Walter Piatkowski Jr. (born June 11, 1945) is a retired American professional

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 (appro ...

player. A 6'8" forward, Piatkowski began his career at Toledo Woodward High School then starred at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...

, where he was a

Converse Converse may refer to: Mathematics and logic * Converse (logic), the result of reversing the two parts of a definite or implicational statement ** Converse implication, the converse of a material implication ** Converse nonimplication, a logical c ...

Honorable Mention All-American in 1968. He then played in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

from 1968 to 1970 as a member of the

Denver Rockets Denver ( ) is a consolidated city and county, the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the Western United States, in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains east of ...

. He received ABA All-Rookie Team honors with the Rockets in 1969 after averaging 12.2 points per game. When the Rockets acquired

Spencer Haywood Spencer Haywood (born April 22, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player and Olympic gold medalist. Haywood is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2015. Early life Haywood was born on Ap ...

the next season, Piatkowski saw his playing time drop, and in 1970, he briefly retired to work as a teacher. He returned to the ABA in the fall of 1971 as a member of

The Floridians ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, but he was waived just a month into that season. He later became a salesman with a paper company.Chris Baker.
Clippers watching rising son
. ''Los Angeles Times''. October 31, 1994. Retrieved on August 31, 2010. He is Polish American. Piatkowski's son

Eric Piatkowski Eric Todd Piatkowski (; born September 30, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He is the son of former ABA player ...

played basketball at the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

; was drafted into the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

in 1994 as the 15th overall pick by the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

; and played 14 years in the NBA, mostly with the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

Career statistics

ABA

Source

Regular season

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !3P% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, 77 , , 23.6 , , .417 , , .329 , , .775 , , 4.7 , , .6 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 74 , , 17.6 , , .402 , , .220 , , .768 , , 3.4 , , .6 , , 7.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, 6 , , 4.7 , , .188 , , – , , – , , .3 , , .3 , , 1.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 157 , , 20.1 , , .409 , , .288 , , .772 , , 3.9 , , .6 , , 9.3

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !3P% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 28.7 , , .432 , , .111 , , .909 , , 4.1 , , .9 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 8.3 , , .500 , , .250 , , .500 , , 1.8 , , .7 , , 4.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 13 , , 19.3 , , .444 , , .154 , , .800 , , 3.1 , , .8 , , 10.3

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piatkowski, Walt 1945 births Living people American men's basketball players American people of Polish descent Basketball players from Toledo, Ohio Bowling Green Falcons men's basketball players Denver Rockets draft picks Denver Rockets players Miami Floridians players Power forwards San Francisco Warriors draft picks