Remembering the Legendary Willis Reed: An NBA Hall of Famer and one fierce center

The National Basketball Retired Players Association confirmed on March 21^st that NBA Hall of Famer Willis Reed had passed away from heart complications.

In a ten-year NBA career, playing solely for the New York Knicks, Willis was a seven-time NBA All-Star, two-time NBA champion, and two-time NBA Finals MVP.

At 6ft9, Willis was undersized for his position as an NBA center, but he competed with a fierce attitude against the best players in the NBA, including Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.

In a statement from the New York Knicks, it stated, "As we mourn, we will always strive to uphold the standard he left behind – the unmatched leadership, sacrifice, and work ethic that personified him as a champion among champions."

Let's look at his legendary NBA career in 'The Big Apple.'

The Knicks selected Willis Reed as the first pick in the second round of the 1964 NBA Draft, making a name for himself as a dominating force on both ends of the floor.

Reed took the NBA like a hand in a glove, ranking seventh in scoring with 19.5 points per game and fifth in rebounding with 14.7 per game. His game of the season was against Los Angeles Lakers, scoring 46 points.

The young center earned the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and made the All-Star team in his first season.

Through the 1966-67 season, the Knicks center was making steady improvements, raising his points average to 20.9 ppg and his post-season scoring to 27.5 ppg.

In the late 60s, Reed had adjusted to a new position, playing power forward due to the acquisition of future NBA Hall of Famer Walt Bellamy.

Between 1965 and 1967, Reed averaged 11.6 and 14.6 rebounds, marking himself in the top ten for both seasons. By the end of the 1967 season, he had fully adjusted to his new position, averaging over 20 points.

The start of the 1967-68 season was when Reed and the Knicks came into their own, acquiring Walt Frazier as the number one draft pick and, a year later, completing a dynamic three-way, getting eight-time All-Star Dave DeBusschere.

With the newly transformed team in New York, Reed moved back to the center position, averaging 21 points a game and breaking the franchise record of 1,191 rebounds in a season.

With Frazier's elite defensive ability and Reed's fierce competitiveness, the Knicks would become the best defensive ball club in the NBA for five of the next six seasons after the 1968-69 season.

Reed became the first player in NBA history to be named the All-Star game MVP, the regular season MVP, and the NBA Finals MVP after guiding his Knicks team to a 60-game winning season.

Reed is notably known for his heroic actions in the 1970 NBA Finals. Due to a torn muscle in his thigh, Reed missed game six of the finals against the Lakers. Despite that, Reed came out and played in game seven, helping his side beat Wilt Chamberlain, securing their first NBA title.

The center wouldn't be able to recover from injuries so fast in his later career. He was limited to 11 games in the 1971-1972 season before helping the Knicks to another title chase a year later.

Reed would play a much less significant role in their second title season, playing 69 games and averaging 11 points. In the playoffs, they defeated the Baltimore Bullets and the Boston Celtic, setting up another final against the Lakers.

After losing the opening game of the finals, Reed inspired the Knicks to win four straight, securing 18 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists in the deciding matchup to win his second and final NBA Finals MVP.

Reed's NBA career was cut short due to injury after the 1973-74 season. In his career, he collected more than 12,000 points and 8,400 rebounds, both of which still rank in the top three of the New York Knicks career lists.

His exemplary and talented career earned him spots on the NBA 50th Anniversary team and the NBA 75^th Anniversary team. He was enlisted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver released a statement saying, "My earliest and fondest memories of NBA basketball are of watching Willis, who embodied the winning spirit that defined the New York Knicks' championship teams in the early 1970s."