Pat Cummings is a retired American professional basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player.

A 6-foot-9½ center with an accurate shooting touch, Cummings spent the most productive stretch of his 12-year career with the New York Knicks

New York Knicks

The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...

 and the Dallas Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...

 of the NBA, averaging better than 12 points and 8 rebounds for four straight campaigns.

A product of Greater Johnstown High School

Greater Johnstown High School

Greater Johnstown High School is a high school located in between the neighborhoods of Moxham, 8th Ward and Hornerstown in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is the senior high school for the Greater Johnstown School District. The current Superintendent is Barbara Parkins, herself a...

 and the University of Cincinnati

University of Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....

, Cummings was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. They are part of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and currently plays at the Bradley Center....

 as a junior-eligible in 1978 (the year Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...

 used the same rule to draft Larry Bird

Larry Bird

Larry Joe Bird is a former American NBA basketball player and coach. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, spearheading one of the NBA's most formidable frontcourts that included center Robert Parish...

). After playing out his senior season Cummings came to the Bucks in 1979. Over the next three seasons he saw limited action in a frontcourt that already included Bob Lanier

Bob Lanier (basketball)

Robert Jerry "Bob" Lanier, Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played for the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA.Lanier was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992....

 and Harvey Catchings

Harvey Catchings

Harvey Lee Catchings is an American former professional basketball player in the NBA.He played for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, and Milwaukee Bucks, and finished his career with the Los Angeles Clippers in 1985...

. Nevertheless, Cummings shot better than 50 percent from the floor and averaged more than 6 points each year.

NBA career

In 1982 the 2-year-old Dallas Mavericks acquired him for a pair of draft choices. Cummings became the Mavs’ starting center and averaged 12.5 points and 8.2 rebounds. After putting up similar numbers the following season he signed with New York as a free agent.

In 1984–85 Cummings notched the best scoring average of his career, 15.8 points per contest. In 1985–86 he finally succumbed to the foot problems that had been nagging him for years. After averaging 15.7 points and 9.0 rebounds in 31 games, Cummings bowed out for the season and had surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle.

Cummings never quite returned to form. He spent two more seasons with the Knicks, sharing time in the frontcourt with Bill Cartwright and Patrick Ewing

Patrick Ewing

Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle...

, before signing as a free agent with the expansion Miami Heat

Miami Heat

The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...

 in 1988. After two seasons as a backup to Rony Seikaly

Rony Seikaly

Ronald Fred "Rony" Seikaly is a retired Lebanese-born American professional basketball player.-Early life:Seikaly was born in Beirut, Lebanon. At the age of 9, Rony moved from Beirut where he'd been attending elementary school at the Athenee de Beirut to Greece, where he spent the rest of his youth...

, Cummings was waived late in the 1989–90 campaign.

After a four-game stint with the Utah Jazz

Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...

 in 1990–91, Cummings left the NBA at age 34.

In 12 NBA seasons he averaged 9.6 points and 5.6 rebounds

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