Larry Kenon

Larry Kenon
Personal information
Born (1952-12-13) December 13, 1952
Birmingham, Alabama
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school Ullman (Birmingham, Alabama)
College
NBA draft 1973 / Round: 3 / Pick: 50th overall
Selected by the Detroit Pistons
Playing career 1973–1983
Position Power forward
Number 35, 9
Career history
1973–1975 New York Nets
1975–1980 San Antonio Spurs
1980–1982 Chicago Bulls
1982–1983 Golden State Warriors
1983 Cleveland Cavaliers
Career highlights and awards
Career ABA and NBA statistics
Points 12,954 (17.2 ppg)
Rebounds 6,701 (8.9 rpg)
Assists 1,672 (2.2 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Larry Joe Kenon (born December 13, 1952) is an American former professional basketball player.

A 6'9" forward who had a productive career in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), Kenon played for the New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. His nickname was "Special K."

College

Kenon transferred from Amarillo College to play basketball at Memphis State University. In his junior year, 1972–73, he averaged 20.1 points and 16.7 rebounds per game and led the Tigers to the NCAA championship game, where they were defeated by the Bill Walton-led UCLA Bruins. After that season, one in which he was named Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year, Kenon left Memphis State and turned pro.

ABA career

In 1973, the Detroit Pistons selected Kenon in the third round (15th pick overall) of the NBA draft. He was also drafted by the Memphis Tams of the ABA, but the New York Nets secured his draft rights. During his 1973–74 rookie season, Kenon averaged 15.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game on the Julius Erving-led Nets team that won the 1974 ABA Championship.

After averaging 18.7 points during the 1974–75 season, Kenon was traded to San Antonio for Swen Nater. Once again he averaged 18.7 points, along with 11.1 rebounds per game in the Spurs' final season in the ABA before they joined the NBA with the Nets, Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers.

Kenon made the All-Star Team in each of his three ABA seasons, and competed in the first-ever Slam Dunk Contest during the 1976 ABA All-Star Game. In 249 ABA games, Kenon had scored 4,419 points and grabbed 2,759 rebounds for an average of 17.7 and 11.1 per game, respectively.

NBA career

Kenon enjoyed the best years of his career in San Antonio playing alongside George Gervin. In each of the four seasons they were teammates after the ABA–NBA merger, both averaged at least 20 points per game. In those four NBA seasons, Kenon averaged 21.9 (1976–77), 20.6 (1977–78), 22.1 (1978–79) and 20.1 (1979–80) points per game. He also made the NBA All-Star team in 1978 and 1979. He also averaged at least 10.7 rebounds per game in each of those four seasons, his high being 12.0 in 1976–77.

After the 1979–80 season Kenon signed with the Chicago Bulls. While his minutes per game went down in Chicago (28.1 during the 1980–81 season; he had never averaged fewer than 34.6 previously), he averaged 14.1 points per game; however, this would be his last effective season.

In his seven NBA seasons, Kenon played 503 games and scored 8535 points for a 17.0 average. His NBA and ABA totals were 12,954 points for a 17.2 average.

Other accomplishments

Personal life

Kenon converted to the Muslim faith after retiring from basketball; he now goes by the name of Muhsin Kenon.[1]

ABA and NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
† Denotes seasons in which Kenon's team won an ABA championship
Bold Denotes career highs

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1973–74† New York (ABA) 84 - 34.6 .462 .000 .703 11.5 1.3 0.9 0.2 15.9
1974–75 New York (ABA) 84 - 37.7 .509 .500 .770 10.7 1.5 1.3 0.4 18.7
1975–76 San Antonio (ABA) 81 - 36.0 .481 .000 .781 11.1 1.9 1.1 0.5 18.7
1976–77 San Antonio 78 - 37.6 .492 - .823 11.3 2.9 2.1 0.8 21.9
1977–78 San Antonio 81 - 35.4 .489 - .854 9.5 3.3 1.4 0.3 20.6
1978–79 San Antonio 81 - 36.4 .504 - .845 9.8 4.1 1.9 0.2 22.1
1979–80 San Antonio 78 - 35.9 .485 .111 .783 9.9 3.0 1.4 0.2 20.1
1980–81 Chicago 77 - 28.1 .480 - .735 5.2 1.6 1.0 0.2 14.1
1981–82 Chicago 60 30 17.3 .466 - .568 3.0 1.1 0.5 0.1 7.2
1982–83 Chicago 5 0 5.0 .333 - .800 0.8 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.8
1982–83 Golden State 11 0 11.0 .436 - .636 2.4 0.5 0.1 0.0 3.7
1982–83 Cleveland 32 7 19.5 .472 .000 .761 3.7 1.1 0.7 0.3 7.3
Career 752 37 32.6 .487 .143 .784 8.9 2.2 1.3 0.3 17.2

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1974† New York (ABA) 14 - 33.6 .495 - .613 11.6 1.8 1.1 0.1 15.8
1975 New York (ABA) 5 - 39.8 .534 - .765 12.8 1.0 2.0 0.0 21.4
1976 San Antonio (ABA) 7 - 39.6 .466 .333 .900 11.4 2.3 0.7 0.6 21.4
1977 San Antonio 2 - 39.5 .485 - 1.000 7.5 3.0 2.5 0.5 17.0
1978 San Antonio 6 - 33.3 .447 - .737 9.2 3.7 0.8 0.3 17.7
1979 San Antonio 14 - 39.8 .438 - .736 11.4 3.0 1.4 0.1 21.1
1980 San Antonio 3 - 27.0 .294 - .545 4.3 1.3 0.0 0.0 8.7
1981 Chicago 6 - 19.0 .391 .000 .500 4.5 1.3 0.7 0.2 6.7
Career 57 - 34.7 .459 .250 .725 10.1 2.2 1.1 0.2 17.2

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1971-1975 3rd-4th Round Rundown
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