Top 50 Kentucky Wildcats Prior to John Calipari Era
Oct 17, 2014; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats banners are displayed during Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
31. Larry Steele
Larry Steele is another guard whose defense was stronger than his offense, but it kept him in the starting line up for three years.
Steele never averaged more than 13.1 point a game, which he did his senior season. So, his offense wasn’t terrible by any means, but he was a complete monster on defense for a guard under Adolph Rupp.
His career averages were 13.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. Steele was selected 1st Team All-SEC twice, Co-captain, MVP, Leadership Award, Hustle Award and then led the Wildcats in both assists and free throws.
Steele was the second pick of the third round of the 1971 NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers, and also by the Kentucky Colonels in the ABA Draft. The Colonels drafted him again in 1974 during their draft of current NBA players.
However, Steele was committed to the Portland Trailblazers and stayed with them for all nine of his NBA years.
Steele led the NBA in steals in the 1973-74 NBA season. This season was the first year steals were recorded by the league, Steele averaged 2.68 steal per game. He played 20.7 MPG on the 1977 Portland Trailblazers championship team averaging 10.3 points per game. During his tenure with the Trailblazers, he averaged 8.2 points, 2.9 assists, 1.39 steals and 24.2 minutes while starting 337 games.
His #15 jersey was retired by the Trailblazers on October 11, 1981. Steele was selected as a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s 1992 Silver Anniversary Team and was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.
After his tenure with the Trailblazers, Steele worked in the Trailblazers front office in the marketing department and served as a commentator. Steele later worked as a broadcaster for the NBA on CBS and as a head coach at the University of Portland from 1987-1994.
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