PPG Points per game Bold Career high

Regular season Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG 1948–49 Boston 21 – .368 .626 – 2.9 14.5 Boston 55 – .372 .654 – 2.6 9.7 New York 61 – .388 .624 2.5 1.2 4.9 New York 52 18.4 .375 .687 3.8 1.7 6.2 Baltimore 23 16.5 .317 .657 3.3 1.3 5.8Career 212 17.8 .370 .650 3.1 1.9 7.5

Playoffs Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG New York 8 – .333 .333 .8 .3 1.6 New York 13 17.8 .394 .667 2.3 1.7 6.2Career 21 17.8 .381 .644 1.7 1.1 4.4