Joe Graboski

Joseph William Graboski (January 15, 1930 – July 2, 1998) was an American professional basketball player. He spent 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the third player to enter the NBA without having played in college: (Tony Kappen and Connie Simmons being the first two prep-to-pro players). He was also the second player to play in the league while still being 18 years old. A star at Tuley High School in Chicago, the 6'7" power forward had previously played some basketball with the Illinois Tool Works while he was a high school junior and senior before he began his professional career with the hometown Chicago Stags, with whom he played from 1949 to 1950. He also played for the Indianapolis Olympians, Philadelphia Warriors, St. Louis Hawks, and Chicago Packers, and he left the NBA in 1962 with 9,398 career points and 6,104 career rebounds.

BAA/NBA career statistics

Regular season Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG 1948–49 Chicago 45 – .344 .357 – .4 2.8 Chicago 57 – .304 .596 – .6 3.6 Indianapolis 66 37.0 .387 .667 9.9 2.0 13.7 Indianapolis 69 40.1 .340 .682 10.0 2.3 13.0 Philadelphia 71 38.9 .354 .674 9.4 2.3 13.3 Philadelphia 70 35.9 .340 .686 9.1 2.6 13.6 † Philadelphia 72 33.0 .369 .706 8.9 2.6 14.4 Philadelphia 72 34.7 .349 .783 8.5 1.9 14.3 Philadelphia 72 28.8 .335 .749 7.9 1.7 12.6 Philadelphia 72 34.5 .353 .750 10.4 2.1 14.7 Philadelphia 73 17.4 .372 .753 4.9 1.5 7.7 Philadelphia 68 14.9 .333 .694 3.9 1.1 6.8 St. Louis / Chicago / Syracuse 38 12.3 .348 .600 4.1 .7 5.1Career 845 30.5 .352 .700 8.1 1.8 11.0

Playoffs Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG 1949 Chicago 1 – .000 .000 – .0 .0 1950 Chicago 1 – .000 .000 – .0 .0 1952 Indianapolis 2 48.0 .396 .533 11.5 1.5 23.0 1953 Indianapolis 2 38.0 .500 .750 8.0 .0 17.0 1956† Philadelphia 10 31.3 .344 .743 9.4 2.7 13.2 1957 Philadelphia 2 45.5 .325 .818 11.0 2.0 17.5 1958 Philadelphia 8 31.5 .290 .783 10.3 3.8 12.3 1960 Philadelphia 9 14.3 .293 .778 3.3 1.0 4.6 1961 Philadelphia 1 1.0 .000 .000 .0 .0 .0 1962 Syracuse 4 6.0 .143 1.000 1.0 .0 .8Career 40 25.8 .328 .735 7.1 1.8 9.7