South Carolina Basketball: Ranking the top-10 NBA Gamecocks of all-time
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Basketball’s No. 5 Greatest NBA Player of All-Time:
Center Tom Owens
An All-ACC producer every year that he wore the garnet and black, Tom Owens (1968-1971) was the second Gamecock selected in the 1971 NBA Draft (John Roche was the first). Owens spent twelve years in the NBA and ABA playing for 10 franchises. He also spent a couple of seasons playing in Italy.
In the NBA, Owens was a good player. He was a starter for half of his career and a high-level backup for the other half, though, he flip-flopped back and forth between the two roles from season to season.
Owens’ career is best known for a string of odd moves that connect Bill Walton and Michael Jordan.
After appearing to be on his way out of the league, the Portland Trail Blazers controversially signed Owens as Bill Walton insurance. When the redhead Walton was injured and/or holding out for the majority of three-straight seasons, Owens had three of the best years of his entire career. Then, in 1981, the Indiana Pacers traded their 1984 first-round pick for Owens’ services.
That pick could have been Michael Jeffrey Jordan, but the Trail Blazers felt they needed a Bill Walton replacement to replace their original Bill Walton replacement, so they drafted Sam Bowie instead.
Essentially, Tom Owens is a Chicago Bulls legend without ever playing for the franchise because he is, in a way, responsible for both the Indiana Pacers and Portland Trail Blazers missing out on Michael Jordan, leaving him available for the Bulls to snatch up in the 1984 Draft. To make it worse for both Portland and Indiana, Owens was out of the league before the ’83-’84 season even began.