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For his father, see Matt Guokas Sr.

Matthew George Guokas Jr. (/ˈɡuːkəs/ GOO-kəs;[1] born February 25, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. His father, Matt Sr. and uncle, Al, have also played in the NBA.

Guokas and his father, Matt Sr., were the first father-son duo to both win NBA championships as players; this feat has since been repeated by the Barrys (Rick and Brent), the Waltons (Bill and Luke), the Thompsons (Mychal and Klay), and the Paytons (Gary Payton and Gary Payton II).

Biography

Playing career

Guokas played college basketball for hometown Saint Joseph's University, where he set many school records in assists and steals.[citation needed] He was an All-American as a junior in 1966, and graduated in 1967.[2] After SJU, Guokas was selected in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers team and played for the team featuring Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker and Billy Cunningham that ended the eight-year championship streak of the Boston Celtics. He also played with the Buffalo Braves, Chicago Bulls, Cincinnati Royals, Houston Rockets, and Kansas City Kings, all of the NBA. In the 1972–73 season, Guokas finished second (to Chamberlain) in the NBA in field goal percentage with a .570 clip during that season.

Coaching and broadcasting

Guokas later returned to the Sixers as an assistant coach under Billy Cunningham, and was named head coach when Cunningham retired in 1985. He led the Sixers to two second-place finishes, but was fired after a slow start to the 1987–88 season.

After a year away from the game, he served as the first coach of the Orlando Magic, steering the team through its first four years, the last of which saw the Magic come within one game of making the playoffs in Shaquille O'Neal's rookie year. He compiled a combined 230–305 career record in parts of seven seasons.

He formerly worked as a TV color commentator and sports analyst for the Magic on Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports cable channels, teaming with veteran NBA and college sportscaster David Steele. He called the Magic's games from 2004 to 2013.[3] He also served as a color commentator for NBA on NBC broadcasts during the 1990s and was a color commentator for the Cleveland Cavaliers for Fox Sports Ohio cable channel for a number of years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Career playing 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
 *  Led the league

NBA

Source[4]

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1966–67† Philadelphia 69 11.7 .389 .605 1.2 1.5 3.0
1967–68 Philadelphia 82 19.7 .483 .776 2.3 2.3 6.1
1968–69 Philadelphia 72 11.6 .426 .667 1.3 1.4 3.3
1969–70 Philadelphia 80 19.5 .454 .711 2.7 2.8 6.1
1970–71 Philadelphia 1 0 5.0 – – 1.0 .0 .0
1970–71 Chicago 78 35 28.3 .493 .732 2.0 4.4 6.6
1971–72 Cincinnati 61 32.4 .496 .771 2.3 5.3 7.3
1972–73 Kansas City–Omaha 79 36.0 .570 .822 3.1 5.1 9.1
1973–74 Kansas City–Omaha 9 35.0 .494 .667 2.3 4.0 .9 .1 10.0
1973–74 Houston 39 25.8 .458 .750 1.5 3.4 .7 .4 5.3
1973–74 Buffalo 27 20.3 .555 .500 1.5 2.6 .7 .2 4.9
1974–75 Chicago 82 12 25.5 .510 .757 1.7 2.2 .5 .2 7.2
1975–76 Chicago 18 0 15.4 .486 .818 .9 1.6 .3 .1 4.5
1975–76 Kansas City 38 13.6 .374 .563 1.2 1.1 .3 .1 2.2
Career 735 47 22.6 .489 .727 2.0 3.0 .5 .2 5.8

Playoffs

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1967† Philadelphia 15* 16.8 .406 .765 2.0 1.5 4.3
1968 Philadelphia 13 25.2 .380 .741 3.3 2.3 6.2
1969 Philadelphia 5 20.0 .407 .800 2.4 1.6 5.2
1970 Philadelphia 2 11.5 .750 1.000 1.5 .5 6.5
1971 Chicago 6 13.8 .571 .800 1.3 2.0 3.3
1974 Buffalo 6 14.2 .533 .750 1.3 2.2 .0 .2 3.2
1975 Chicago 13 15.5 .343 .875 1.1 .8 .5 .1 2.4
Career 60 17.9 .417 .776 2.0 1.6 .4 .1 4.2

Head coaching record

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
Philadelphia 1985–86 82 54 28 .659 2nd in Atlantic 12 6 6 .500 Lost in Conference semifinals
Philadelphia 1986–87 82 45 37 .549 2nd in Atlantic 5 2 3 .400 Lost in First round
Philadelphia 1987–88 43 20 23 .465 (fired) — — — — —
Orlando 1989–90 82 18 64 .220 7th in Central — — — — Missed playoffs
Orlando 1990–91 82 31 51 .378 4th in Midwest — — — — Missed playoffs
Orlando 1991–92 82 21 61 .256 7th in Atlantic — — — — Missed playoffs
Orlando 1992–93 82 41 41 .500 4th in Atlantic — — — — Missed playoffs
Career 535 230 305 .430 17 8 9 .471

Personal life

Guokas's father (Matt Sr.), uncle (Al), and son (Matt III) have all played for Saint Joseph's University.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ "Scouting Reports". Sports Illustrated. December 6, 1965. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  2. ^ "Bio: Matt Guokas, Jr". St. Joseph's University. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  3. ^ Dunlap, Evan (May 29, 2013). "Whom should Magic hire to replace Matt Guokas as television color analyst?". Orlando Pinstriped Post. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  4. ^ "Matt Guokas NBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  5. ^ McKinney, Jack; Gordon, Robert (2005). Jack McKinney's Tales from Saint Joseph's Hardwood: The Hawk Will Never Die. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 85. ISBN 9781582619293. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  6. ^ "Saint Joseph's men's basketball 2018–19 media guide" (PDF). sjuhawks.com. p. 91. Retrieved November 24, 2018.

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