[Cinco de Mayo]

Someone needs to make a movie on this guy's life.

Ray Wertis, a 5-11 guard out of St. John's, played for the 1947-48 Providence Steam Rollers, a team that finished 6-42 in the first season of the BAA, now the NBA.

Like a ton of other players from the late-40s, Wertis only played a couple professional seasons, but here's something I found that separates him from the other Post-WWII schlubs.

In seven games for the Steam Rollers, Wertis averaged 4.6 points per game. Hey, 4.6 in seven games, that's not good, but worst player ever?

Here's the kicker. Wertis shot 13-of-72 from the floor that season. So not only did he shoot 18.1 percent for the season, but he took 10.3 shots per game!

That's struggling.

And though basketball-reference doesn't have minutes played, I doubt he played more than a few ticks per game. He only averaged 3.5 points in 61 games the season before (where he averaged 21.0 percent and took 6.0 shots each outing). And since the Steam Rollers were just getting slaughtered in 1947-48, you know there were some garbage-time games, and when Wertis got in, he just started chucking his *** off. I'm in shock his teammates ever even gave him the ball after awhile.

Shooting the ball 10 times a game to get 4.6 points. Eighteen percent from the field. That's harder to beat than a 100-point game. We'll never see that again.

That was Wertis' last pro season. But according to basketball-reference, he's still alive somewhere, so surprisingly, it's not because his teammates strangled him in the locker room.

So anyway, congratulations, Ray. You suck big ones.

[ChristopherJ]

I think you have too much time on your hands looking at stats from 1947.

[southeasy]

he was 5'11"

so probably had really small hands like circus folk

[BadBaronRudigor]

Fun post, I enjoyed it Rawse.

[HKF]

Ray must have been related to an owner somewhere. Seriously, I almost would pay to see a movie about the inception of pro basketball, to see the kind of guys that were playing. I bet it was almost country club-esque. Better be quiet, or Will Ferrell might read this.

[Cinco de Mayo]

Here's the link, by the way.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...wertira01.html

You'll also notice that only two players on that Steam Rollers team that got any kind of significant playing time shot better than 30 percent. They were led by 6-6 center Jack Toomay's dazzling .361.

[ehmunro]

Originally Posted by HKF

Ray must have been related to an owner somewhere.

I have five bucks that says Antoine Walker's his illegitimate son.

[FreshCo]

Damn that guy suuuucked.

[HKF]

Originally Posted by ehmunro

I have five bucks that says Antoine Walker's his illegitimate son.

No respect for Casey Jacobsen or Eric Snow huh?

[Zei_Zao_LS]

Originally Posted by Rawse

Here's the link, by the way.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...wertira01.html

You'll also notice that only two players on that Steam Rollers team that got any kind of significant playing time shot better than 30 percent. They were led by 6-6 center Jack Toomay's dazzling .361.

It should be noted that in 47-48, the league leader in FG% was sitting pretty at 34.9% so... the 18%, in perspective, isn't so bad. That's like someone shooting 28%-33% now, what with the league leaders being in the 60%'s.