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General manager (sometimes abbreviated GM) is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.

Generic usage[link]

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A manager may be responsible for one functional area, but the General Manager is responsible for all areas. Sometimes, most commonly, the term General Manager refers to any executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement. This is often referred to as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. This means that a General Manager usually oversees most or all of the firm's marketing and sales functions as well as the day-to-day operations of the business. Frequently, the General Manager is responsible for effective planning, delegating, coordinating, staffing, organizing, and decision making to attain desirable profit making results for an organization (Sayles 1979).^[1]

In many cases, the general manager of a business is given a different formal title or titles. Most corporate managers holding the titles of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or President, for example, are the General Managers of their respective businesses. More rarely, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), or Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will act as the General Manager of the business. Depending on the company, individuals with the title Managing Director, Regional Vice President, Country Manager, Product Manager, Branch Manager, or Segment Manager may also have general management responsibilities. In large companies many vice presidents will have the title of General Manager when they have the full set of responsibility for the function in that particular area of the business and are often titled Vice President and General Manager.

In consumer products companies, General Managers are often given the title Brand Manager or Category Manager. In professional services firms, the General Manager may hold titles such as Managing Partner, Senior Partner, or Managing Director.

Industry-specific usages[link]

Hotels[link]

In hotels, the General Manager is the executive manager responsible for the overall operation of a hotel establishment. The General Manager holds ultimate authority over the hotel operation and usually reports directly to a corporate office or hotel owner. Common duties of a General Manager include hiring and management of a management team, overall management of hotel staff, budgeting and financial management, creating and enforcing business objectives and goals, managing projects and renovations, management of emergencies and other major issues involving guests, employees, or the facility, public relations with the media, local governments, and other businesses, and many additional duties. The extent of duties of a hotel General Manager vary significantly depending on the size of the hotel and company; for example, General Managers of smaller hotels may have additional duties such as accounting, human resources, payroll, purchasing, and other duties that would usually be handled by other managers or departments in a larger hotel.

Sports teams[link]

In most professional sports, the general manager is a team executive responsible for acquiring the rights to player personnel, negotiating their contracts, and reassigning or dismissing players no longer desired on the team. The general manager may also have responsibility for hiring the head coach of the team.

For many years in U.S. professional sports, coaches often served as general managers for their teams as well, deciding which players would be kept on the team and which ones dismissed, and even negotiating the terms of their contracts in cooperation with the ownership of the team. In fact, many sports teams in the early years of U.S. professional sports were coached by the owner of the team, so in some cases the same individual served as owner, general manager and head coach.

As the amount of money involved in professional sports increased, many prominent players began to hire agents to negotiate contracts on their behalf. The intensified contract negotiations that resulted, as well as the overall increased need for professional business management, drove many sports teams to separate the positions of coach and general manager. Some coaches, for example Andy Reid, Bill Belichick, and Mike Shanahan however, still insist on being allowed to fill both positions as a condition of employment.

In some sports leagues salary caps have been adopted to maintain a competitive balance and in these leagues it is one of the functions of the general manager to ensure all player contracts are in accordance with these caps, as well as consistent with the desires of the ownership and its ability to pay.

General managers are usually responsible for the selection of players in player drafts and work with the coaching staff and scouts to build a strong team. In sports with developmental or minor leagues, the general manager is usually the team executive with the overall responsibility for "sending down" and "calling up" players to and from these leagues, although the head coach may also have significant input into these decisions.

Some of the most successful sports general managers have been former players and coaches, while others have backgrounds in ownership and business management.

The term is not commonly used in Europe, especially in soccer, where the position of manager or coach is used instead to refer to the managing/coaching position. The position of director of football might be the most similar position on many European football clubs.

See also[link]

• General manager (American football)
• General manager (baseball)
• General manager (basketball)
• General manager (ice hockey)
• Managing director
• Sports Illustrated Top 10 GMs/Executives of the Decade (in all sports) (2009)
• Sporting News Executive of the Year (MLB)
• NBA Executive of the Year Award

References[link]

Theodore Long
Ring name(s)	Teddy Long Theodore Long Theodore R. Long T-Lo Peanut Head
Billed height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Billed weight	173 lb (78 kg)
Born	(1947-09-15) September 15, 1947 (age 64) Birmingham, Alabama
Resides	Miami, Florida
Billed from	Atlanta, Georgia
Debut	1985

Theodore Rufus^[1] "Teddy" Long (born September 15, 1947)^[2] is an American professional wrestling manager and former referee who is currently signed to WWE, performing as a servant for John Laurinaitis. He is best known for being a two-time general manager of WWE SmackDown.

Professional wrestling career[link]

National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling[link]

Long started out as an errand boy for wrestlers Tommy Rich and Abdullah the Butcher. He eventually became a member of the ringcrew and was promoted to referee in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 as Teddy Long.^[3] In 1989, at the Chi-Town Rumble event, Long ran in and counted three, making Ricky Steamboat the NWA World Champion. Shortly thereafter, Long began to turn into a villainous character when he started to bend the rules for the villains. On April 2, 1989 at the Clash of Champions in New Orleans, Long blatantly made a fast count allowing Mike Rotunda and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to defeat the Road Warriors for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. After this match, the National Wrestling Alliance relieved Long of his refereeing duties. This was actually a story lifted from Championship Wrestling from Florida, where Long had been a referee and did several heel-decisions in the ring, including one for Ron Simmons over Skip Young. While riding with Kevin Sullivan and Eddie Gilbert, Long would DJ for them. After hearing Long talk, the two convinced Jim Ross to give Long a managerial role, managing "Norman The Lunatic".^[3] Long became the manager of Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) and led them to the World Tag Team Titles. He also managed Johnny B. Badd, One Man Gang, Norman the Lunatic, The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious, Dan Spivey and Mark Calaway), Marcus Bagwell, 2 Cold Scorpio, Joey Maggs, Craig Pittman, Jim Powers, Bobby Walker, Ice Train and Bobby Eaton while in Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW.

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (1999–present)[link]

Long debuted in the WWF as a referee in 1999 at the Royal Rumble and stayed with that role until September 2002, when he was taken off the road. Like his previous referee stints, Long went by the shortened Teddy Long name during this period. He was a referee at the Over The Edge 1999 PPV, during the match after Owen Hart's tragic death: a mixed tag match between Jeff Jarrett/Debra and Val Venis/Nicole Bass. Long was the referee when Darren Drozdov ended up paralyzed and can be seen in WWE's Don't Try This At Home warning looking at the paramedics lift Droz up on a stretcher.

He was re-packaged as a villainous manager once again under his full name, and perhaps his most notable managing stint in this period came when managing D'Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, Christopher Nowinski, Rosey, Mark Henry and Jazz at different times, telling fans to "get Down wit' da Brown" and to "Back da Mack." When he was drafted to SmackDown!, he managed Mark Jindrak.

SmackDown! (2004–2008)[link]

After Kurt Angle was fired from the General Manager position in July 2004, Long became the new and first African-American General Manager of SmackDown!. Long immediately turned face on his first night as GM when he fined Angle $5,000 for not having his wrestling gear with him. Because of his face turn, his new position saw him giving the fans what they wanted and making matches that put villains at disadvantages, notably JBL, a stark contrast to other WWE managers, such as Eric Bischoff and Mr. McMahon, who would blatantly favor heels. At first, he continued use of his "Hate-orade" talk, but less aggressively, and with humor. One example was when he stripped Booker T of the US Championship for "drinkin' Hate-orade." Long would also introduce the New Talent Initiative during this time, which saw the likes of Bobby Lashley and Mr. Kennedy debut in 2005 and MVP in 2006, among others. The New Talent Initiative would continue when Long moved to ECW in 2008 and would see the debuts of Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, Braden Walker, Ricky Ortiz, Gavin Spears, and Jack Swagger.

As part of the Raw vs. SmackDown! feud, Long defeated then Raw GM Eric Bischoff at Survivor Series 2005 with the help of The Boogeyman.^[4]

Theodore Long still had problems with Booker T and his defense of the United States title, however, as Booker T attempted to get out of title defenses on a number of occasions by pretending to be injured, and having other wrestlers fight on his behalf. Eventually, Long got tired of these shenanigans, and at No Way Out 2006, Booker was told to face Chris Benoit or be stripped of the US title. Benoit won the match and was congratulated by Theodore Long.

After Randy Orton had cheated to obtain Rey Mysterio's title shot at WrestleMania 22, Long placed Mysterio back in the match and made it a Triple Threat match, at the same time warning Orton that he could still remove Orton from the match if he disobeyed Long.

At Judgment Day 2006 Long fired Melina and Johnny Nitro from SmackDown!. On the following SmackDown!, JBL suffered the same fate after losing the United States Championship to Bobby Lashley, and then losing a World Heavyweight Championship match to Rey Mysterio in his Judgment Day rematch.^[5]

On the September 4, 2006 episode of Raw, Long appeared to a tremendous ovation in his hometown. During a six-person, intergender tag match between Randy Orton, Edge, and Lita against Trish Stratus, Carlito, and John Cena, some fans chanted Theodore's name.^[6]

In April 2007, Long became the on-screen boyfriend of Kristal Marshall, after weeks flirting with each other backstage. Long then began to look for an assistant so he could spend more time with Kristal, eventually revealing Vickie Guerrero as his new assistant on May 25, 2007, an appointment made partly at Kristal's request.^[7] On the June 22, 2007 episode of SmackDown!, Long asked Kristal to marry him. Kristal ran out of the ring, crying, but later agreed to marry him. On the July 27, 2007 episode of SmackDown!, Ron Simmons was named the best man for "Theodore Rufus Long" and Kristal's wedding on the September 21, 2007 episode of SmackDown! emanating from Long's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. The wedding was not completed, however, due to constant disruptions and Long having a heart attack just as he started to say "I do". He then fell in to a coma.^[8] The storyline never finished out as planned as Marshall left the WWE shortly afterwards due to creative differences. Long returned on the November 30, 2007 episode of SmackDown! as the Assistant General Manager and made a match at Armageddon for the World Heavyweight Championship.^[9] He started to feud with Guerrero over her position as the General manager as she continued to favour Edge. On May 16, 2008, Long quit his role of Assistant General Manager.^[10]

Theodore Long on his way to the ring.

GM of ECW and Smackdown! (2008-2012)[link]

On the June 3, 2008 episode of ECW, it was announced that Long had become the new General Manager of the ECW brand by order of the WWE Board of Directors.^[11]

On the April 7, 2009 episode of ECW, Long announced he was returning to SmackDown! as General Manager, with Tiffany replacing him on ECW. By doing this, he became the first person in the history of the company to have a second term as General Manager. He made his official TV return to SmackDown! on April 10, when he announced that the Hardys Matt and Jeff would face each other in the first ever stretcher match in SmackDown history.

At the Breaking Point PPV, Long restarted the World Heavyweight Championship match between CM Punk and the Undertaker after Undertaker made Punk submit using his Hell's Gate submission finisher, stating that the ban on the maneuver was still in effect. On the September 18, 2009 episode of Friday Night Smackdown, WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon instructed Long to go down to the ring and explain his actions regarding the conclusion of the World Heavyweight Championship Submission match between champion CM Punk and The Undertaker in which he (Long), as well as referee Scott Armstrong and CM Punk played key roles in recreating the infamous Montreal Screwjob at the WWE Breaking Point Pay-per-view event (held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada), site of the 1997 fiasco. This time, with The Undertaker being the target of a planned conspiracy. As he returned from the ring to the back stage area, he entered his waiting limousine only to be kidnapped by The Undertaker, who was in the driver's seat. The following week on SmackDown Long was brought into the arena inside a coffin by Undertaker's druids where he again legalized Undertaker's Hell's Gate submission hold. Teddy Long made a guest appearance on RAW and later Shawn Michaels performed his finishing maneuver [Sweet Chin Music] on Teddy Long after Long refused to draft him to SmackDown. He then began a feud with Drew McIntyre, the first part of which revolved around McIntyre qualifying for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI, which was instead won by Jack Swagger. On the 7th May episode of Smackdown, after McIntyre brutally assaulted Matt Hardy, Long stripped McIntyre of his Intercontinental Championship and fired him. As a result, the Intercontinental Championship was vacant. Thus, Long issued the Intercontinental Championship tournament involving Christian, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler. However, after Kingston emerged victorious against Christian, Long was issued a letter from Vince McMahon reinstating McIntyre and forcing Kingston to give his title back to McIntyre. He then made a match for McIntyre's Intercontinental Championship at Over the Limit against Kofi Kingston.

On the May 28 episode of SmackDown, Long read a letter from Mr. McMahon's office given to him by Drew McIntyre which stated that Matt Hardy was suspended until further notice after Matt attacked McIntyre at the Over the Limit PPV event and told Matt not to go near McIntyre and if he did so, Long would be fired as the General Manager of SmackDown.

On the June 11 episode of SmackDown!, a frustrated Drew McIntyre announced a match between Long and McIntyre would take place the following week on Smackdown per orders of Mr. McMahon. Drew said if Long didn't compete, he would be fired. McIntyre then went on to win the match the following week, after it was ordered that Long had get down on his knees, proclaim Drew as "The Chosen One" and then lay on his back and let McIntyre pin him without a fight. The next episode of SmackDown!, Long reinstated Matt Hardy into the SmackDown! brand and made Drew McIntyre compete against the returning Matt Hardy. Hardy would win the match, but after the match, Long came out and told McIntyre that his work visa had expired, and made security carry him out of the arena. On the July 9 edition of SmackDown, McIntyre was reinstated and pleaded forgiveness from Long, even going so far as to nominate Long as a member of the WWE Hall of Fame as well as get on his knees and proclaim Long "the best boss he ever had." Long, however, did not believe him and announced a Money in the Bank qualifying match (for the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view) against Kofi Kingston.

On January 21 episode of Smackdown, Long was found (kayfabe) unconscious in his office, suffering a head injury. He returned on the February 18 episode of Smackdown, where he revealed Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler to have attacked him. He then scheduled a match between the new World Heavyweight Champion Ziggler and Edge. Edge would win the match, becoming a eleven-time world champion. After the match, Long would then fire Ziggler. The following week, he fired Vickie Guerrero after she lost a mixed tag team match.

On the May 6 episode, Long scheduled a World Heavyweight Championship match between Randy Orton and Christian who had just won it for the first time five nights previous at Extreme Rules. On the June 3 episode, Christian was chosen by Long as the special guest referee for a World Heavyweight Championship match between Orton and Sheamus who beat Christian and Mark Henry in a triple threat number one contender's match for the title the week before. Christian would turn heel by hitting Orton with the title he had retained and lost to Orton again at Capitol Punishment despite his foot being under the bottom rope. Christian blamed Long and as a result Long scheduled Orton to defend his title against Christian at Money in the Bank. Christian would manage to find a way to include a clause that if Orton were to get disqualified, the title would switch hands.

On July 25 episode of SmackDown. The new COO Triple H made Zack Ryder Theodore Long's new Assistant.

On the November 25, 2011 episode of SmackDown!, after Daniel Bryan seemingly successfully cashed in the Money In The Bank briefcase on Mark Henry to win his first World Heavyweight Championship, Long rushed down to the ring and declared the title change void, as Mark Henry had not yet been medically cleared to compete in an official match. He would schedule Bryan in a fatal four-way match against Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett to determine the number one contender for Henry's world title which would be defended on the November 29 episode inside a steel cage.

After TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, Santino Marrella replaced Zack Ryder(who had just won his first United States Championship)for Smackdown Assistant General Manager.

Feud with John Laurinaitis (2012)[link]

On February 21, 2012, Long was criticized by Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis, which resulted the WWE Board of Directors to switch the general managers of their respective shows for one week.^[12] Long took charge of the March 5 episode of Raw, with Laurinaitis taking charge of the March 9 edition of SmackDown. During Laurinaitis' time in charge of SmackDown, he set up a match between himself and Long, where, if Long won, Aksana, Long's girlfriend, would be placed in a match with Kane. Long won the match when Randy Orton attacked Kane at ringside, which distracted Laurinaitis.

A 12-man Tag match was then set up at WrestleMania XXVIII, where six superstars would represent both general managers. Long chose Santino Marella as his team captain, along with Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, The Great Khali and Booker T over the following weeks. A stipulation was added that the winning team at WrestleMania would determine who would become the general manager of both shows. At WrestleMania, Team Teddy lost to Team Johnny, ending Long's run as SmackDown General Manager.

On the April 6 edition of SmackDown, Long prepared to give his farewell speech, but Laurinaitis threatened to discontinue a trust fund Long had set up for his grandchildren's college education unless he took a job as his new assistant, to which Long reluctantly accepted.

For the next few weeks, Laurinaitis would humiliate Long by doing ridiculous antics; such as wearing a huge name tag and standing guard by his door as a Queen's soldier. When things would be go wrong, he would always blame Theodore saying, "Why Teddy?", in which the other heel wrestlers would agree.

In wrestling[link]

• Wrestlers managed

• Johnny B. Badd
• Rodney Mack
• Mean Mark
• One Man Gang
• Mark Henry
• Jazz
• Eddie Guerrero
• Joey Maggs
• Craig Pittman
• Chris Jericho
• Jim Powers
• Bobby Walker
• Ice Train
• Rosey
• Mark Jindrak
• Ezekiel Jackson
• Santino Marella

• Teams and stables managed

• Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed)
• The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious, Dan Spivey and "Mean" Mark Callous)
• Marcus Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio
• Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises (D'Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, Jazz, Christopher Nowinski, and Mark Henry)

• Entrance themes

• "MacMillitant" by Miestro (WWE; 2002–2012)

Matches[link]

When Long became SmackDown General Manager, he revived old and made new match types:

• At No Mercy 2004, he put JBL and The Undertaker in a Last Ride Match. The rules are similar to a Casket Match and an Ambulance Match where one opponent must put the other into the back of the hearse and drive out the arena. JBL won the first Last Ride Match due to interference by Heidenreich. At Armageddon 2006, The Undertaker defeated Mr. Kennedy in the second Last Ride Match.^[13]

• At No Way Out 2005, JBL had to defend his title against The Big Show in the first ever Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match. The rules were the same as a normal steel cage match, but the top of the cage had barbed wire around it so nobody could escape (despite the fact that a victory could still be declared if a competitor managed to escape). This was done by Long to make sure there was no interference from any superstars, primarily JBL's stable, The Cabinet. JBL won the match when Big Show chokeslammed him through the ring, allowing him to escape underneath.^[14]

• Long also brought back the King of the Ring tournament in 2006, although it was a SmackDown!-exclusive event.

• At Armageddon 2006, Long brought back the Inferno match, where Kane defeated MVP.^[15]

• On April 10, 2009 episode of SmackDown he announced that Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy would face each other in the first stretcher match in SmackDown history.

• Long, throughout his career, also brought more popularity to the classic tag team match by featuring it in many SmackDown main events.

Awards and accomplishments[link]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Manager of the Year (1990)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (2005) vs. Eric Bischoff at Survivor Series

• WWE
  • SmackDown General Manager (July 29, 2004–September 21, 2007; April 10, 2009–April 1, 2012) (2 times)
    • SmackDown Assistant General Manager (November 30, 2007–May 16, 2008) (1 time)
  • ECW General Manager (June 3, 2008–April 7, 2009) (1 time)

References[link]

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Theodore Long

• WWE profile
• Teddy Long at the Internet Movie Database

Mitch Kupchak

No. 25, 41
Power forward / Center
Personal information
Born	(1954-05-24) May 24, 1954 (age 58) Hicksville, New York
Nationality	American
High school	Brentwood (New York)
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
College	North Carolina (1972–1976)
NBA Draft	1976 / Round: 1 / Pick: 13th overall
Selected by the Washington Bullets
Pro career	1976–1986
Career history
1976–1981	Washington Bullets
1981–1986	Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards
3× NBA Champion (1978, 1982, 1985) NBA All-Rookie First Team (1977) ACC Player of the Year (1975) Consensus NCAA All-American Second Team (1975)
Career statistics
Points	5,202 (10.2 ppg)
Rebounds	1,767 (5.4 rpg)
Assists	2,730 (0.7 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Competitor for  United States Men's Basketball Olympic Games Gold Montreal 1976 National team

Mitchell "Mitch" Kupchak (born May 24, 1954) is a retired American basketball player and current general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers since the 2000–01 NBA season after predecessor Jerry West moved to the Memphis Grizzlies organization.

High school career[link]

Kupchak played for Brentwood High School, Brentwood, Long Island, NY, and was instrumental in Brentwood's Division Titles from 1970-72.

College career[link]

Kupchak was an All-American on the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team. Kupchak played on the gold medal winning team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

NBA career[link]

Kupchak was drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1976 and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. He had four productive seasons with Washington and was part of the team that won the NBA Championship in 1978. He signed a long term contract with the Lakers in 1981 on the behest of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who told owner Jerry Buss, "If we could get Mitch Kupchak, I know we could win," after the team's playoff upset.^[1] Unfortunately, 26 games into the season, Kupchak injured his knee and did not play again until the 1983-84 season. However, Kupchak played a key role in the Lakers' 1985 championship team against the Boston Celtics, who had intimidated them in the prior year's Finals. Kupchak retired after the 1985-86 season, having played 510 regular season and 68 playoff games, with regular season averages of 10.2 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game (7.7 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game in the playoffs).

Transition to NBA management[link]

Kupchak showed remarkable forethought in planning for his "life after" being an NBA player—pursuing a focused program to learn the trade of running NBA team operations. While still under his initial player contract, he worked with the "front office", developing strong working relationships with Laker management, beginning to "apprentice" with Jerry West, and starting studies that led to his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1987.

General manager[link]

He retired in 1986 to become assistant general manager under Jerry West. Kupchak took over as general manager but was not considered to have the traditional power of a GM until 2000 when West left his post as vice president of basketball operations for the challenge of the Memphis Grizzlies. His first major transaction was the acquisition of former superstars Karl Malone and Gary Payton. After a number of controversial trade transactions over the years, including the trade of Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant, as well as the decision not to trade Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd, Kupchak faced severe criticism from Lakers star Kobe Bryant, although he still had the support of Buss. However, after his February 2008 deal to obtain Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies for Kwame Brown, other players and draft picks, Bryant conceded, "He goes from an F to an A-plus."^[1] In 2007, Kupchak traded Brian Cook and Maurice Evans for Trevor Ariza, and in 2009, he signed Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace) as a free agent. These decisions helped the Lakers win back to back NBA Championships in 2009 and 2010.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Mitch Kupchak on NBA.com
• Basketball-reference.com

v t e 1976 Olympic Champions Men's Basketball team - United States Ford Sheppard Dantley Davis Buckner Grunfeld Carr May Armstrong LaGarde Hubbard Kupchak Coach: Smith

Ramon Sessions

Sessions with the Cavaliers
No. 7 – Los Angeles Lakers
Point guard / Shooting guard
Personal information
Born	(1986-04-11) April 11, 1986 (age 26) Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Nationality	American
High school	Myrtle Beach
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
College	Nevada (2004–2007)
NBA Draft	2007 / Round: 2 / Pick: 56th overall
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Pro career	2007–present
Career history
2007–2009	Milwaukee Bucks
2007–2008	→Tulsa 66ers (D-League)
2009–2010	Minnesota Timberwolves
2010–2012	Cleveland Cavaliers
2012–present	Los Angeles Lakers
Stats at NBA.com

Ramon Sessions (born April 11, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers. He was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 56th pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. Sessions played collegiately at the University of Nevada for three years. Sessions ranks second in career assists at Nevada with 478. In Sessions' final season at Nevada he averaged 12.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 0.9 steals per game.^[1]

NBA career[link]

Although some^[who?] felt Sessions should have returned for his senior year at Nevada, he put on a very strong performance at the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando and decided to stay in the draft. He was considered by scouts to be a very good ballhandler, passer, and decision-maker, although his athleticism and NBA-scoring ability were questioned.^[2]

Sessions was the first NBA player to be assigned to the NBA Development League in the 2007–08 season, when he was sent by the Bucks to the Tulsa 66ers;^[3] Sessions was named D-League Performer of the Week for the opening weekend of the season, November 26, 2007, averaging 30.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists.^[3] Later in the season, for January 28, 2008, he was also named Performer of the Week, becoming the first two-time performer for the season.^[4] He averaged 29.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 12.3 assists in three wins for the 66ers.^[4]

In January 2008, Sessions was first called up to the Bucks, but due to a wrist injury he wasn't able to make his NBA debut until March 9,^[5] in a 119-97 home loss against the Philadelphia 76ers, scoring 2 points.^[6] Later on, due to injuries to starting point guard Mo Williams and reserve Charlie Bell, his playing time increased. Earlier, on April 2, he made a game-winning 19-foot baseline jumper, off a pass from Andrew Bogut, to give the Bucks a dramatic one-point road win against the Washington Wizards in a game where the Bucks never led by more than one point.^[7] Sessions started his first career game against the Indiana Pacers on April 8. Although he went just 3 for 10 with just 8 points, Sessions still recorded 10 assists in a 105-101 Bucks loss.

On April 14, 2008, Sessions scored a then career-high 20 points, adding 8 rebounds and a Milwaukee Bucks franchise-record 24 assists against the Chicago Bulls in a 151-135 home loss.^[8] His double-double performance was also the first "20-20" with points and assists in Bucks history.^[8] The following night he topped his career-high with 25 points, in a 110-101 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.^[9] Sessions topped his career high again by almost doubling it. On February 7, 2009 in an overtime loss against the Detroit Pistons, he scored 44 points.^[10] On April 1, 2009, Sessions recorded his first career triple-double against the Los Angeles Lakers scoring 16 points with 16 assists and 10 rebounds.^[11]

On September 4, 2009, he signed an offer sheet from the Minnesota Timberwolves reportedly worth $16 million for 4 years.^[12] The Bucks had seven days to match the offer but declined. Sessions shared backcourt duties with Timberwolves rookie guard Jonny Flynn. Sessions played 82 games with the Timberwovles and averaged 8.2 points and 3.2 assists per game to go with 2.6 rebounds per game and shot 45.6% from the field.

On July 26, 2010, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, along with Ryan Hollins and a second-round draft pick for Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair.^[13]

On March 15, 2012, Sessions was traded along with Christian Eyenga to the Los Angeles Lakers for a protected first round pick in 2012 NBA Draft, Jason Kapono and Luke Walton.^[14] In his first game, he put up 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists during 19 minutes in a 97-92 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Playoffs[link]

Career highs[link]

• Points: 44 vs. Detroit 02/07/09
• Rebounds: 10 vs. L.A. Lakers 04/01/09
• Assists: 24 vs. Chicago 04/14/08
• Steals: 5 vs. Detroit 02/09/11
• Blocks: 2 @ Indiana 04/06/08

See also[link]

• List of National Basketball Association players with 22 or more assists in a game

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ramon Sessions

• Ramon Sessions at NBA.com
• Sessions' college stats
• Pre-draft Sessions scouting report

The Peace Quadriga

Adrian Jones (1845 – 1938) was an English sculptor and painter who specialized in animals, particularly horses.

Life[link]

He was born in Ludlow, Shropshire, attending the grammar school there, and initially studied at the Royal Veterinary College; he subsequently joined the army as a veterinary officer, attaining the rank of Captain. It was after leaving the army in 1891 that he embarked on his full-time artistic career, although he had previously painted and sculpted many works.

His best-known work is probably the sculpture Peace in her Quadriga, which surmounts the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, London. This replaced a statue of the Duke of Wellington on horseback, which is now at Aldershot. It was created as a memorial for Edward VII, and was placed on public view in 1912. There are several other sculptures by him in London; works to be seen elsewhere include Duncan's Horses, currently at the Royal Veterinary College, and the Boer War memorial at Adelaide, Australia.

His bronze of Redvers Henry Buller astride his war horse was erected in Exeter in 1905.^[1]

References[link]

• Robert S. Burns, Triumph: The Life and Art of Captain Adrian Jones (Little Logaston: Logaston Press: 2010; ISBN 978-1-906663-44-5)

External links[link]

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