Los Angeles Clippers: 15 greatest scorers of all-time

Randy Smith is not often talked about as one the greatest players in Clippers history. But as a score-first shooting guard while the team resided in Buffalo under the Braves name and for a few years in San Diego, he racked up points like not many could back in the 1970s.

Standing shorter than pretty much everyone else on the court, Smith’s advantage came from his ability to simply out-run opponents. In transition he was elite, blowing past everybody on his way to the bucket. Even in the halfcourt setting, Smith could be stationary at the halfcourt line and in an instant, he’d explode past his defender for easy layups.

Smith was only a seventh-round pick in the 1971 NBA Draft, unlikely to last very long in the NBA. However, it was his physical gifts which helped him thrive, especially while with the Braves.

He’d make his only two All-Star appearances while in Buffalo, but he did win the 1978 All-Star Game MVP with 27 points off the bench. This was tops among all the players in the glorified exhibition.

He’d average over 20 points per game in four consecutive seasons, highlighted by a career-best 24.6 points a night during that same 1977-78 campaign.

Believe it or not, due to his durability — he missed just four games in eight seasons with the Braves/Clippers — Smith has scored more total points than anyone else in the franchise’s history with 12,735. This cements him as not just one of the organization’s best bucket-getters, but also a pillar for all the greats that would follow him in the years to come.