Bob Rule

Bob Rule
Rule with the Seattle SuperSonics during his rookie season
Personal information
Born(1944-06-29)June 29, 1944
Riverside, California, U.S.
DiedSeptember 5, 2019(2019-09-05) (aged 75)
Riverside, California, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High schoolRiverside Polytechnic
(Riverside, California)
College
NBA draft1967: 2nd round, 19th overall pick
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics
Playing career1967–1974
PositionPower forward / center
Number45, 21
Career history
1967–1971Seattle SuperSonics
1971–1972Philadelphia 76ers
1972–1973Cleveland Cavaliers
1974Milwaukee Bucks
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points7,007 (17.4 ppg)
Rebounds3,333 (8.3 rpg)
Assists594 (1.5 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Bobby Frank Rule (June 29, 1944 – September 5, 2019) was an American professional basketball player. He played at center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Seattle SuperSonics, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Early years

Rule played high school basketball at Riverside Polytechnic High School.[1]

Early in his college career, Rule played under the legendary Jerry Tarkanian, then head coach at Riverside Community College. It was under Tarkanian that Rule honed his defensive and footwork skills.[2] In 1964, Rule was named the Most Valuable Player of the California Junior College State Championships after leading the Riverside City College Tigers to a 35–0 record and the school's first state championship team.[1] Looking back years later, in retirement, Tarkanian commented that Rule "might be the best player I ever coached" and that Rule was "the most dominant player in the history of California junior college basketball."[3]

Rule then transferred to and starred at Colorado State for two seasons.[2] In 1966, Rule and Colorado State made the NCAA tournament but lost to a Houston team that featured future Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes.[4]

Rule played in the Amateur Athletic Union for the Denver Capitol Federal during the 1966–67 season and was named an All-American.[5]

NBA

A second round pick in the 1967 NBA draft, Rule quickly became one of the stars of Seattle's expansion franchise.[6][7] Named to the 1967–68 NBA All-Rookie Team, Rule's 18.1 points per game average stood as the SuperSonics rookie record for forty seasons, until broken by Kevin Durant in 2008. His rebounding average of 9.5 is the second best ever by a SuperSonics rookie, behind only Pete Cross's 12.0 in the 1970–71 season. Also during his rookie season, Rule scored 47 points in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers — still a SuperSonics rookie record.

Rule's game grew stronger during the next two seasons. In the 1968–69 season, he averaged 24.0 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game. In the 1969–70 season, he averaged 24.6 points per game and 10.3 rebounds per game, scored 40 or more points on five separate occasions (including a then-SuperSonics record of 49 points in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers),[8] and played in the 1970 NBA All-Star Game.[7]

In the 1970–71 season, Rule began the season averaging 32.7 points per game and 13.7 rebounds per game over the first three games.[9] In the fourth game, after scoring 21 points and pulling down five rebounds in the first half, Rule had a season-ending torn achilles tendon,[10] ending his season at 29.8 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game.[7] Rule never regained his All-Star form and saw limited playing time thereafter. By 1974 his career was over.[11]

Later years

Rule was inducted into the Riverside City College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.[2]

Rule died on September 5, 2019, in Riverside, California.[12]

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

Regular season

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG STL BLK PPG
1967–68 Seattle 82 29.6 .489 .658 9.5 1.2 – – 18.1
1968–69 Seattle 82 37.9 .469 .682 11.5 1.7 – – 24.0
1969–70 Seattle 80 37.0 .463 .714 10.3 1.8 – – 24.6
1970–71 Seattle 4 35.5 .480 .833 11.5 1.8 – – 29.8
1971–72 Seattle 16 15.2 .363 .535 3.4 0.4 – – 7.1
1971–72 Philadelphia 60 33.1 .445 .695 8.0 1.8 – – 17.3
1972–73 Philadelphia 3 4.0 .000 – 0.7 0.3 – – 0.0
1972–73 Cleveland 49 9.0 .382 .645 2.2 0.8 – – 2.9
1973–74 Cleveland 26 20.8 .396 .739 4.0 1.8 .5 .4 7.2
1974–75 Milwaukee 1 11.0 .000 – 0.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Career 403 29.4 .461 .686 8.3 1.5 0.4 0.4 17.4
All-Star 1 13.0 .333 1.000 4.0 0.0 – – 5.0

References

  1. ^ a b "Riverside Sports Hall of Fame: Bob Rule". Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "With RCC honor, Rule revisits memory lane". Press-Enterprise. October 19, 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ Tarkanian, Jerry; Wetzel, Dan (2013). Runnin' Rebel: Shark Tales of "Extra Benefits," Frank Sinatra, and Winning. Sports Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 9781613212141.
  4. ^ Alexander, Jim (September 19, 2019). "Bob Rule helped make Riverside a basketball town". Press-Enterprise.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Bradley, Robert (2011). "Amateur Athletic Union Basketball". APBR.org. The Association for Professional Basketball Research.
  6. ^ Andrieson, David (October 13, 2007). "Sonics ushered Seattle into the big time 40 years ago Saturday". The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  7. ^ a b c www.nba.com. "Seattle Supersonics History". NBA.com. Retrieved July 20, 2007.
  8. ^ Winick, Matt (1979). National Basketball Association Official Guide. St. Louis: The Sporting News. ISBN 0-89204-049-1.
  9. ^ "1970-71 Seattle SuperSonics Schedule and Results". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  10. ^ History in Headlines of the Sonics. Celebrity Services. 1979. p. 11.
  11. ^ basketball-reference.com. "Bob Rule stats". Retrieved July 20, 2007.
  12. ^ Lund, Rick; Allen, Percy (September 13, 2019), "Bob Rule, star center for expansion Sonics team, dies at 75", The Seattle Times