Mel Counts

Mel Grant Counts (born October 16, 1941) is an American former basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1964 to 1976. He was on the United States Olympic basketball team that won the gold at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He played college basketball for the Oregon State Beavers and was selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1964 NBA draft. The Celtics won the NBA Championship in 1965 and 1966 with Counts on the team as Bill Russell's backup, but he was traded for the 1967 season to the Baltimore Bullets. Halfway through that season he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, who made it to the playoffs that year.

Over the next three seasons Counts' Lakers made it to the NBA Finals, where they would play in and ultimately lose three years in a row. In the 1969 NBA Finals, in game 7, starting Laker center Wilt Chamberlain, who had never fouled out of a game, picked up his 5th foul with 6 minutes to play. A minute later, Wilt came off the floor limping and was replaced by Counts with the Lakers trailing the Celtics by nine points. The Lakers cut the deficit to one point on a shot by Counts, with coach Butch van Breda Kolff refusing to reinsert Chamberlain into the game in the final minutes, even though Wilt said his knee felt good enough to play. The Lakers lost the game, 108–106, and the series, 4–3. Counts played one more season with the Lakers before being traded to the Phoenix Suns with the Lakers gaining the return of Gail Goodrich (he started with the Lakers but went to Phoenix in the 1967 expansion draft). After several more stops around the league, including a return to the Lakers in 1973, Counts ended his career with the New Orleans Jazz in 1976.

As of 2006, he was working as a real estate agent in Salem, Oregon. His son Brent played college basketball at the University of the Pacific, his son Brian played at Western Oregon University and his son Chris played at Sheridan Junior College and South Dakota State. His grandsons Brent Jr. played at St. Martin's University, Patrick at Chemeketa Community College and California Maritime Academy, Kyle at St. Thomas - Minnesota, and Jack at Blanchet Catholic High School in Salem, Oregon. Mixed martial artist Chael Sonnen is his nephew.

Career statistics

NBA Source

Regular season Year Team GP GS MPG FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG † Boston 54 10.6 .368 .784 4.9 .4 4.8 † Boston 67 15.2 .403 .828 6.4 .7 8.4 Baltimore 25 13.7 .389 .725 6.2 1.2 6.4 L.A. Lakers 31 16.7 .444 .741 6.1 .7 8.5 L.A. Lakers 82 21.2 .475 .748 8.9 1.7 11.7 L.A. Lakers 77 24.2 .450 .805 7.8 1.4 12.4 L.A. Lakers 81 27.1 .427 .776 8.4 2.0 12.6 Phoenix 80 20.9 .457 .753 6.3 1.7 11.0 Phoenix 76 11.9 .427 .721 3.4 1.3 5.2 Philadelphia 7 0 6.7 .313 – 2.3 .4 1.4 L.A. Lakers 59 10.4 .457 .672 4.0 1.1 5.0 L.A. Lakers 45 11.1 .365 .727 3.2 1.2 .4 .5 3.2 New Orleans 75 18.9 .438 .761 5.9 2.4 .7 .6 6.9 New Orleans 30 10.6 .407 .762 3.3 1.3 .5 .3 3.0Career 789 0 17.4 .435 .764 6.0 1.4 .6 .5 8.3

Playoffs Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG 1965† Boston 4 7.5 .267 1.000 2.8 .3 2.3 1966† Boston 10 8.2 .359 .882 4.0 .3 4.3 1967 L.A. Lakers 3 9.7 .263 1.000 2.7 .0 4.7 1968 L.A. Lakers 15 20.4 .535 .677 8.9 1.6 8.6 1969 L.A. Lakers 18* 24.6 .385 .761 7.9 1.4 11.2 1970 L.A. Lakers 14 15.1 .420 .846 5.3 1.1 6.1 1973 L.A. Lakers17* 19.2 .459 .780 6.1 1.6 9.1 1974 L.A. Lakers 4 8.5 .500 – 1.5 .5 .5 .5 3.0Career 85 17.2 .426 .775 6.1 1.2 .5 .5 7.6