Billy Cunningham vs. Rik Smits Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Rik Smits and Billy Cunningham, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Billy Cunningham played 9 years in the NBA, 3 less than Rik Smits, who played 12. Billy Cunningham had the first of his seasons in 1965-66, while Rik Smits had his rookie season in 1988-89. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12
Rookie Season
	Billy Cunningham	Rik Smits
Season	1965-66	1988-89
Team	Philadelphia 76ers	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	76ers Lost East Div Finals	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	80	26.7	14.3	-	-	7.5	2.6	-	-	-	3.8	5.4	12.6	.426	-	-	-	3.5	5.5	.634
Rik Smits	82	24.9	11.7	2.3	3.8	6.1	0.9	0.5	1.8	1.6	3.8	4.7	9.1	.517	0.0	0.0	.000	2.2	3.1	.722
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	4	17.3	5.3	-	-	4.5	2.5	-	-	-	2.8	1.3	7.8	.161	-	-	-	2.8	3.3	.846
Rik Smits	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Billy Cunningham	Rik Smits
Season	1966-67	1989-90
Team	Philadelphia 76ers	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Pacers Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	81	26.8	18.5	-	-	7.3	2.5	-	-	-	3.2	6.9	15.0	.459	-	-	-	4.7	6.9	.686
Rik Smits	82	29.3	15.5	1.6	4.6	6.2	1.7	0.5	2.1	1.7	4.0	6.3	11.8	.533	0.0	0.0	.000	2.9	3.6	.811
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	15	22.6	15.0	-	-	6.2	2.2	-	-	-	3.5	5.5	14.7	.376	-	-	-	3.9	6.0	.656
Rik Smits	3	32.0	12.3	1.3	4.0	5.3	1.0	0.7	1.3	1.7	4.0	4.7	9.3	.500	0.0	0.0	-	3.0	3.7	.818

Season 4
	Billy Cunningham	Rik Smits
Season	1968-69	1991-92
Team	Philadelphia 76ers	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	76ers Lost East Div Semis	Pacers Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	82	40.8	24.8	-	-	12.8	3.5	-	-	-	4.0	9.0	21.2	.426	-	-	-	6.8	9.2	.737
Rik Smits	74	23.9	13.8	1.7	4.0	5.6	1.6	0.4	1.4	1.8	3.1	5.9	11.6	.510	0.0	0.0	.000	2.1	2.6	.788
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	5	43.4	24.4	-	-	12.6	2.4	-	-	-	4.8	9.8	23.4	.419	-	-	-	4.8	7.6	.632
Rik Smits	3	9.3	3.3	1.0	1.0	2.0	0.0	0.7	0.3	1.0	2.3	1.3	3.7	.364	0.0	0.0	-	0.7	0.7	1.000

Season 5
	Billy Cunningham	Rik Smits
Season	1969-70	1992-93
Team	Philadelphia 76ers	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	76ers Lost East Div Semis	Pacers Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	81	39.4	26.1	-	-	13.6	4.3	-	-	-	4.1	9.9	21.1	.469	-	-	-	6.3	8.6	.729
Rik Smits	81	25.6	14.3	1.6	3.8	5.3	1.5	0.3	0.9	1.8	3.5	6.1	12.6	.486	0.0	0.0	-	2.1	2.8	.732
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	5	41.0	29.2	-	-	10.4	4.0	-	-	-	3.8	12.2	24.6	.496	-	-	-	4.8	7.2	.667
Rik Smits	4	35.8	22.5	3.3	4.8	8.0	1.8	1.3	1.0	2.0	4.5	9.3	16.0	.578	0.0	0.3	.000	4.0	5.5	.727

Season 6
	Billy Cunningham	Rik Smits
Season	1970-71	1993-94
Team	Philadelphia 76ers	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	76ers Lost East Conf Semis	Pacers Lost East Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	81	38.1	23.0	-	-	11.7	4.9	-	-	-	4.0	8.7	18.8	.462	-	-	-	5.6	7.7	.734
Rik Smits	78	27.1	15.7	1.7	4.5	6.2	2.0	0.6	1.1	1.9	3.6	6.3	11.8	.534	0.0	0.0	.000	3.1	3.8	.793
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	7	43.0	25.9	-	-	15.4	5.7	-	-	-	4.0	9.6	20.3	.472	-	-	-	6.7	9.6	.701
Rik Smits	16	28.1	16.0	1.4	3.8	5.3	1.9	0.6	0.6	2.7	4.0	6.4	13.6	.472	0.0	0.0	-	3.1	3.9	.806

Season 7
	Billy Cunningham	Rik Smits
Season	1971-72	1994-95
Team	Philadelphia 76ers	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Pacers Lost East Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	75	38.7	23.3	-	-	12.2	5.9	-	-	-	3.9	8.8	19.0	.461	-	-	-	5.7	8.0	.712
Rik Smits	78	30.5	17.9	2.5	5.2	7.7	1.4	0.5	1.0	2.4	3.6	7.2	13.6	.526	0.0	0.0	.000	3.6	4.8	.753
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rik Smits	17	32.1	20.1	1.9	5.1	7.0	2.0	0.3	0.8	2.0	4.3	7.5	13.6	.547	0.1	0.1	1.000	5.1	6.3	.804

Note: Billy Cunningham didn't play in 1972-73 and 1973-74.

Season 10
	Billy Cunningham	Rik Smits
Season	-	1997-98
Team	-	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Pacers Lost East Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rik Smits	73	28.6	16.7	1.7	5.2	6.9	1.4	0.5	1.2	1.8	3.3	7.0	14.2	.495	0.0	0.0	.000	2.6	3.3	.783
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Cunningham	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rik Smits	16	29.8	16.6	1.1	4.3	5.3	1.3	0.5	0.9	1.3	4.2	6.6	13.1	.502	0.0	0.1	.000	3.4	4.0	.859