For 19854ever......Billy Paultz

Remember reading this and thinking was Paultz SJU's best big of all time, but I am not enough of an historian to know, any ideas? Glad he went to SJU not Seton hall or Rutgers.

Leroy Ellis, maybe, but by the time I was following St. John's Leroy was a pro in Baltimore, so I don't know his college game.
 
JSJ, thank you for this.

from time to time the NBA network shows the 1981 finals, Rockets versus Celtics, It is nice to see Billy's hook shot.

Agree with Brooklyn Paultz is SJU's greatest center.  
 
would have to include Bob Zawoluk who led the Johnnies to the championship game in 1952. He was also the long time St. John's all time leading scorer until Mullin broke it. 
 
 http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/colleges.cgi?college=stjohns

Billy Paultz with over 13,000 points(ABA + NBA) is the second all time leading scorer in major pro basketball to come out of SJU. 
 
Harry Boycoff, Leroy Ellis, Bill Paltz, and Bill Wennington were centers the others were forward playing center This it seems is usually one of our problems. I saw them all play granted I was 10 years old when I saw Boycoff. Ellis was a player during some of my year at SJU which may predudice my opinion.. But here goes Ellis, Paltz, and Wennington in that order. And would be pleased if we had a player coming in who had the ability of any of these guys.
 
Leroy Ellis! The man averaged 23.5 ppg and 16.5 rpg in his senior year (17.0 and 12.2 for three years), including 30(!) rebounds against NYU. Billy Paultz's number (12 ppg & 10 rpg over two years) don't compare will Ellis' and he wasn't as good defensively either. Fact is, he was probably better at the pro level. (Why the hell isn't Leroy's jersey hanging from the CA rafters?)

Sonny Dove's my all-time favorite and I would certainly put him ahead Paultz, but he was undersized at 6'8" (at best) and wasn't the true center than Ellis was, more like when Moe is the tallest Johnnie on the floor.   
 
The Whopper is one of my all time favorite Johnnies but not even close to being the best center 
If I'm not mistaken, he set an all time record for being on a playoff team for 15 consecutive years
At St John's, he was listed at 250 lbs.
If I had $10 for every pound he weighed over 250 at St John's, I could have a very nice dinner
 
If I recall, the sentiment regarding Paultz was that he improved a lot AFTER college. He's older than I am, but was known as a legendary partier even druing his SJU days. I remember one story that Paultz showed up at the Salty Dog on metropolitan avenue in Queens dressed as a 6'10" pumpkin. 
 
 What about Sonny Dove & Bill Wennington?
Click to expand...
 

The Sonny Dove comparison is a good one. Billy came a few years after Dove when we were looking for a big guy. We had Dan Cornelius (a 6'9" project) after Dove and before Paultz so we really were in need of a big guy who would make an impact.

IMHO Paultz wasn't quite developed yet when he was with us. He may have been the best pro center that ever played for us but not while he was here. There was no doubt that he knew he was good, (as a student I used to work with Doc Gimmler) and Paultz would tell me to be careful taping his ankles, they'd be making him a million dollars soon -- he wasn't boasting just matter of fact about it. Great guy down to earth.

Unfortunately, I never saw Bob Z so my vote for best big guy I ever saw while he played at SJU -- Wennington.
 
I saw both and I go with Ellis. He was very quick for his size and rebounded and shot blocked better than Paultz.  
 
if you go by stats...ellis would be the guy. i saw him play in the nba..not college. i never saw zawoluk. his stats speak for themselves.

wayne mckoy led us (with reggie carter) to an elite eight but had no nba career.. george johnson was outstanding. i always liked paultz...but looie didn't no matter what he says now. he had him playing behind dan cornelius who was inferior as far as i was concerned. after cornelius graduated, looie gave big minutes to bill phillips, who also was inferior to paultz and he was breaking in greg cluess at the same time. looie really held paultz back.
 
if you go by stats...ellis would be the guy. i saw him play in the nba..not college. i never saw zawoluk. his stats speak for themselves.

wayne mckoy led us (with reggie carter) to an elite eight but had no nba career.. george johnson was outstanding. i always liked paultz...but looie didn't no matter what he says now. he had him playing behind dan cornelius who was inferior as far as i was concerned. after cornelius graduated, looie gave big minutes to bill phillips, who also was inferior to paultz and he was breaking in greg cluess at the same time. looie really held paultz back.
Click to expand...
 

Wayne McCoy was a better high school player than college player.
George Johnson was an excellent player but was an undersized center (6'7")
Maybe my memory is bad, but I don't remember Bill Phillips ever getting big minutes
I remember him winning the MVP trophy in a game against St Francis in which he scored more pts than the rest of his career combined
I remember Paultz getting badly outrebounded by 6'5" Rick Cobb from Marquette in the NIT tourney at MSG
But, The Whopper had a great professional career. Loved watching him with the Nets
 
Agree that Paultz was not used to full potential at SJU, or that he developed later. Cornelius and Phillips took up space, but had no hands. As I've said before, Sonny Dove was the best I've seen since following St. John's, although he played forward to Rudy Bogad's center. McKoy, although mentored by Willis Reed, never developed to the potential he showed in HS. 
 
Based on everything I read on here, I amend my answer to say that Ellis was SJU's best real" center in college, but Billy P. was SJU's best center based on his pro career. 
 
As stated earlier, as the best-ever St. John's center, I think it's Leroy Ellis hands-down, but that Paultz probably had the edge as a pro. But looking at stats, I don't see Paultz superiority as a pro is so clear cut.

In his first four years in the NBA with the Lakers, Ellis averaged 9.1 ppg and 7.6 rpg. Considering that the LA offense revolved around Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, those are pretty solid numbers. Over 14 seasons, Ellis averaged 9.7 and 8.3. His best year was with Portland in '70-'71 when averaged 15.9 and 12.3.

Paultz averaged 11.7 and 8.0 in 15 years in both the ABA & NBA. His ABA numbers were 15.7 and 11.1 in six years. In his nine years in the NBA, he averaged 8.5 and 5.6. Overall he was 11.7 and 8.0.

Considering that Paultz's ppg were inflated by the run-and-gun style of the ABA, whereas Ellis's were deflated on the Baylor/West-centric Lakers (even Wilt's numbers took a big hit when he joined the Lakers), it looks like their pro careers were a lot closer than most people remember.
 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top