Mel Counts
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Mel Grant Counts (born October 16, 1941) is an American retired
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player who played in the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) from 1964 to 1976. An excellent outside shooter for a 7 footer, he was on the United States Olympic basketball team that won the gold at the
1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...
. He played in college for
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...
and was selected by the
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
in the
1964 NBA draft The 1964 NBA draft was the 18th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 4, 1964, before the 1964–65 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...
. The Celtics won the
NBA Championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
in 1965 and 1966 with Counts on the team as
Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most V ...
's backup, but he was traded for the 1967 season to the Baltimore Bullets. Halfway through that season he was traded to the
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
, who made it to the playoffs that year. The next three seasons Counts' Lakers made it to the
NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
, where they would play in and ultimately lose three years in a row. In the
1969 NBA Finals The 1969 NBA World Championship Series to determine the champion of the 1968–69 NBA season was played between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, the Lakers being heavily favored due to the presence of three formidable stars: Elgin Ba ...
, Counts indirectly played a role in one of the most controversial coaching decisions in NBA history. In game 7, starting Laker center Wilt Chamberlain, who had never fouled out of a game, picked up his 5th foul with 6 minutes to play. A minute later, Wilt came off the floor limping and was replaced by Counts with the Lakers trailing the Celtics by nine points. The Lakers cut the deficit to one point on a shot by Counts, with coach
Butch van Breda Kolff Willem Hendrik "Butch" van Breda Kolff (October 28, 1922August 22, 2007) was an American basketball player and coach. Biography Early life and career Butch was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, son of Dutch soccer player Jan van Breda Kolff. He g ...
refusing to reinsert Chamberlain into the game in the final minutes even though Wilt said his knee felt good enough to play. The Lakers lost the game, 108–106, and the series, 4–3. Counts played one more season with the Lakers before being traded to the Phoenix Suns with the Lakers gaining the return of hall of famer
Gail Goodrich Gail Charles Goodrich Jr. (born April 23, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is best known for scoring a then record 42 points for UCLA in the 1965 NCAA championship game vs ...
(he started with the Lakers but went to Phoenix in the 1967 expansion draft). After several more stops around the league, including a return to the Lakers in 1973, Counts ended his career with the New Orleans Jazz in 1976. As of 2006, he was working as a real estate agent in Salem, Oregon

His son Brent played college basketball at the University of the Pacific (United States), University of the Pacific, his son Brian played at Western Oregon State and his son Chris played at Sheridan Junior College and South Dakota State. His grandsons Brent Jr. played at St. Martin's University and Patrick at Chemeketa Community College and California Maritime Academy. Mixed martial artist
Chael Sonnen Chael Patrick Sonnen (; born April 3, 1977) is an American submission grappling promoter, mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst, and retired mixed martial artist. Beginning his MMA career in 1997, Sonnen competed for the Ultimate Fighting Champion ...
is his nephew.Is Robert Whittaker a better version of Georges St-Pierre?
July 28, 2010.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Counts, Mel 1941 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) players Basketball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Oregon Boston Celtics draft picks Boston Celtics players Centers (basketball) Los Angeles Lakers players Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics New Orleans Jazz players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Oregon State Beavers men's basketball players People from Coos Bay, Oregon Philadelphia 76ers players Phoenix Suns players Power forwards (basketball) United States men's national basketball team players