Keith Smart

Al Attles
Alvin A. "Al" Attles Jr. (born November 7, 1936 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American retired professional basketball player and coach. He is a graduate of Weequahic High School in Newark and North Carolina A&T State University. Attles played eleven seasons for the National Basketball Association's San Francisco Warriors (which were called the Philadelphia Warriors until 1962) beginning in 1960. He was a role player on the 1964 Warriors team (with Wilt Chamberlain, Guy Rodgers) that made the NBA Finals and eventually lost the series to the Boston Celtics four games to one. He also played on the Warriors' 1967 team that lost to Chamberlain's 68-13 Philadelphia 76ers in a closely played six-game final series.
Attles later became one of the first African-American coaches in the NBA, when he succeeded George Lee as Warriors head coach in 1970. Attles guided the Rick Barry-led Warriors to the 1975 NBA championship, making him the second African American coach to win an NBA title (the first was Bill Russell). Attles coached the Warriors until 1983, compiling a 557-518 regular season record (588-548 overall in 14 seasons with 6 playoff appearances).

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Al Cervi
Alfred Nicholas Cervi (February 12, 1917 – November 9, 2009) was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball League (NBL) and National Basketball Association (NBA). One of the strongest backcourt players of the 1940s and 1950s, he was always assigned to defend against the opposing team's best scoring threat. He earned the nickname Digger because of his hard-nosed style of defense.
Born in Buffalo, New York, Cervi attended East High School in his hometown, where he captained the baseball and basketball teams and achieved All-City honors in both sports. He dropped out of school after his junior year when he was recruited by the Buffalo Bisons of the newly formed NBL. He played in all of the Bisons' nine games in 1937–38, the franchise's only season of existence.
He never attended college. Instead, he served five years in the United States Army Air Forces from 1940 through 1945.
After the conclusion of World War II, he joined the Rochester Royals, another NBL franchise entering its first year of operations. He immediately experienced success as the team captured the 1945–46 league title after sweeping the best-of-five championship series from the Sheboygan Red Skins. The Royals returned to the finals the following two seasons, but lost to the Chicago American Gears and Minneapolis Lakers in four games each. Cervi made the All-NBL First Team in 1947 and 1948. In the first of those two campaigns, he was named the circuit's Most Valuable Player as the leading scorer with 632 points.

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Alex English
Alexander English (born January 5, 1954 in Columbia, South Carolina) is a retired American basketball player who played at the forward position. He is currently an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. He played at the University of South Carolina and most notably with the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets.
He averaged 21.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game during his NBA career and was the NBA's most prolific scorer during the 1980s. He was named to eight NBA All-Star teams, his #2 jersey was retired by the Nuggets, and he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.
English spent the majority of his career with the Nuggets, but also played briefly with the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks. He was drafted in 1976 by the Bucks, and was part of a rookie class that includes fellow Hall of Famers Robert Parish, Adrian Dantley and Dennis Johnson.
Most of his time in Milwaukee was spent as a back-up on a rebuilding team that lost Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. However, it was not until he was sent to Indiana in 1978 that he began his reputation as a scorer, averaging 16 points there on another subpar team before being traded to Denver.

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Alex Groza
Alex John Groza (October 7, 1926 – January 21, 1995) was an American professional basketball player from Martins Ferry, Ohio who was banned from the NBA for life in 1951 for point shaving. He had an outstanding college career at the University of Kentucky and was a two-time All-Star for the Indianapolis Olympians before his career came to an abrupt end.
Groza was the captain and center of the "Fabulous Five" that won the 1948 and 1949 NCAA Men's Basketball Championships, as well as the leading scorer on the gold medal-winning 1948 US Olympic basketball team. Groza was three-time All-American and All-SEC, and two-time NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
Groza was drafted in the 1st round of the 1949 NBA Draft by the Indianapolis Olympians. Groza averaged 23.4 points per game in his rookie season and was named NBA Rookie of the Year — a designation not currently sanctioned by the NBA for the 1949-50 season. He averaged 22.5 points per game over two seasons before being implicated along with college teammates Ralph Beard and Dale Barnstable in a point shaving scandal during the 1948-49 season at Kentucky. NBA president Maurice Podoloff banned all of the implicated players from the league for life.

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Alex Hannum
Alexander Murray Hannum (July 19, 1923 — January 18, 2002) was a professional basketball player and Hall-of-Fame coach.
Hannum is mostly known for coaching the Wilt Chamberlain-led Philadelphia 76ers of 1966-67 to the NBA championship, ending the eight-year title streak of the Boston Celtics. He had also coached the Bob Pettit-led St. Louis Hawks team to the 1958 NBA Championship over the Celtics in the NBA Finals, thus making him the first of only three head coaches in NBA history to win championships with two different teams (the other two are Phil Jackson and Pat Riley). The aforementioned seasons were the only two in Bill Russell's 13-year career in which the Celtics' center did not win an NBA championship. In 1964, Hannum was named NBA Coach of the Year while with the San Francisco Warriors.
In 1968 Hannum was named head coach and executive vice president of the Oakland Oaks of the American Basketball Association. In Hannum coached the Rick Barry-led Oaks to the 1969 ABA Championship, becoming the first of two coaches to win championships in both the NBA and ABA. Hannum won the ABA Coach of the Year honors the same season.

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Alvin Gentry
Alvin Gentry (born November 5, 1954) is an American professional basketball coach, and college basketball player, who has led four different NBA teams. He served as an interim coach for the Miami Heat at the end of the 1995 season, and later coached the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Clippers. He is currently the head coach for the Phoenix Suns.
He was born in Shelby, North Carolina, where he grew up and attended Shelby High School. His first cousin is former NC State and NBA star David Thompson.
Gentry played college basketball at Appalachian State University under Press Maravich and Bobby Cremins. In 1978 he spent one year as a graduate assistant at the University of Colorado. He also was an assistant coach at Baylor University under Gene Iba in 1980. After one year Gentry joined the University of Colorado staff. Gentry served as an assistant at the University of Kansas under Larry Brown, where they won the 1988 NCAA National Championship. While in Colorado Gentry married his first wife, Pat Sue DeLuca. They have one daughter, Alexis. Gentry and DeLuca divorced in 1986 after five years of marriage.

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Anderson Hunt
Anderson Hunt (born in Southwest Detroit, Michigan) is a retired American basketball player.
Hunt is best known as a member of the successful 1989-91 Runnin' Rebels from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) that made back-to-back Final Four appearances including a national championship in 1989-90 where he contributed 29 points in a 103-73 rout of the Blue Devils of Duke University and named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament by the Associated Press. In May 1991, the Las Vegas Review Journal published photos of Hunt with teammates David Butler and Moses Scurry in a hot tub with known sports fixer Richard Perry, igniting a monumental firestorm between coach Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV president Robert Maxon, and the NCAA. This battle would eventually lead to Tarkanian's resignation at the end of the 1991-92 season. Hunt left school as a junior after the 1991 season to enter the NBA Draft, much to the dismay of his coach, who had hoped to convert him to point guard and make him the centerpiece of the team in the 1991-92 season.

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Andy Phillip
Andrew Michael "Handy Andy" Phillip (March 7, 1922 – April 29, 2001) was a guard/forward who had an 11 year career professional basketball career from 1948 to 1958. Born in Granite City, Illinois, Andy Phillip played for the Chicago Stags of the Basketball Association of America and the Philadelphia Warriors, Fort Wayne Pistons and Boston Celtics, all of the National Basketball Association.
Phillip led his high school, Granite City, to the Illinois state championship in 1940. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he earned renown for his talents and for the Fighting Illini's success during war-interrupted, non-consecutive seasons, 1941–1943 and 1946–1947, . He was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Phillip served as a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in World War II at Iwo Jima.
Phillip played in the first five NBA All-Star Games, and was twice named to the All-NBA Second Team. He was the first player to record 500 assists in a season, and led the NBA in assists during the 1950-51 and 1950-52 seasons. Phillip's teams made it to the NBA Finals during his final four seasons — twice with Fort Wayne and twice with Boston. The 1957 Boston team won the NBA Championship.

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Arnie Ferrin
C. Arnold Ferrin Jr. (born July 29, 1925 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is a retired American basketball player in college and the BAA and NBA.
Ferrin attended high school in Ogden, Utah. In college with the University of Utah, he won the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player award in 1944 when they won the championship over Dartmouth College. He would also later help them win a NIT in 1947. He became the only four-time All-American at Utah.
He played professionally for three straight years with the Minneapolis Lakers from 1949 through 1951 under coach John Kundla. The team won the BAA (later the NBA) championship in 1949 and won the NBA championship in 1950, both times with the help of Ferrin. He scored 345 points in '49 and 340 in '50, ending his career with 509 points in three years. He made 275-of-401 free throws in his career. He was inducted into the Pac-12 Basketball Hall of Honor during the 2012 Pacific-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, March 10, 2012.

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Art Heyman
Arthur Bruce "Art" Heyman (born June 24, 1941) is an American former professional basketball player.
Heyman, who was Jewish,[2] was born in New York City, New York. A 6' 5" guard/forward, after attending Oceanside High School in New York, Heyman was heavily recruited by many schools, and originally signed a letter of intent to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. At the last moment, however, Heyman changed his mind and agreed to play for the Tar Heels greatest rivals, the Duke Blue Devils.
Due to NCAA eligibility rules that prohibited freshmen from playing varsity sports, Heyman played his first year at Duke with the Freshman team, which compiled a record of 10–5, including three victories over the Tar Heels. During one of the Duke-North Carolina freshman games, North Carolina freshman Dieter Krause attacked Heyman, leading to a melee where the two coaches had to be restrained from attacking each other. Heyman needed five stitches after the attack.

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Austin Carr
Austin George Carr (born March 10, 1948) is a retired American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association. He is known by Cleveland basketball fans as "Mr. Cavalier".
Carr grew up in Washington D.C., and attended Holy Redeemer School, and later Mackin Catholic High School. At Mackin, Carr teamed with All-City guard Tom Little, who made some national All-American teams before starring at the University of Seattle. As a Junior All Met, Carr scored 475 points in 24 games. During Carr's All Met senior season, he scored 600 points and along with Sterling Savoy, led the Paul Furlong coached Trojans to the Catholic League title over DeMatha. Carr was named Parade All-American along with other 1967 seniors such as Artis Gilmore, Howard Porter, Jim McDaniels, and Curtis Rowe, all of whom became major college stars.
The 6-foot 4-inch (1.93 m), 200 lb (91 kg) shooting guard first came to prominence as a highly-recruited player for the University of Notre Dame, arriving after having scored more than 2,000 points during his high school career. Carr lived up to his lofty billing by ending his three-year career at Notre Dame with 2,560 points (an average of 34.5 points per game), ranking him fifth all-time in college basketball history at the time of his departure. During his final two seasons, Carr became only the second college player ever to tally more than 1,000 points in a season, joining Pete Maravich in that select group. Carr holds NCAA tournament records for most points in one game (61 vs. Ohio in 1970), most field goals in one game (25), and most field goals attempted in one game (44). His record scoring average of 50 points per game in seven NCAA playoff games may never be broken. Recently, ESPN named Carr the 22nd greatest college basketball player of all time.

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Avery Johnson
Avery Johnson (born March 25, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach of the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Brooklyn Nets. He has also coached the Dallas Mavericks, leading them to their first NBA Finals appearance and four consecutive 50+ win seasons. During his playing days, Johnson was known as the "Little General" for his small (by NBA standards) stature, his leadership skills as a point guard and floor general, and his close friendship with former San Antonio Spurs teammate David "The Admiral" Robinson.
As a high school senior in 1983, Johnson led New Orleans' St. Augustine High School to a 35–0 record and the Class 4A Louisiana State Championship. Johnson matriculated at New Mexico Junior College before moving on to Cameron University, and finally Southern University, with whom in his senior season in 1988 he led the NCAA with 13.3 assists per game, a senior and all-time record that still stands. Upon graduation in 1988 Johnson was not selected in the NBA Draft. After a summer season with the USBL's Palm Beach Stingrays, however, Johnson was signed by the Seattle SuperSonics and managed to spend the next 16 years playing in the NBA, including stints with the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, and Dallas Mavericks. A true journeyman as a player, occasionally being traded, or even waived, mid-season, Johnson is best known for his time with the San Antonio Spurs (1991, 1992–1993, 1994–2001), particularly his integral role on the 1999 Spurs team that won the NBA championship against the New York Knicks in which he hit the championship-winning shot in Game 5. The San Antonio Spurs retired Johnson's number 6 on December 22, 2007 in a home game against the Los Angeles Clippers. He was also inducted into the "San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame" on February 20, 2009.

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Bill Bradley
William Warren "Bill" Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.
Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St. Louis and excelled at basketball from an early age. He was a member of the Boy Scouts, did well academically and was an all-county and all-state basketball player in high school. He was offered 75 college scholarships, but declined them all to attend Princeton University. He earned a gold medal as a member of the 1964 Olympic basketball team and was the NCAA Player of the Year in 1965. After graduating in 1965, he attended Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, delaying a decision for two years on whether or not to play in the NBA.
While at Oxford, Bradley played one season of professional basketball in Europe, and eventually decided to join the New York Knicks in the 1967–68 season, after serving six months in the Air Force Reserve. He spent his entire ten-year professional basketball career playing for the Knicks, winning two championship titles. Retiring in 1977, he ran for a seat in the United States Senate the following year, from his adopted home state of New Jersey. He was re-elected in 1984 and 1990, left the Senate in 1997, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination.

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Bill Fitch
William Charles "Bill" Fitch (born May 19, 1934) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) coach who has been successful in making teams playoff contenders throughout his coaching career. Before entering the professional ranks he coached college ball at the University of Minnesota, Bowling Green State University, the University of North Dakota, and his alma mater, Coe College. Fitch's teams twice qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Fitch was a U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor, a fact that Larry Bird credited in his book Drive: The Story of My Life as an important reason for Bird's own strong work ethic.
During his 25-year pro coaching career Fitch repeatedly was hired in an attempt to improve failing teams. As of 2004 Fitch ranked fifth among all NBA coaches in all-time number of victories (with 944) but also ranked second in all-time losses (with 1,106) behind Lenny Wilkens.
He was awarded as the NBA's Coach of the Year Award twice and he guided Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and the rest of the Boston Celtics to the 1981 NBA championship, defeating the Houston Rockets 4 games to 2 in the finals. From Boston, Fitch went on to coach the Rockets where he led a team featuring Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson to the 1986 NBA Finals where they were defeated once again by Bird's Celtics, 4 games to 2, for the NBA championship. Fitch also coached the Cleveland Cavaliers from its inception in 1970 to 1979, as well as New Jersey Nets and Los Angeles Clippers. In 1996 Fitch was named one of the NBA's Ten Greatest Coaches of All-Time.

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Bill Musselman
William Clifford (Bill) Musselman (August 13, 1940 – May 5, 2000) was an American basketball coach in the NCAA, the ABA, the WBA, the CBA, and the NBA. He was a fiercely intense coach who once was quoted as saying "defeat is worse than death, because you have to live with defeat."
Musselman was the second of five children. His father was an auto mechanic. The young Musselman played basketball, football, and baseball at Wooster High School in Wooster, Ohio. When he graduated in 1958, he was the school's second all-time leading scorer. After high school, he attended Wittenberg College (now Wittenberg University) in Springfield, Ohio, where he played basketball for Ray Mears, who would later coach the University of Tennessee.
In 1963, at the age of 23, Musselman was hired as the head men's basketball coach at Kent State University High School in Kent, Ohio. In Musselman's first season of coaching, the KSUHS Statesmen finished 14-5 and earned a share of the conference title.
In 1964, after one season of coaching high school basketball, Musselman was hired to assist with the football and basketball teams at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. In August 1965, Ashland's head basketball coach left for another coaching position. With only a few months before the start of the 1965-66 season, Musselman was promoted to head coach. In his first season, at the age of 25, he guided the Eagles to a 10-10 record. Over the next five seasons, Musselman's Ashland teams went 21-3, 24-6, 26-4, 23-4, and 25-3 (total: 109-20, with a .845 winning percentage).

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Bill Russell
William Felton "Bill" Russell (born February 12, 1934) is a retired American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A five-time winner of the NBA Most Valuable Player Award and a twelve-time All-Star, Russell was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won eleven NBA Championships during Russell's thirteen-year career. Along with Henri Richard of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens, Russell holds the record for the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league. Before his professional career, Russell led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA championships (1955, 1956). He also won a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics as captain of the U.S. national basketball team.
Russell is widely considered one of the best players in NBA history. Listed as between 6'9" (2.06 m) and 6'10" (2.08 m), Russell's shot-blocking and man-to-man defense were major reasons for the Celtics' success. He also inspired his teammates to elevate their own defensive play. Russell was equally notable for his rebounding abilities. He led the NBA in rebounds four times, and remains second all-time in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. He is one of just two NBA players (the other being prominent rival Wilt Chamberlain) to have grabbed more than fifty rebounds in a game. Though never the focal point of the Celtics' offense, Russell also scored 14,522 career points and provided effective passing.

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Bill Sharman
William Walton "Bill" Sharman (born May 25, 1926 in Abilene, Texas) is a former professional basketball player and coach. Sharman completed high school in the rural city of Porterville, California and is mostly known for his time with the Boston Celtics in the 1950s, partnering with Bob Cousy in what some consider the greatest backcourt duo of all time. While Cousy was primarily the playmaker, Sharman was the shooter.
From 1950 to 1955 Sharman played professional baseball in the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league system. He was called up to the Dodgers late in the 1951 season but did not appear in a game; as a result of a September 27 game in which the entire Brooklyn bench was ejected from the game for arguing with the umpire, Sharman holds the distinction of being the only player to have ever been ejected from a major league game without ever appearing in one.
Sharman was one of the first guards to shoot better than .400 from the field. He led the NBA in free throw percentage seven times, and his mark of 93.2% in the 1958–59 season remained the NBA record until Ernie DiGregorio topped it in 1976–77. Sharman still holds the record for consecutive free throws in the playoffs with 56. Sharman was named to the All-NBA First Team from 1956 through 1959, and was an All-NBA Second Team member in 1953, 1955, and 1960. Sharman played in eight NBA All-Star games, and was named the 1955 NBA All-Star Game MVP. Sharman ended his career after 11 seasons in 1961.

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Bill Spivey
William "Bill" Spivey (March 19, 1929 – May 8, 1995) was an American basketball player. A 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) center, he played college basketball for the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Kentucky Wildcats from 1949 to 1951. After his high school career, Spivey was recruited to the University of Kentucky. During his time with the Wildcats, he led the team to the 1951 NCAA Tournament championship, and was voted Most Outstanding Player of the event. When a point shaving scandal was revealed that year, Spivey was accused of being involved, which he denied. He left the Wildcats in December 1951, and the university banned him from the squad in March 1952.
After he testified before a grand jury in New York, he was indicted on perjury charges. Although Spivey was not convicted when the case went to trial in 1953, he was prevented from competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) afterward. Spivey instead played professionally for various minor league teams. In 10 Eastern Basketball League (EBL) seasons, his teams won three championships. Spivey retired in 1968 and became a businessman, working in sales and operating restaurants. Upset by the accusations against him in the early 1950s, he was reclusive in his final years.

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Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while leading the Bruins to two Division I national titles. He then went on to have a prominent career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he was a league Most Valuable Player (MVP) and won two NBA championships. His professional career was significantly hampered by multiple foot injuries. Walton was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 10, 1993 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame that same year. He is the father of current Cleveland Cavaliers forward Luke Walton.
Walton was born in La Mesa, California, the son of Gloria Anne (née Hickey) and William Theodore "Ted" Walton. His listed adult playing height was 6 feet 11 inches; it has been reported that Walton was actually taller (7 feet 2 inches, or more), but did not like being categorized as a seven-footer.

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Bingo Smith
Robert "Bingo" Smith (born February 26, 1946 in Memphis, Tennessee) was a Forward/Guard for the San Diego Rockets (1969–70), Cleveland Cavaliers (1970–79) and San Diego Clippers (1979–80). He helped the Cavaliers win the 1975-76 NBA Central Division.
In 11 seasons, Smith played in 865 games and logged 22,407 minutes. Smith was especially noted for his ability to hit jump shots from long range. His outside jump shots, often were taken from today's 3 point range. For his career, he recorded a .449 field goal percentage (4,776 FGs made out of 10,642 attempts). Smith also had a .798 free throw rate (1,307-of-1,637) and also accounted for 3,630 total rebounds, 1,734 assists and 10,882 points.
Smith was inducted into the University of Tulsa Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984. His number "7" has been retired by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Bob Cousy
Robert Joseph "Bob" Cousy (born August 9, 1928) is a retired American professional basketball player. Cousy played point guard with the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969-70 season. Cousy first demonstrated his basketball abilities while playing for his high school varsity team in his junior year. He obtained a scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross, where he led the Crusaders to berths in the 1948 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and 1950 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and was named an NCAA All-American for 3 seasons. Cousy was initially drafted as the third overall pick in the first round of the 1950 NBA Draft by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, but after he refused to report, he was picked up by Boston. Cousy had a very successful career with the Celtics, playing on six championship teams, being voted into 13 NBA All-Star Games and 12 All-NBA First and Second Teams and winning the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 1957.

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Bob Davies
Robert Edris Davies (January 15, 1920 – April 22, 1990) was a professional basketball player in the 1950s. Alongside Bobby Wanzer he formed one of the best backcourt duos in the NBAs early years. Davies and Wanzer led the Rochester Royals to the 1951 NBA championship. Davies was also a former basketball coach at the Seton Hall University and was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 11, 1970.
Although Bob Cousy is often considered the originator of the behind-the-back dribble, Davies actually deserves the credit. His Seton Hall coach, "Honey" Russell, once said, "He had such uncanny control of the ball behind his back that it never concerned me. He made it look as easy as the conventional dribble."
Davies entered Seton Hall in 1938 on a baseball scholarship, but Russell persuaded him to concentrate on basketball after seeing him practice once. Never a high scorer—his best college average was 11.8 points a game—Davies was a consummate passer and play-maker.."
Known as the "Harrisburg Houdini," Davies led Seton Hall to 43 consecutive victories from 1939 into 1941. His spectacular skills helped attract the largest crowd in basketball history at the time, 18,403 people, to Madison Square Garden in March 1941, when Seton Hall beat Rhode Island in a quarter-final game of the National Invitation Tournament.

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Bob Feerick
Robert Joseph (Bob) Feerick (January 2, 1920 – June 8, 1976) was an American professional basketball player, coach and general manager. He was born in San Francisco, California.
A 6-3 guard from Santa Clara University, Feerick played for the Washington Capitols from 1946 to 1950, the NBA's first four seasons of existence (the league was known as the Basketball Association of America during the first three). Playing under coach Red Auerbach, he was named to the All NBA First Team during 1947 and 1948 after averaging 16.8 (second behind Joe Fulks's 23.1) and 16.1 points per game respectively. In 1949, the league's first season as the newly formed NBA, the Capitols named Feerick player-coach. In 221 games, he scored 2936 points for an average of 13.3 per game.
After his short pro career, Feerick returned Santa Clara to head-coach its basketball team from 1950 to 1962. In addition to coaching the Capitols while still an active player, Feerick also was Wilt Chamberlain's coach with the San Francisco Warriors during the 1962-63 season. The franchise had just relocated from Philadelphia and hired Feerick, the native San Franciscan, to replace Frank McGuire, who resigned rather than make the move with the team. The Warriors finished 31-49 in their first year in San Francisco after losing to the Boston Celtics in each of the previous three Eastern Division finals. The following season, Alex Hannum replaced Feerick as coach. Ferrick later served the Warriors as General Manager and as Director of Player Personal.

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Bob Fitzgerald
Bob Fitzgerald is a TV play-by-play voice for the Golden State Warriors and San Jose SaberCats on CSN Bay Area, and is a co-host of the show Fitz and Brooks on KNBR with co-host Rod Brooks.
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Fitzgerald also received his Masters Degree in Sports Management from The Ohio State University. While at Notre Dame, he worked as a play-by-play broadcaster for Fighting Irish football and basketball on campus radio station WVFI.
Rod and Bob often joke around about how Rod's LSU Tigers won the BCS Championship while Bob's Fighting Irish went 3-9.
The show airs weekdays from noon to 3pm Pacific Time on KNBR 680.
Bob has also provided his voice for the NBA 2K video game series.
Bob is employed by the Golden State Warriors as their television play by play announcer.
Fitzgerald served as the play by play announcer for NBC Sports coverage of Water polo at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Fitzgerald has called National Football League games for the Westwood One and Sports USA radio networks.

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Bob Kloppenburg
Bob Kloppenburg (July 28, 1927) is an American professional basketball coach, who served as an interim head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early 1980s. Kloppenburg later served as an assistant coach for the Seattle SuperSonics, Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors. While with the Seattle SuperSonics (1985–1996), Kloppenburg was the assistant coach for the NBA West All-Star team in 1994. He contributed to Seattle's three 60 win seasons in the 90's. His NAIA small college coaching career saw him win five district championships in twenty years for an overall record of 369-161. Widely regarded as the innovator of the SOS Defensive System, a system known for its ability to create turnovers because of "contact switching" on every screen and intense ball pressure with trapping principles. Also the co-founder, with Coach Ernie Woods, of HoopTactics.com, a basketball coaching website. Kloppenburg played college ball at the University of Southern California with the famous proponent of the modern Triangle offense, Tex Winter. SOS Defensive System is used world-wide. Bob Kloppenburg has coached and taught other the "how to's" of the game for four decades at the entry level from high school to the pros. His defensive oriented teams have been consistent winners, and his reputation as an outstanding defensive coach and teacher, both at home and abroad, has taken him to 14+ countries around the globe to teach his system of defense. Now retired from active coaching, he is still effectively teaching his "SOS" defensive strategies to coaches with his same patent vim, vigor, and vitality. Kloppenburg has been married for over 60 years to Gayle Kloppenburg. Together they have two children, Gary and Kim. Bob and Gayle Kloppenburg also have six grandchildren: Sonja, Ian, Carlotta, Paige, Gabe, and Tess. He attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, leading his basketball team to the Los Angeles City Championship, in a season in which he was named the Southern California High School Player of the Year. He was named to the charter class of the school's basketball Hall of Fame, and will be inducted in its first ever Athletic Hall of Fame on June 15, 2012.

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Bob Knight
Robert Montgomery "Bob" Knight (born October 25, 1940) is a retired American basketball coach. Nicknamed "The General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, second all-time to his former player, Mike Krzyzewski. He is most well known as the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers from 1971–2000. He also coached briefly at Texas Tech (2001–2008) and at West Point (1965–1971).
While at Indiana, Knight led his teams to three NCAA championships, one National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, and 11 Big Ten Conference championships. He received the National Coach of the Year honor four times and the Big Ten Coach of the Year honor eight times. In 1984, he coached the USA men's Olympic team to a gold medal, becoming one of only three basketball coaches to win an NCAA title, NIT title, and an Olympic gold medal.
Knight was one of college basketball's most successful and innovative coaches, having perfected and popularized the motion offense. He has also been praised for running clean programs (none of his teams was ever sanctioned by the NCAA for recruiting violations) and graduating most of his players. However, Knight has also attracted controversy; he famously threw a chair across the court during a game, was once arrested for assault, and regularly displayed a combative nature during encounters with members of the press. Knight remains "the object of near fanatical devotion" from his former players and Indiana fans.

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Bob Kurland
Robert Albert "Bob" Kurland (born December 23, 1924 in St. Louis, Missouri) was a 7 feet (2.1 m) basketball center, who played for Henry Iba's Oklahoma A&M Aggies (now Oklahoma State Cowboys) basketball team. He was an integral part of the team's consecutive NCAA titles in 1945 and 1946.
Because Kurland often leaped above the rim to grab opponents' shots, the NCAA banned defensive goaltending in 1945. Kurland was also the first person to regularly dunk during games. The rivalry between him and De Paul's George Mikan would foreshadow similar matchups, especially those of "Big Men".
Kurland never played professional basketball, passing up the newly formed Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League (which would merge, forming the National Basketball Association), to play for Phillips Petroleum's A.A.U. team, the 66 Oilers. Kurland played for six years with Phillips, winning three championships. Since he never played professionally, he was eligible as an amateur for the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.

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Bob Myers
Bob Myers is the general manager for the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association. He is a former agent with Wasserman Media Group after interning with prominent sports agent Arn Tellem. Myers played college basketball at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1994 to 1997. He was a member of their 1995 NCAA championship team. He was a radio commentator for UCLA basketball for two seasons until 2002.

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Bobby Hurley
Robert Matthew 'Bobby' Hurley (born June 28, 1971) is an American former basketball player and currently the associate head coach at the University of Rhode Island along with his brother Dan Hurley, who was named head coach on March 20, 2012.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Hurley was a basketball star at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, where his father, Bob Hurley Sr., is the longtime coach. While at St. Anthony, from 1985 to 1989, Hurley led the team to four consecutive Parochial B state titles. In his senior year he averaged 20 points, 8 assists and 3 steals, as St. Anthony racked up a 32-0 record, the school's first Tournament of Champions crown, and the No. 1 ranking in the United States. In his high school career the team's overall record with Hurley as point guard was 115-5.
Hurley was a point guard for Duke University's men's basketball team from 1989-1993. He was a first-team All-American in 1993, went to the Final Four three times, and led the Blue Devils to back-to-back national championships in 1991 and 1992, earning Final Four MVP honors in 1992. Hurley remains the NCAA all-time assists leader with 1076 assists, and Duke's single game assist leader with 16 (against Florida State on February 24, 1993). His Duke jersey number 11 was retired in 1993. In 2002, Hurley was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history. At Duke, Hurley was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

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Bobby Wanzer
Robert Francis (Bobby) Wanzer, also known as "Hooks" Wanzer (born June 4, 1921) is a former basketball player and coach. A 6'0" guard, he played collegiately at Seton Hall University, and was selected by the Rochester Royals in 1947. Royals star Bob Davies was a Seton Hall assistant and steered the star guard to the NBL contender. Initially a reserve behind Al Cervi and Red Holzman, Wanzer later teamed with Davies to form a potent backcourt for the day. The Royals were very successful 1947-1954, and their smaller stars, like Wanzer, were considered their biggest assets. With Wanzer, Rochester won the 1950-51 National Basketball Association (NBA) title.
He played his entire career with the Royals, retiring from play after the end of the 1957 season. Wanzer was a five-time All-Star with the Royals, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. Wanzer was the first player to ever shoot over 90% from the free throw line in a season.
Wanzer would also coach the Royals as well. He was a player-coach for two years, and then (after the franchise moved to Cincinnati, Ohio) coached for another season. His 1957-58 Cincinnati Royals were a NBA contender, but injuries stopped the team short. When star Maurice Stokes was permanently injured, Wanzer moved on early the following NBA season. He later coached St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York.

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Brendan Malone
Brendan Malone is an American professional basketball coach in the NBA. He was named as the first head coach (1995–96) of the Toronto Raptors, one of two 1995 NBA expansion teams in Canada. An alumnus of Iona College, Malone was appointed the job by the Raptors' general manager of the time, Isiah Thomas. Malone has been an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons and as a consultant with the Seattle SuperSonics. He was the interim head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2004–05.
On July 3, 2007, Malone was one of four assistants hired to serve under new Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy. Malone's son, Mike, is assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors.

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Brian Shaw
Brian K. Shaw (born March 22, 1966) is a retired American professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers. At 6' 6" he could play both guard spots, but was used primarily at point guard over the course of his 14 seasons in the league.
Shaw grew up in Oakland, California with other future basketball stars such as Antonio Davis, Jason Kidd, and Gary Payton, as well as Demetrius "Hook" Mitchell.^{[citation needed]} He attended Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland and then St. Mary's College of California for his freshman and sophomore years of college. He then transferred to UC Santa Barbara for his junior and senior seasons. In his senior year, he was named Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA) player of the year as he led the Gauchos to their first ever NCAA tournament berth. He was taken with the 24th overall pick by the Boston Celtics in the 1988 NBA Draft.
In 1988, Shaw signed a one year contract with the Celtics. In 1989, Shaw signed a two-year contract to play with an Italian team, Il Messaggero Roma. At the end of January 1990, Shaw signed a 5 year deal with the Celtics. In June of that year, Shaw told the Celtics he planned to play for Il Messaggero during the 1990 season. The ensuing contract dispute, Boston Celtics v. Brian Shaw, which Shaw lost, became a relatively famous sports law case and is read in many law school contracts classes.^{[citation needed]}

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Brian Sloan
Brian Keith Sloan (born 1965) was a high school and college basketball player during the 1980s. Sloan, a high school center, led McLeansboro High School to an undefeated season in the 1984, Class A IHSA basketball championship. He averaged 20.5 points and 13.6 rebounds per game during the tournament. Sloan was selected as an all-state player for the 1983–84 season, he follows in the footsteps of his father, Jerry, who also was a first-team all-state selection at McLeansboro prior to starring for the University of Evansville and the Chicago Bulls. After leading the Foxes to the championship, Sloan was named Mr. Basketball for 1984 in Illinois.
Sloan was not a McDonald's All-American and went on to play for the Hoosiers of Indiana University for four years, 1984–85 & 1986–1989. He was part of the 1986–87 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team team that became champions of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Sloan scored 181 career points while averaging 1.6 rebounds per game during his time at IU.

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Brian Winters
Brian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952 in Rockaway, New York) is a former NBA guard/forward, coach and former WNBA head coach. He attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, NY, graduating in 1970. He then played collegiately with the University of South Carolina and was the 12th pick in the 1974 NBA Draft, taken by the Los Angeles Lakers. He made the NBA All-Rookie Team with the Lakers, and was then traded to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers. He had a productive, if unspectacular, 9-year career that included two appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and playing on 6 playoffs teams. Winters averaged 16.2 points and 4.1 assists over his career, with his best years coming from 1975 to 1979 when he averaged over 19 points and slightly less than 5 assists per game. His number 32 was retired by the Bucks.
After retiring from the NBA, Winters became an assistant coach for two years under legendary coach Pete Carril at Princeton. From there, he moved on to become an assistant coach under Hall of Famer, Lenny Wilkens, with the Cleveland Cavaliers for 7 years and Atlanta Hawks for two more. Next, he was the inaugural coach for the Vancouver Grizzlies for a year and a half. In recent years, Winters has coached with the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors. He was formerly the head coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever, recently leading them to their first ever consecutive-year playoff appearances.

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Butch Lee
Alfred "Butch" Lee (born December 5, 1956) is a retired Puerto Rican-born professional basketball player. He is the first Puerto Rican national to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lee played in the NCAA, NBA, and National Superior Basketball League of Puerto Rico (BSN). He played for the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Los Angeles Lakers while in the NBA. Lee was a member of the Puerto Rican national basketball team, including the 1976 Puerto Rican squad that came close to defeating the United States. Most notably, Lee was selected as the Most Outstanding Player at the 1977 Final Four where he led the Marquette Warriors to the school's first national championship. Lee earned All-American honors as both a junior and senior while at Marquette University. The university later retired Lee's jersey.
Lee was born in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico to an American couple. Lee's family moved to Harlem, New York, U.S., when he was a young child. There he went on to become a 1st Team, PSAL All City basketball player and honor student at the DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.

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Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Kiyan Anthony (born May 29, 1984), nicknamed "Melo", is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After a successful high school career at Towson Catholic High School and Oak Hill Academy, Anthony attended Syracuse University for college where he led the Orangemen to their first National Championship in 2003. He earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award and was named the Most Valuable Player of NCAA East Regional. After one season at Syracuse University, Anthony left college to enter the 2003 NBA Draft, where he was selected as the third pick by the Nuggets. He was traded to the Knicks several days prior to the 2011 trade deadline.
Since entering the NBA, Anthony has emerged as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league. He was named to the All-Rookie team, to the All-Star team five times and to the All-NBA team five times. Anthony led the Nuggets to two division titles and to the playoffs every year from 2004 to 2010. In 2009, he helped the Nuggets advance to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1985. As a member of the USA National Team, Anthony won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.

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Charles Shackleford
Charles Edward Shackleford (born April 22, 1966 in Kinston, North Carolina) is an American former professional basketball player.
Shackleford played collegiate basketball at North Carolina State University for 3 seasons (1985/86-1987/88). He was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the 2nd round (32nd overall pick) of the 1988 NBA Draft. He played in six NBA seasons as a forward-center for the Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets. Shackleford's best year as a pro came during the 1989–1990 NBA season when he averaged 8.2 points per game in 70 games for the Nets. On February 20, 1990, he recorded a career high 26 rebounds to go with a career high 23 points at Milwaukee. Having played in top European teams, he led the 1995-96 Euroleague in rebounds averaging 12.3 per game with Ülkerspor and won the 1997 Korać Cup wearing Aris' Thessaloniki jersey.

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Chris Webber
Mayce Edward Christopher "Chris" Webber III (born March 1, 1973), nicknamed C-Webb, is a retired American professional basketball player. He is a five-time NBA All-Star, a former All-NBA First Teamer, a former NBA Rookie of the Year, and a former #1 overall NBA Draftee. As a collegiate athlete, he was an NCAA Men's Basketball first team All-American and led the University of Michigan Wolverines' 1991 incoming freshman class known as the Fab Five that reached the 1992 & 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games as freshmen and sophomores. However, Webber was indicted by a federal grand jury and stripped of his All-American honors by the NCAA as a result of his direct involvement in the Ed Martin scandal. He is also a former National High School Basketball Player of the Year who led his high school Detroit Country Day to three Michigan State High School Basketball Championships.
Webber attended Detroit Country Day School and at the time was the most recruited Michigan high school basketball player since Magic Johnson. Webber led Country Day to three MHSAA State championships. As a senior in high school Webber averaged 29.4 points and 13 rebounds per game. He was named Michigan's Mr. Basketball and the 1990–1991 National High School player of the year. He was named MVP in both the McDonald's and Dapper Dan All-Star games.

wn.com/Chris_Webber

Christian Laettner
Christian Donald Laettner (born August 17, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player, entrepreneur, and basketball coach. He had a distinguished college and national career, and played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for thirteen seasons, from 1992–2005. He was also a minority holder in the Major League Soccer (MLS) club D.C. United from 2007 until 2009, when William Chang bought out the remaining investors to take full control of the club. He is a current assistant coach of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League.
Laettner played college basketball for the Duke University Blue Devils, starring on the 1991 and 1992 NCAA champion teams. He was the only college player selected for the 1992 United States men's Olympic team, nicknamed the "Dream Team." Sometimes considered the greatest team ever assembled in any sport, the Dream Team went on to win the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Laettner was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1992 NBA draft and went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA.

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Chuck Daly
Charles Jerome "Chuck" Daly (July 20, 1930 – May 9, 2009) was an American basketball head coach. He led the Detroit Pistons to consecutive National Basketball Association (NBA) Championships in 1989 and 1990, and the Dream Team to the men's basketball gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He had a 14-year NBA coaching career.
Born in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, to Earl and Geraldine Daly on July 20, 1930, Daly attended Kane Area High School in nearby Kane. He matriculated at St. Bonaventure University for one year before transferring to Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1952. After serving two years in the military, he began his basketball coaching career in 1955 at Punxsutawney (PA) High School.
After compiling a 111–70 record in eight seasons at Punxsutawney (PA) High School, Daly moved on to the college level in 1963 as an assistant coach under Vic Bubas at Duke University. During his six seasons at Duke, the Blue Devils won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and advanced to the Final Four, both in 1964 and 1966. Daly then replaced Bob Cousy as head coach at Boston College in 1969. The Eagles recorded an 11–13 record in Daly's first year at the school, and improved to 15–11 in 1971.

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Chuck Hayes
Charles "Chuck" Edward Hayes, Jr. (born June 11, 1983 in San Leandro, California) is an American professional basketball player. He is 6'6", 250 pound center/power forward who currently plays for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. He played his college basketball at Kentucky from 2001 to 2005.
As a junior attending Modesto Christian High School in California, Hayes was named all-league and all-state. That year he grabbed 31 rebounds in the 2000 Northern California championship game - a California High School record for all divisions. As a senior, Hayes was named "Mr. Basketball" in California and a Parade All-American while leading his team to the state championship game.
Hayes was also named an all-state football player as a sophomore.
Hayes arrived at the University of Kentucky in 2001 after choosing UK over Kansas in a close recruiting battle. Hayes was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team in 2002. During the next three years, he contributed to a resurgence in Kentucky basketball along with Keith Bogans, Gerald Fitch, Erik Daniels and Kelenna Azubuike. Over Hayes' sophomore, junior and senior seasons, Kentucky accumulated a record of 87–15 (.853), and earned final AP rankings of 1st, 2nd and 7th respectively. During Hayes' senior season, the Kentucky athletics department promoted him as an All-American candidate, using the slogan "All He Does Is Win". Although Hayes was named the 2004 SEC defensive player of the year, he did not earn All-America honors.

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Clyde Lovellette
Clyde Edward Lovellette (born September 7, 1929 in Petersburg, Indiana) is a former professional basketball player; the first basketball player in history to play on an NCAA, Olympics and NBA championship squad. His high school team fell one game short of a state championship.
Lovellette fostered the trend of tall, physical and high-scoring centers. A two-time All-State performer at Garfield High School in Terre Haute, Indiana, the six-foot-nine Lovellette later attended the University of Kansas where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. While at the University of Kansas he led Jayhawks to the 1952 NCAA title, capturing MOP honors and scoring a then-NCAA-record 141 points. A three-time All-America at Kansas, Clyde led the Big Seven in scoring in each of his three seasons. Playing for Basketball Hall of Fame Coach Forrest "Phog" Allen, Lovellette led the nation in scoring his senior year (1952, 28.4 ppg) and was named the Helms College Player of the Year. Lovellette played alongside basketball legend Dean Smith at Kansas. He is still the only college player to lead the nation in scoring and win the NCAA title in the same year. Lovellette's dominance in the paint landed him a place on the 1952 Summer Olympics gold medal team in Helsinki, Finland and he was the team's dominating player and leading scorer.

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Corey Brewer
Corey Wayne Brewer (born March 5, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who plays as a small forward and shooting guard for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the University of Florida, where he starred on the Florida Gators teams that won back-to-back NCAA national championships in 2006 and 2007. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2007 NCAA tournament.
Brewer attended Portland High School, where he played high school basketball for the Portland Panthers. As a senior in 2003–2004, Brewer averaged 29.4 points and 12.8 rebounds per game and was named the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Class 2A "Mr.Basketball" and a McDonald's All American.
He was projected by ESPN.com's Chad Ford to be a lottery pick to mid-first round pick in the 2006 NBA Draft if he had entered the draft that year. However, Brewer, along with teammates Joakim Noah and Al Horford announced at the championship pep rally that they would be returning for their junior seasons. On April 5, 2007 Brewer chose to enter the NBA draft. Brewer was selected seventh overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2007 NBA Draft.

wn.com/Corey_Brewer

Corliss Williamson
Corliss Mondari Williamson (born December 4, 1973) is the current head basketball coach for the University of Central Arkansas and a retired American professional basketball player, who played for four teams during his 12-year NBA career. His nickname is "Big Nasty", a moniker he received from his cousin when he was 13. Williamson was a dominating power forward in college, but became an undersized power forward in the NBA and mostly played at the small forward position.
Corliss Williamson played basketball at Russellville High School, where he achieved numerous accolades. He was a three-time all-conference and all-state selection, and was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992. Prior to his senior year, Williamson held his own against Chris Webber in an AAU championship game, getting 37 points to Webber's 38 points. As a senior Williamson averaged twenty-eight points and nine rebounds per game, and led his team to the King Cotton Classic championship. In that title game, Russellville defeated a team led by Jason Kidd, with Williamson blocking a potential game-winner by Kidd at the buzzer. Williamson was named tournament MVP, but gave his medal to Kidd at the award podium. Williamson closed out his career with a selection to play in the 1992 McDonald's All-American Game. He came in second in scoring to game MVP Othella Harrington, with fourteen points, and also had ten rebounds. His #34 jersey has been retired by Russellville High and hangs on the wall of the school's arena, along with his McDonald's All-American jersey.

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Cotton Fitzsimmons
Lowell "Cotton" Fitzsimmons (October 7, 1931 – July 24, 2004) was a college and NBA basketball coach. A native of Hannibal, Missouri, he attended and played basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange Junior College in Hannibal and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He coached the Phoenix Suns three times, and is often credited as the architect of the Suns' success of the late 1980s and early to middle 1990s.
Fitzsimmons played college basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange, where his jersey is now retired. He got his first coaching job at Moberly Junior College in Moberly, Missouri in 1956. He coached there eleven years, capping his tenure with two national junior college championships (NJCAA), in 1966 and 1967. In 1968, Fitzsimmons was hired by Kansas State University, where he served as head basketball coach for only two seasons before going into the NBA.

In 1970, Fitzsimmons replaced Jerry Colangelo as Suns coach. He took the team to their first winning season, going 48-34 that season.

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Dan Majerle
Daniel Lewis Majerle (

/ˈmɑrliː/; born September 9, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. Known by his fans as "Downtown Dan," "Thunder Dan," and "Dan the Man," he played 14 years in the NBA, primarily with the Phoenix Suns, also with the Miami Heat and, briefly, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won a bronze medal with the US national team at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and won a gold medal at the 1994 FIBA World Championship.
Majerle was born in Traverse City, Michigan. He starred for Traverse City High School (now Traverse City Central High School) and Central Michigan University.
The Phoenix Suns selected Majerle with the 14th pick of the 1988 NBA Draft, which the Suns acquired (along with Kevin Johnson) in a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers for Larry Nance. During the draft, he was promptly booed when his name was announced over the public address system. Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons publicly chastised the Suns fans and told them "you'll be sorry you ever booed this young man". His prediction was evident as Majerle was one of the most popular players throughout the years he played in the NBA and was capped on April 17, 2002 when he officially retired in his second stint as a member of the Phoenix Suns.

wn.com/Dan_Majerle

Danny Ferry
Daniel John Willard "Danny" Ferry (born October 17, 1966) is a retired American professional basketball player and the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Considered one of the best high school basketball athletes in the country from the class of 1985, Danny Ferry was Parade Magazine's prep Player of the Year and one of the most highly recruited high school seniors in the nation before committing to Duke University. Known for his superb outside shooting, strong rebounding abilities and full-court vision while in college, Ferry's talents on the court likened him to that of a younger Larry Bird during his career with the three-time Final Four-bound Duke Blue Devils. The consensus All-American standout left Duke setting many school records while earning several national player of the year awards as one of the country's most celebrated college basketball athlete during his senior year. Drafted into the NBA in 1989 as the second overall pick in the draft, Ferry would go on to spend the majority of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers where he became the team's all-time leader in games played (723 games) until Žydrūnas Ilgauskas surpassed his record on December 2, 2009. Danny Ferry is ranked among the top 50 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) men's basketball players of all-time as well as one of Duke's top basketball players in the school's history.

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Danny Manning
Daniel Ricardo "Danny" Manning (born May 17, 1966 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi) is an American college basketball coach and retired player in the National Basketball Association. He is the current men's head coach at the University of Tulsa. After retiring from professional basketball Manning became an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Kansas. He won the National Championship with the Jayhawks in 1988 as a player, and again on the coaching staff in 2008.
Considered one of the greatest players in University of Kansas history, he led the 1988 Kansas Jayhawks to the National Championship against the Oklahoma Sooners. Manning left KU as its men's basketball program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder after leading the Jayhawks to the 1986 Final Four and the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship. The 6-foot-10 forward was the all-time leading scorer in the Big Eight Conference with 2,951 career points. He won the Wooden, Naismith, and Eastman Awards as the college player of the year in 1988. In Kansas's 83-79 victory over the University of Oklahoma in the 1988 NCAA Final, Manning recorded 31 points, 18 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 blocked shots. For his seemingly single-handed performance in propelling the underdog Jayhawks to the title, as well as the Jayhawks' less-than-impressive record going into the NCAA tournament (21-11, most losses of any NCAA champion), the 1988 Kansas team was nicknamed "Danny and the Miracles" and Manning was honored as Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. A two-time All-American while at KU, Manning was later named the Big Eight Player of the Decade.

wn.com/Danny_Manning

Darrell Griffith
Darrell Steven Griffith (born June 16, 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky), also known by his nickname Dr. Dunkenstein, is a retired American basketball player who spent his entire professional career with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association.
Griffith starred at Louisville Male High School and was heavily recruited by colleges all across the country. He decided to attend his hometown school, the University of Louisville, much to the delight of local fans.
He didn't disappoint, delivering the school's first-ever NCAA men's basketball championship in 1980. He scored 23 points in the Cardinals' 59-54 victory over UCLA in the championship game. Due to his strong performance, he was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Griffith totaled 825 points in his senior season, setting a school record. For his efforts, he was named First Team All-American by the Associated Press and was given the Wooden Award as the best college basketball player in the nation. He left college as Louisville's all-time leading scorer with 2,333 points in his career. His jersey number, 35, was retired during ceremonies after the 1980 season.

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Dave Cowens
David William Cowens (born October 25, 1948, in Newport, Kentucky) is a retired American professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At 6'9", he played the center and occasionally the power forward position. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991. He was recently an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons, and currently serves as a special assistant to Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars.
After starring in high school at Newport Catholic High in his hometown of Newport, Kentucky, Cowens played his collegiate basketball at Florida State University from 1967 to 1970. He scored 1,479 points in 78 games at Florida State, at 19.0 points per game, and ranks among Florida State's top 10 all-time scoring leaders.
He is the all-time Florida State leading rebounder with 1,340 rebounds (17.2 rebounds per game). He holds the team record for best seasonal rebound average (17.5 in the 1968-1969 season). He once grabbed 31 rebounds (second best all-time) against LSU in the 1968-69 season.

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Dave Twardzik
David John Twardzik (born September 20, 1950 in Hershey, Pennsylvania) is a former professional basketball player, a player he was a point guard in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is best known for being a starter on the Portland Trail Blazers team that won the 1977 NBA Finals. Twardzik is currently the assistant general manager for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association.
Twardzik grew up in Middletown, Pennsylvania, and played collegiately at Old Dominion University, where he was a two-time All American and led the Monarchs to the 1971 NCAA Division II title game. He was drafted by the Trail Blazers in 1972, but elected to play for the Virginia Squires of the ABA. Twardzik played for the Squires for four seasons until the team (and the ABA) came to an end, folding just prior to the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976. After the ABA-NBA merger Twardzik signed with the Blazers as a free agent. He would be the starting point guard of the Blazers team which won the NBA title in 1977. He played for four seasons total in Portland, and retired at the end of the 1979-1980 season because of injury. His jersey number (13) was retired by the team.

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David Rivers
David Lee Rivers (born January 20, 1965 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is a retired American basketball player. A point guard, he reached star status in the Euroleague, mostly playing for Olympiacos Piraeus under coach Dusan Ivkovic.
Rivers grew up in Jersey City and played high school basketball under Bob Hurley at powerhouse St. Anthony High School.
A third team All-American in 1986-87 and a second team selection in '87-88, he attended the University of Notre Dame.
He was the co-captain of the '87-88 squad. He currently ranks fourth in school history, in scoring with 2,058 points, and second in Notre Dame history in assists (586). He also ranks second all-time in steals (201) and steals average (1.7 spg), second in games started (116), fourth in assists average (5.0 apg) and three-point field goal percentage (.406), ninth in games played (118), 11th all-time in three-point field goals made (67) and 13th in three-point field goals attempted (165). He was selected to the 1987 NCAA Championship All-Regional team. He earned four monograms while a member of the Fighting Irish.

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Dean Garrett
Dean Heath Garrett (born November 27, 1966, in Los Angeles, California) is a retired American professional basketball player, 6'11" tall, who played the center position.
He attended the San Clemente High School in San Clemente, California, where he earned All-Conference, All-County and All-Southern California honors as a senior (1983/84). Then he played collegiately at the City College of San Francisco (CC) (1984/85-1985/86), where he led his team to the state finals where it was defeated by Sacramento City College. The winning continued when he accepted a scholarship to Indiana University (1986/87-1987/88), with whom he won the 1987 NCAA National Championship. He was selected with a 38th overall (13th in 2nd round) pick in the 1988 NBA draft by Phoenix Suns, but did not play in the NBA for eight following seasons, playing instead in Europe (in Italy and Greece). Only prior to the 1996/97 season he was recruited, as free agent, by the NBA franchise, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and afterwards played in the NBA for the following five seasons, for Denver Nuggets (1997/98), Timberwolves again (1998/99-2001/02), and Golden State Warriors (2001/02), where he was traded in midseason. During those six seasons he played in 359 games, and averaged solid numbers of 19.4 minutes played, 4.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.0 blocks, and 0.480 field goal percentage per game.

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DeMarcus Cousins
DeMarcus Cousins (born August 13, 1990) is an American professional basketball player with the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. He played college basketball at the University of Kentucky.
Cousins was named to the 2009 McDonald's All-American Team. He had 14 points and 8 rebounds. Cousins also played in the 2009 Nike Hoop Summit at the Rose Garden in Portland and the Jordan Brand Classic at Madison Square Garden where he scored 10 points for the black team. Cousins led LeFlore to the Alabama class 6A Final Four against Hillcrest that beat Austin High School to progress to the state championship; falling short to future college teammate Eric Bledsoe and Parker High School.
Cousins first committed to Alabama-Birmingham on February 28, 2008 but never signed a letter of intent because he wanted to be released if UAB's head coach, Mike Davis, left for another school. Cousins decomitted from UAB and committed to Memphis on March 9, 2009. He reopened his recruitment after then Memphis coach John Calipari was hired at Kentucky. On April 7, 2009, Cousins decided to follow John Calipari to Kentucky. He signed his Letter of Intent on April 15. At Kentucky, Cousins averaged 15.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Led by Cousins and John Wall, the Wildcats reached the Elite Eight of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

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Derrick Chievous
Derrick Joseph Chievous (born July 3, 1967, in New York City) is a retired American professional basketball player who played the forward position, and was selected by the Houston Rockets in the 1st round (16th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft.
Chievous played in the NBA from 1988-1991 for the Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers. His best season came during his rookie campaign as a member of the Rockets, when he appeared in 81 games and averaged 9.3 ppg.
Before that, Chievous played collegiately at the University of Missouri, becoming the school's all-time scoring leader with 2,580 points over his collegiate career. Chievous was inducted into the University of Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 1996.

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Dick Motta
John Richard "Dick" Motta (born September 3, 1931) is a former basketball coach whose career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) spanned 25 years, and he continues to rank among the NBA's all-time top 10 in coaching victories.
After graduating from Utah State University, Motta started coaching at Grace, Idaho, where he taught seventh grade and coached for two years before being drafted in the armed services. He once said in an interview that winning the 1959 Idaho state high school championship was his greatest thrill as a coach, even topping the NBA championship he won two decades later.
Motta coached at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah in the 1960s. Under the direction of Motta and assistant coach Phil Johnson, Weber State won three Big Sky championships. The first Big Sky Championship the duo experienced while at Weber State was in 1965.
Motta was hired as head coach of the Chicago Bulls in 1968 after a six-year stint at Weber State University. From 1970 to 1974 he led the Bulls to four consecutive seasons of 50 wins or more, winning the NBA Coach of the Year Award in 1971.

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Dick Vertlieb
Richard "Dick" Harvey Vertlieb (October 7, 1930 – December 5, 2008) was an American sports executive. He was the winner of the 1975 NBA Executive of the Year Award after serving as general manager for the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. He also served as general manager for the Seattle SuperSonics and Indiana Pacers, as well as the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. He died in Las Vegas, Nevada after a lengthy illness.
Dick was born in Watts, California. He graduated from the University of Southern California, and also served in the United States army. He helped found the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle SuperSonics, becoming the Sonics' first ever General Manager prior to their inaugural season in 1967-68. During his time in Seattle, he named Lenny Wilkens as the head coach; Wilkens has gone on to become the winningest coach in NBA history. Vertlieb then went to Golden State, where he gave the team a facelift and led them to the NBA title. He returned the Warriors to the Western Conference final the following year, but was defeated by the Phoenix Suns, who then lost to the Boston Celtics in the finals. Vertlieb then returned to Seattle to serve as the first ever GM for the Seattle Mariners, as they began play in Major League Baseball in 1976. Vertlieb's final GM job came in 1980-81 with the Indiana Pacers. In 1995, he served a brief stint as a consultant for the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA, before becoming involved with the World League's Amsterdam Admirals.

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Doc Rivers
Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers (born October 13, 1961) is a former professional basketball player and the current head coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics. Rivers was known for his defense while playing in the NBA. His skills as floor general and point guard helped him transition into a coach following his playing career.
Rivers was a McDonald's All-American for Proviso East High School in the Chicago metropolitan area. Rivers represented the United States with the national team in the 1982 FIBA World Championship, in which he was selected as the tournament MVP, despite missing the last shot in the final which could have given the title to his team. After graduating from Marquette University, Rivers was drafted in the second round (31st overall) of the 1983 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He spent the next seven seasons as a starter in Atlanta, assisting star Dominique Wilkins as the team found great regular-season success. He averaged a double-double for the 1986–87 season with 12.8 points and 10.0 assists per game. Rivers later spent one year as a starter for the Los Angeles Clippers and two more for the New York Knicks, before finishing his career as a bench player for the San Antonio Spurs.

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Don Delaney
Don Delaney (1936–2011) was an American professional basketball coach, who served as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early 1980s. Delaney also served as the team's general manager. Former Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien signed Delaney to a one-year contract to be the team's head coach in March 1981. Delaney compiled a 7-21 record over the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons.
An article in the January/February 2004 issue of Basketball Digest listed Delaney as one of the five worst coaches in NBA history.
According to the 1980-81 Cleveland Cavaliers media guide, Delaney was the head coach at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio, and Dyke College (now Chancellor University) in Cleveland, compiling a 200-101 record over 11 seasons. At Lakeland, Delaney also served as chairman of the physical education department.
Prior to coaching in college, Delaney was a high school coach at Kirtland High School in Kirtland, Ohio.
He graduated Cum Laude from Kent State University, where he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees.

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Don Nelson
Donald Arvid "Don" Nelson (born May 15, 1940) is a former NBA player and head coach. He coached the Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Golden State Warriors.
An innovator, Nelson is credited with, among other things, inventing the concept of the point forward, a tactic which is frequently employed by teams at every level today. His unique brand of basketball is often referred to as Nellie Ball. He was named one of the Top 10 coaches in NBA history. On April 7, 2010, he passed Lenny Wilkens for first place on the all-time NBA wins list with 1,333 wins. His all-time record is 1,335-1,063 (.557).
After a very successful high school career at Rock Island High School, Nelson played for the University of Iowa as a two-time All-American averaging 21.1 points and 10.5 rebounds a game. He was drafted 19th overall by the Chicago Zephyrs of the NBA. He played for the Zephyrs one season, and was acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1963. After two years with the Lakers, he was signed by the Boston Celtics.

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Donté Greene
Donté Dominic Greene (born February 21, 1988 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. A 6-foot-11, 226-pound forward from Baltimore, Maryland, he played for the Syracuse Orange's basketball team for one year before being selected as the 28th overall pick by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2008 NBA Draft.
Greene attended Towson Catholic High School, where he averaged 18.4 ppg., 6.8 rpg., 3.0 apg., 2.1 spg. and 4.3 bpg. as a senior in 2006–07 and helped Towson Catholic to a 32–6 record and to its second consecutive Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference and Baltimore Catholic League titles.
He was a 2007 McDonald's All-American, Maryland's 2007 Gatorade Player of the Year,^{[citation needed]} was named to the Nike Brand All-America Team and selected to play in the 2007 Jordan Classic. In the class of 2007, he ranked as the No. 7 overall recruit and No. 2 power forward by scout.com and as No. 10 overall and the No. 3 small forward by rivals.com.

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Draff Young
Draff Young is a former National Basketball Association coach. He coached three games for the Kansas City-Omaha Kings in 1973, becoming the first African-American who was not a former NBA player to do so. He was born on April 9, 1942 and died on March 24, 2012. The Seattle Times: Sonics: Brown's hiring highlights diversity in NBA</ref>

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Dwane Casey
Dwane Casey (born April 17, 1957) is a former NCAA basketball player and coach who currently is a head coach in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors.
Casey was born in Morganfield, Kentucky, and graduated from Union County High School in 1975.
At the University of Kentucky Casey had a career average of 1.3 points, and 0.6 assists per game. Casey served as team captain during his senior year. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in business administration in 1979.
Casey began his coaching career in 1979, as an assistant coach for the University of Kentucky. In late March 1988 while still serving as an assistant coach there, Emery Worldwide employees discovered $1,000 in cash in an envelope that was accidentally opened. The envelope was addressed to Claud Mills, the father of recruit Chris Mills, and the sender was identified as Casey. The University of Kentucky said that the evidence collected during the investigation is inconclusive, and does not prove that Casey sent the money. The scandal resulted in Casey's resignation, and Casey being placed on probation for 5 years by the NCAA.

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Ed Gregory
Ed Gregory is a former basketball scout, coach, and executive.
In the 1960s he was the head men's basketball coach at Fresno State University; he also coached at UNLV.
He served as interim head coach of the Golden State Warriors for the final 18 games of the 1987–1988 season, after George Karl departed. He later served as the team's general manager.
Gregory currently serves as "Basketball GM and Scouting" instructor for the online sports career training school,Sports Management Worldwide, in Portland, OR.

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Ed Jucker
Edwin Louis "Ed" Jucker (July 8, 1916 – February 2, 2002) was an American college basketball player and coach. He was the former head basketball coach at the University of Cincinnati in the 1960s. Jucker also attended Cincinnati as an undergraduate student and played on the school's basketball teams during the 1938, 1939, and 1940 seasons. He was the captain of the 1940 team. Also, while an undergraduate Ed Jucker became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was born in Norwood, Ohio.
Under Jucker's coaching direction in the early '60s, Cincinnati won back-to-back NCAA basketball championships in 1961 and 1962 and almost won a then-unprecedented third consecutive title in 1963 until the Bearcats were upended 70-68 in overtime by Loyola of Chicago and All-American Jerry Harkness. Jucker holds the record for the highest winning percentage (.917) in NCAA tournament play.
Ed Jucker was a professional baseball prospect until he decided to start coaching instead of trying to make it into Major League Baseball. His coaching career began at Batavia High in Clermont County, Ohio, east of Cincinnati. Following service in the Navy during World War II, he joined the college coaching ranks as assistant basketball coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1946. Two years later, he became head basketball coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Ed Pinckney
Edward (Ed) Lewis Pinckney (born March 27, 1963 in The Bronx, New York) is a retired NBA basketball player.
A 6'9" forward, Pinckney led Villanova University to the NCAA title over the heavily favored Georgetown Hoyas in 1985. He was the recipient of the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after registering 16 points and 6 rebounds in the 66-64 victory.
Also in 1985 he was selected tenth overall by the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Draft and played for them from 1985 to 1987. He also played with the Sacramento Kings (1987–89), Boston Celtics (1989–94), Milwaukee Bucks (1994–95), Toronto Raptors (1995–96), Philadelphia 76ers (1995–96) and Miami Heat (1996–97). He retired in 1997.
Ed participated in the first tip-off in Toronto Raptors franchise history facing off against Yinka Dare of the New Jersey Nets on November 3, 1995.
Pinckney was a radio and television analyst for the Miami Heat from 1997 through 2003. He was the Heat's Director of Mentoring Programs from 2002 to 2003.
He spent the 2009-10 NBA season as a color analyst for the Philadelphia 76ers.

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Edward Gottlieb
Edward Gottlieb (born Isadore Gottlieb, September 15, 1898 – December 7, 1979), known as "Mr. Basketball" and "The Mogul", was the first coach and manager of the Philadelphia Warriors in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the former owner and coach of the team from 1951 to 1962 (when he sold the Philadelphia Warriors to Franklin Mieuli, who moved them to San Francisco). A native of Kiev, Ukraine, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor on April 20, 1972. The NBA Rookie of the Year "Eddie Gottlieb Trophy" is named after Gottlieb.
A small, overweight, balding man with deep eyes and penchant for wearing bow ties, Gottlieb was described by Red Smith as "a wonderful little guy about the size and shape of a half-keg of beer."
Gottlieb organized, and played for, the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association teams in the 1920s. Along with a few other sports promoters, he organized the Basketball Association of America, the league that later became the NBA.

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Elgin Baylor
Elgin Gay Baylor (born September 16, 1934 in Washington, D.C.) is a retired Hall of Fame American basketball player and former NBA general manager who played 13 seasons as a forward for the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers/Los Angeles Lakers.
Baylor was a gifted shooter, strong rebounder, and an accomplished passer. Renowned for his acrobatic maneuvers on the court, Baylor regularly dazzled Lakers fans with his trademark hanging jump shots. The No. 1 draft pick in 1958, NBA Rookie of the Year in 1959, and an 11-time NBA All-Star, he is regarded as one of the game's all-time greatest players. In 1977, Baylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Baylor spent twenty-two years as GM of the Los Angeles Clippers, being named the NBA Executive of the Year in 2006, before being relieved of his duties shortly before the 2008-09 season began.

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Emeka Okafor
Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi Okafor, abbreviated as Emeka Okafor (born September 28, 1982), is an American basketball power forward and center for the New Orleans Hornets of the National Basketball Association. Prior to the NBA, Okafor attended Houston's Bellaire High School, and the University of Connecticut.
Okafor was born in Houston, Texas. Both of his parents are natives of Nigeria, and Emeka was the first member of his family born in the United States. His father, Pius Okafor, is a member of the Igbo ethnic group. Okafor's family moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma when he was young because his father worked for Phillips Petroleum Company, headquartered in Bartlesville. While in Bartlesville, Emeka's father Pius took his son to the Bartlesville YMCA to learn the game of basketball. As a child growing up in the Houston area, Okafor idolized Houston Rockets shooting guard Clyde Drexler. He models his game, however, after fellow Nigerian pivot Hakeem Olajuwon.
Okafor played at Bellaire High School with future Oklahoma State star John Lucas III. Okafor averaged 22 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocks in his senior season. Bellaire was 26–5 in that season, losing 56–42 in the third round of the 2001 UIL state playoffs, to Willowridge High School and future Texas standout T. J. Ford. This game is particularly notable, however, because it featured five players who would go on to play in an NCAA Final Four (Bellaire had Lucas and Okafor, while Willowridge featured Ford, Oklahoma State's Ivan McFarlin and Duke's Daniel Ewing). All five of these players would eventually go on to play at least a season in the NBA.

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Ennis Whatley
Ennis Whatley (born August 11, 1962 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Kansas City Kings in the first round (13th overall) of the 1983 NBA Draft. Whatley played in ten NBA seasons. A 6'3" (1.90 m) and 177 lb (80 kg) guard, he played for the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Bullets, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers. Whatley's best year as a professional came during the 1986–87 season as a Bullet, when he appeared in 73 games and averaged 8.5 points per game (ppg). In 10 NBA seasons, Whatley played in a total of 385 games and scored 2,150 points, thus averaging 5.6 ppg.
Whatley had experienced some success in the Philippine Basketball Association. In 1989 he helped the San Miguel Beermen achieve the Grand Slam by leading them to claim the Reinforced Conference Championship.
He came in as a replacement, replacing former Indiana University standout Keith Smart who was replaced after five games. Up until that point, no team in PBA history had been able to win a Championship after replacing their import in the middle of the conference.

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Eric Leckner
Eric Charles Leckner (born May 27, 1966, in Inglewood, California) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Utah Jazz in the 1st round (17th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. He attended Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, California, and played collegiately at the University of Wyoming.
A center, Leckner played in 8 NBA seasons for the Jazz, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons and Vancouver Grizzlies. His best year as a pro was during the 1993-94 season when he appeared in 71 games and averaged 5.1 ppg for the 76ers.

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Eric Musselman
Eric P. Musselman (born November 19, 1964 in Ashland, Ohio) is an American basketball coach and the former head coach of the NBA's Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors. In August 2011, he was named head coach for the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League.
The son of former NBA head coach Bill Musselman, Eric was a head coach in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) before becoming an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic (under Chuck Daly and Doc Rivers), and Atlanta Hawks (under Lon Kruger).
Between head coaching stints in Golden State and Sacramento, Musselman served as an assistant for the Memphis Grizzlies under Mike Fratello.
From 2008-2010, he served as an NBA analyst for FOX Sports Radio and Clear Channel Radio, and as a color commentator for college basketball games on the regional sports network Comcast SportsNet California and for NBA Development League games on Versus. He's also worked as a basketball analyst for ESPN.
Musselman grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and San Diego, California, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended high school in Brecksville, a suburb about 15 miles south of Cleveland. There, he played on the same high school basketball team as former NBA player Scott Roth and former NFL Pro Bowl punter/quarterback Tom Tupa.

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Erik Spoelstra
Erik Spoelstra (born November 1, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and the current head coach of the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat. He is the first Filipino-American head coach in the NBA, as well as the first Filipino-American head coach of any North American professional sports team. From 2001 to 2008, he served as assistant coach/director of scouting for the team. He coached the Heat to 148 wins and three playoff appearances, including a trip to the 2011 NBA Finals, in his first three seasons.
He is the son of Dutch-Irish-American Jon Spoelstra, who was an NBA executive for the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Buffalo Braves and New Jersey Nets, and the grandson of the late Watson Spoelstra, a sportswriter in the Detroit area. His mother, Elisa Celino, is from San Pablo, Laguna in the Philippines.
Spoelstra grew up in Portland, Oregon, where he graduated from Jesuit High School in 1988 and from the University of Portland in 1992.
At the University of Portland, Spoelstra was the Pilots' starting point guard for four years, averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game, and was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. He is a member of Portland's 1,000-point club. Spoelstra was on the court as Hank Gathers collapsed and died during the 1990 WCC Tournament.

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Everette Stephens
Everette Louis Stephens (born October 21, 1966 in Evanston, Illinois) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2nd round (31st overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. A 6'2" guard from Purdue University, Stephens played in two NBA seasons for the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks. In his NBA career, Stephens played in 38 games and scored a total of 71 points.
He currently teaches health at Perspectives Charter School in Chicago, Illinois.^{[citation needed]}

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Fat Lever
Lafayette "Fat" Lever (born August 18, 1960, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA. He is currently the director of player development for the Sacramento Kings. Lever also serves as the color analyst for the Kings radio broadcasts.
Lever was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers as the 11th pick in the 1982 NBA Draft out of Arizona State. While at ASU, his guard-tandem teammate was Byron Scott who left school early (1983) to sign with the San Diego Clippers. He was considered one of the NBA's best point guards in the late 1980s while playing for the Denver Nuggets. Despite his size (6 feet 3 inches) he regularly led the Nuggets in rebounding.
Lever was traded by the Nuggets to the Dallas Mavericks in 1990 for the Mavs' #9 pick in the 1990 NBA Draft plus Dallas' first-round pick in the following one. The Nuggets subsequently traded the #9 pick and their own #15 pick to the Miami Heat for the Heat's #3 pick in the 1990 Draft, with Denver sending the Mavs' 1991 first rounder (which was originally the Detroit Pistons' pick they acquired in the Mark Aguirre/Adrian Dantley trade) to the Washington Bullets along with Michael Adams, for the Bullets' first round pick in the 1991 Draft.

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Fennis Dembo
Fennis Marx Dembo (born January 24, 1966) is a retired American professional basketball player for the 1989 National Basketball Association champion Detroit Pistons. A small forward, he only played in the NBA for one season, averaging 1.2 points and 0.7 rebounds in 31 games. He was selected by the Pistons in the second round (30th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft.
Dembo was barely recruited out of high school in San Antonio, Texas, but caught a break when he was sought out by Wyoming's then head coach Jim Brandenburg, who had previously been a high school coach in that city (and would later retire to San Antonio). Dembo's campus visit was the first time he had ever seen snow; he went on a snowmobile trip as part of the visit, and would remember in a 2009 interview that he had a gut feeling that Wyoming was for him.
At Wyoming, Dembo had a successful career, finishing as the leading scorer and rebounder in Cowboys history. He accumulated 2,311 points and 954 rebounds. He was part of the Cowboys team that qualified for the finals at the 1986 National Invitation Tournament. The following year, the Cowboys qualified for the Sweet Sixteen of the 1987 NCAA Basketball Tournament. At the 1987 NCAA Tournament, Dembo was the leading scorer, averaging 27.8 points per game. Dembo appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated dressed as a cowboy. He was the first ever basketball player from the University of Wyoming to be featured on the SI cover. He was inducted into the University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame on October 29, 1993.

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Francisco García
Francisco García (born December 31, 1981, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican professional basketball player who currently plays for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. A 6'7", 195-pound guard–forward from the University of Louisville, García was selected by the Kings in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2005 NBA Draft. He now plays a variety of positions for the Kings, and on September 25, 2008, signed a five-year extension with the Kings. It was worth $23 million.
As a college basketball player at Louisville under coach Rick Pitino he enjoyed great success along with future NBA player Reece Gaines. He averaged 15.7 points per game as a junior and, along with teammate and best friend Taquan Dean, led his 4th-seeded team to the 2005 Final Four in Saint Louis, Missouri. Forgoing his senior season, García decided to go professional and enter the ranks of the NBA. In his rookie season for the Kings, García appeared in 67 games (11 starts) and averaged 5.6 points per game.

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Frank McGuire
Frank Joseph McGuire (November 8, 1914 – November 11, 1994) was an American athletic coach who gained his greatest renown in collegiate basketball.
Born in New York City as the youngest of thirteen children in an Irish-American family, to New York police officer, Robert McGuire and his wife, the former Anne Lynch (his father dying when Frank was only two years old). He attended Xavier High School graduating in 1933, McGuire graduated from St. John's University in 1936. He served in the United States Navy during World War II, interrupting his work as a teacher and coach at his high school. Prior to 1947 he also played pro basketball briefly in the American Basketball League; he then became the head basketball and baseball coach at his alma mater.
After bringing the baseball team to the College World Series in 1949 and the basketball team to the Final Four in 1952 – becoming one of only three coaches to achieve both accomplishments – he left St. John's to become basketball coach at the University of North Carolina.

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Frank Vogel
Frank Vogel (born June 21, 1973) is head coach for the Indiana Pacers of the NBA. Vogel previously served as a scout for both the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards, and was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics.
Vogel grew up in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. During his eighth grade year, he was featured in an episode of Late Night with David Letterman during the Stupid Human Tricks segment, in which he spun a basketball on a toothbrush while brushing his teeth. For high school, he attended Wildwood High School. Vogel went to college at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA, where he was a starter for the Division III basketball team. Vogel transferred after three years to the University of Kentucky to become a student manager, and play for the junior varsity team.
Vogel began his career as the head video coordinator for the Boston Celtics under head coach Rick Pitino. He retained that position for five years before being promoted to assistant coach. After coaching with Boston, Vogel went on to become an assistant for the Philadelphia 76ers. Vogel left the 76ers to become an advance scout for the Los Angeles Lakers from 2005–2006 and the Washington Wizards from 2006-2007. Vogel then became an assistant for the Indiana Pacers under former Celtics colleague Jim O'Brien. In 2011, after O'Brien was fired from his head coaching position, Vogel was named interim coach. As interim coach, Vogel led the Pacers to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Vogel was officially named as the Pacers' head coach on July 6, 2011.

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Gary Gerould
Gary Gerould is an American sportscaster, best known as the radio voice of the NBA's Sacramento Kings since 1985 and as a motorsports reporter for ABC and ESPN.
Gerould was born in Midland, Michigan and got his start in broadcasting at the age of 15 on a local telegraph station. He later attended Anderson University in Indiana and upon graduation went to Chico, California work for KHSL Radio, later moving to KCRA-AM and KCRA TV, as a sports reporter before finally coming to NBC and ESPN, specializing in coverage of the motorsports. He also called play-by-play for NBC's NFL coverage in the early 1980s, and had the opportunity to cover the 1988 Summer Olympics for the network.
In 1985 as the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento, Gerould was tabbed as their radio play-by-play announcer. During the 2010-11 season, Gerould completed his 2,000 Kings broadcast, ranking fifth among active NBA announcers.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he also worked for the motorsports program American Sports Cavalcade.

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Gary Gilbert
Gary Gilbert is an Oscar nominated producer and the founder and president of Gilbert Films, a motion picture production and financing company based in Los Angeles, California. Gilbert financed and produced the 2004 feature film Garden State starring Zach Braff and Natalie Portman. In 2005 Gilbert along with Braff won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Film. In 2010 Gilbert produced The Kids Are All Right which after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival was immediately acquired by Focus Features (Universal Studios). The film was critically acclaimed and in 2011 won two Golden Globes. Annette Bening for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) and Gilbert (along with Jeff Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray) for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). The Kids Are All Right was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Actress (Annette Bening), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), Best Screenplay (Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg), and Best Picture (Gary Gilbert, Jeff Levy-Hinte, and Celine Rattray).

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Gary Grant
Gary Grant (born April 21, 1965 in Canton, Ohio) is a retired American professional basketball player at the point guard position in the NBA.
Gary "The General" Grant played for Canton McKinley High School and collegiately at the University of Michigan.
He was selected in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, but was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers before the 1988-89 season started. There he remained for seven years before moving on to the New York Knicks, the Miami Heat, and the Portland Trail Blazers. While playing for the Clippers, he was featured in the 1992 film Miracle Beach.
During the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season while playing for the 2010–11 Michigan Wolverines team, Darius Morris surpassed Grant's school record single-season assist total set for the 1987–88 team. The following season Trey Burke broke Grant's freshman season assist total record. Grant continues to hold several Michigan records including career starts (128), career assists (731), career steals (total and per game), career minutes, career turnovers, single-season assists per game, single-season steals (total and per game, 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for both), single-season turnovers, single-game assists, and single-game steals.

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Gene Littles
Eugene Scapes (Gene) Littles (born June 29, 1943 in Washington, D.C.) is a retired American basketball player and current coach. He played professional basketball for six years.
Littles played college basketball at High Point University. Afterward Littles was selected in the 5th round of the 1969 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks and in the 1969 ABA Draft by the Dallas Chaparrals. Littles opted to play in the American Basketball Association (ABA).
Littles played for five seasons with the Carolina Cougars (1969–74). He then played for one season (1974–75) with the Kentucky Colonels. With Kentucky, Littles was a member of the Colonels team that won the 1975 ABA Championship.
After his playing career, Littles got into coaching, and became an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA. He got his first taste of head coaching when George Karl was dismissed at the end of the 1985-86 season. The Cavaliers next year hired Lenny Wilkens, however.
In 1990, Littles got a second NBA head coaching job, with the Charlotte Hornets — replacing Dick Harter. He lasted as season and a half with the recent-expansion Hornets, until he was replaced with Allan Bristow at the end of the 1990-1991 season. Littles later became an assistant with the Denver Nuggets, and served as an interim coach during the 1994-95 season, in between Dan Issel and Bernie Bickerstaff.

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Geoff Petrie
Geoffrey Michael Petrie (born April 17, 1948) is a former American basketball player and current basketball team executive. A native of Pennsylvania, he played professional basketball in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Portland Trail Blazers where he won NBA Rookie of the Year in 1971. After retirement as a player he entered management, and is the current President of Basketball Operations for the Sacramento Kings in the NBA.
Geoff Petrie was born in Darby, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1948. He attended Springfield High School, in Springfield, Pennsylvania, and played collegiate ball at Princeton University.
In Petrie's sophomore season at Princeton, the team was co-champion of the Ivy League with a 20-6 (12-3 Ivy) record. Despite the fact that Princeton had three of the five first-team All-Ivy team members, including Petrie plus second-team member John Hummer, they lost the one-game league playoff to the Jim McMillian-led 1968 Columbia Lions men's basketball team. That year the team rose to as high as 8th in the AP Poll. The following season, Petrie led the Ivy League in scoring (23.9 points/game in conference games), and the team accumulated a 19-7 (14-0) record, including an appearance in the 1969 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They lost to St. John's in the tournament, but Petrie was again on the first-team All-Ivy squad. As a senior, Petrie was second-team All-Ivy, but the Tigers placed third in the conference to the undefeated (in Ivy League games) Corky Calhoun-led Penn Quakers men's basketball team and McMillian's Lions. Although Princeton did not appear in the 1970 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, they hosted Penn's game. All three of his varsity years were spent under head coach Pete Carril. Petrie was co-captain of the 1969-70 team with classmate Hummer. Petrie was All-East both as a junior and a senior.

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George Kaftan
George Kaftan (born February 22, 1928) is a retired American basketball player.
George grew up in New York City and went to Xavier High School in Manhattan before going to Holy Cross for college. Though just 6'3", Kaftan was the starting center for the College of the Holy Cross team that won the 1947 NCAA Basketball Tournament. In 1947 Kaftan also won Most Outstanding Player honors after averaging 21 points per game in three games.
Kaftan was selected in the second round of the 1949 BAA Draft. Kaftan later played professionally for the Boston Celtics (1949–1950), New York Knicks (1950–1952) and Baltimore Bullets (1952–1953). He averaged 7.5 points per game in his professional career.
Kaftan is now a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and the Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame.

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George Karl
George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is a former National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Basketball Association (ABA) player. He is the current head coach of the Denver Nuggets. On December 10, 2010 he became the seventh coach in NBA history to record 1,000 wins.
Karl was born in Penn Hills, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After a college career at the University of North Carolina he signed with the ABA's San Antonio Spurs in 1973. When the Spurs joined the NBA in 1976, Karl began his two-year NBA playing career.
After his playing career, Karl became an assistant coach for the Spurs. Karl then moved on to the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) as head coach of the Montana Golden Nuggets (Great Falls). As coach of the Golden Nuggets, Karl won CBA Coach of the Year twice, in 1981 and 1983.
In 1984, Karl became the head coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, taking them to the playoffs in 1985. He was dismissed by the Cavs in 1986 near the end of the season.
In the 1986-87 season Karl coached the Golden State Warriors and took them from a record of 30-52 the year before, to the playoffs for the first time in ten years. They reached the semi-final round against the Magic Johnson led Los Angeles Lakers, game four of which is still shown on TV in the NBA's Greatest Games series. Eric "Sleepy" Floyd scored 12 straight field goals in the fourth quarter that gave him a still NBA playoff record 29 as well as a still standing record 39 in the second half and finished with 51 points in Golden State's 129-121 win.

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George Senesky
George Lawrence Senesky (April 4, 1922 in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania – June 26, 2001 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American professional basketball player and coach. A 6'2" guard from Saint Joseph's University, he played for eight seasons in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), all with the Philadelphia Warriors.
He later coached the franchise, from 1955 through to 1958, winning the NBA title in 1956.

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Glen Rice
Glen Anthony Rice (born May 28, 1967) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the NBA. The 6'8" tall Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star guard/forward, ranking 11th in NBA history with 1,559 three-point field goals made during his 15-year career. As a player, Rice won an NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship and an NBA Championship. Rice has won both the NBA All-Star Game MVP and the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player awards. In recent years, Rice has taken up MMA fight promotion as owner and head of G-Force Fights, based out of Miami, Florida.
Rice played college basketball for the University of Michigan Wolverines for four seasons (1985–1989), a starter for three of those seasons. He became the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,442 points. He led Michigan to the 1989 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, scoring an NCAA-record 184 points in tournament play, a record that still stands. Rice was also voted the tournament's Most Outstanding Player and was part of the Associated Press All-America second-team, after averaging 25.6 points for the season, while shooting 58% from the floor and 52% from three-point range. After Rice's junior year, he was invited to try out for the 1988 United States Olympic basketball team, but was cut before reaching the group of 48. On February 20, 2005, Rice's No. 41 jersey was retired during a ceremony at Michigan's Crisler Arena. Rice made the cover of Sports Illustrated on April 10, 1989.

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Gordon Gund
Gordon Gund (born October 15, 1939) is an American businessman and professional sports owner. He is the CEO of Gund Investment Corporation. He is the former co-owner of the San Jose Sharks (National Hockey League) and former principal owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers (National Basketball Association) and is currently a minority owner of the Cavaliers. Gund lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa and was a co-founder of Foundation Fighting Blindness.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Gund is a member of one of the city's prominent families. His father George Gund II was president and chairman of Cleveland Trust when it was Ohio's largest bank. Gund II was famous for hiding his wealth from his family and hiding his philanthropy.
Gordon Gund and his wife, Lulie, reside in Princeton, New Jersey; they have two children.
Gordon Gund attended Harvard University, where he majored in physical sciences and sociology and played ice hockey. He then served in the United States Navy, becoming department head on two destroyers. He then started a banking career, specializing in corporate finance. He gradually began going blind in the 1960s due to retinitis pigmentosa. By 1970, Gund was totally blind. In 1971, Gund co-founded the Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation (now known as The Foundation Fighting Blindness) which supports research to find cures and treatments for retinal degenerative diseases. The blindness did not prevent him from being active in business and philanthropy. Gund is the former President of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts. He has honorary doctorates from Gothenburg University in Sweden, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Whittier College and the University of Vermont. He serves as director of the Kellogg Company of Battle Creek, Michigan, and of Corning Incorporated in Corning, New York. Gund remains active as chairman of the board of directors of The Foundation Fighting Blindness.

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Grant Long
Grant Andrew Long (born March 12, 1966 in Wayne, Michigan) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played over 1,000 NBA games over a 15-year career.
A 6'9" forward from Eastern Michigan University, Long was selected with the 33rd pick of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat. Long played six seasons for the Heat, earning a reputation for his aggressive defense and strong rebounding. Long would also play for the Atlanta Hawks (in two separate stints), Detroit Pistons, Vancouver and Memphis Grizzlies, and Boston Celtics, and he ended his NBA career in 2003 with 9,518 total points and 6,154 total rebounds.
Long had two relatives who were playing in the NBA during his tenure in the league: John Long, his uncle, and Terry Mills, his cousin.
His brother is professional boxer Julius Long.^{[citation needed]}
Currently, Long serves as a color analyst for Oklahoma City Thunder telecasts.

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Grant Napear
Grant Napear is a broadcaster for the Sacramento Kings. Napear is the play-by-play announcer for the Kings and also hosts an afternoon sports-talk program, The Grant Napear Show, on 1140 the Fan in Sacramento. This sports-talk program runs from 3-7 P.M. PST from Monday through Friday.
Napear is a native of Syosset, New York and pursued a degree in broadcast journalism from Bowling Green University. During his stint at the school, Napear played collegiate lacrosse.
Napear is on the board of the Future Foundation of Sacramento, a foundation providing college scholarships for disadvantaged youth. He's hosted a benefit golf tournament for the foundation since 1995. He currently lives in El Dorado Hills, California with his wife, Starr Napear, & two sons Trent and Chase.
Napear also occasionally fills in for Jim Rome on The Jim Rome show which is broadcasted across the country.
Some of his trademark phrases include:
During a February 2012 edition of his radio show, Napear told fellow Sacramento broadcaster Walt Gray that he has never had a cup of coffee in his life.

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Greg Butler
Gregory Edward "Greg" Butler (born March 11, 1966 in Inglewood, California), is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the New York Knicks in the 2nd round (37th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. A 6'11" center from Stanford University, Butler played in 3 NBA seasons from 1988-1991. He played for the Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers.
In his NBA career, Butler played in 55 games and scored a total of 76 points.
He later played in Portugal for Ovarense Aerosoles.

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Gregg Popovich
Gregg Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American basketball coach, and is currently the head coach of the National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs. Taking over as coach of the Spurs in 1996, Popovich is the longest tenured coach in both the NBA and all Big Four sports leagues. He is often referred to as "Coach Pop" or simply "Pop." He has won four championships as head coach of the Spurs.
Popovich was born in East Chicago, Indiana to a Serbian father and mother of Croatian descent.. He attended Merrillville High School and graduated in 1970 from the United States Air Force Academy. He played basketball for four seasons at the Academy, and in his senior year was the team captain and the leading scorer. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Soviet Studies, and he underwent Air Force intelligence gathering and processing training. At one point, Popovich considered a career with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Popovich served five years of required active duty in the United States Air Force, during which he toured Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union with the U.S. Armed Forces Basketball Team. In 1972, he was selected as captain of the Armed Forces Team, which won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championship. This earned him an invitation to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team trials.

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Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon (/ɵˈlaɪdʒəwɒn/; [olaɟuwɔ̃]; born January 21, 1963) is a retired Nigerian-American professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played the center position in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors. He led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. In 2008, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) (but closer to 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) by his own admission), Olajuwon is considered one of the greatest centers ever to play the game.

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Hal Lear
Harold C. Lear (born January 31, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American basketball player.
A 6'0" guard, Lear starred at Temple University during the 1950s. He earned the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1956 after leading Temple to the Final Four, where they lost to the University of Iowa.
After college, Lear was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors with the eighth pick of the 1956 NBA Draft. His NBA career was brief, however: he appeared in just three games during the 1956-57 NBA season and scored four points.

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Harvey Grant
Harvey Grant (born July 4, 1965 in Augusta, Georgia) is a retired American National Basketball Association basketball player. He is the identical twin brother of Horace Grant, also a former NBA player. Harvey is currently an assistant coach for Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) member Hampton University.
Selected twelfth overall by the Washington Bullets in the 1988 NBA Draft out of Oklahoma, he averaged 5.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He lifted his averages to 8.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists the following season, in 1989–90. Grant improved markedly in the 1990-91 campaign, when he averaged 18.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.18 steals per game. At season's end, he was runner-up to the 1991 NBA Most Improved Player Award (which was earned by Orlando's Scott Skiles). In two subsequent seasons, he continued his solid play with 18.0 and 18.6 points per contest in 1991–92 and 1992–93, respectively.
In 1993 he was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for center Kevin Duckworth, where he was instead utilized in a secondary role off the bench, and in three seasons with Portland, averaged 9.6 points per game. On July 15, 1996, he returned to the Washington Bullets via a trade, along with Blazers point guard Rod Strickland, for power forward Rasheed Wallace and shooting guard Mitchell Butler. By this stage Grant's career was on a downslide, averaging 4.1 points in 1996–97, then slipping to 2.6 points the following season when the Bullets franchise had reinvented itself as the Wizards. He rounded out his professional career with the Philadelphia 76ers in the lockout-shortened 1999 NBA season, averaging 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 47 of 50 possible games. He subsequently retired from the league.

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Hassan Whiteside
Hassan Niam Whiteside (born June 13, 1989 in Gastonia, North Carolina) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings. He was drafted 33rd by the Sacramento Kings in the 2010 NBA Draft. He played college basketball for the Marshall Thundering Herd.
Whiteside played middle school basketball in Gastonia, NC. He attended Hunter Huss, Ashbrook and Forestview high schools in Gastonia while living with his mother and six siblings. For his junior year of high school, he moved in with his father and averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds and 5.5 blocked shots per game in 2006-07 at East Side High School in Newark, NJ He moved back to North Carolina for the 2007-08 school year and attended Hope Christian Academy (Charlotte, N.C.). In 2008-2009, he played prep basketball at The Patterson School in Lenoir, NC. In the 2008–09 season he helped lead Patterson to a 34–2 record and a No. 1 national ranking with former Marshall teammate DeAndre Kane. Hassan was rated as the No. 19 center in the Class of 2009, according to Scout.com and ranked as the No. 87 recruit in the Class of 2009 by rivalshoops.com. He played in the 2009 Reebok All-American preview game. He played for the United Celtics (NC) AAU Team with Malik Stith (St. John's), Ian Miller (Florida State) and Jarrell Eddie (Virginia Tech). He played for the New Jersey Panthers AAU basketball team as well.

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Hersey Hawkins
Hersey R. Hawkins, Jr. (born September 29, 1966, in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired American professional basketball player. After starring at Westinghouse High School in Chicago, the 6' 3" (1.90 m) shooting guard attended Bradley University. Hawkins was known for his stealing skills and outside-shooting ability. He wore numbers 3, 32 and 33 in his 12-year basketball career.
Hersey spent four seasons at Bradley University. In the 1987-1988 season, he averaged an NCAA Division I-high 36.3 points per game and was National College Player of the Year. He led NCAA Division 1 in scoring. His basketball career in college was successful. Before being drafted into the NBA, he was a member of the USA men's national basketball team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul with 11 other future NBA stars coached by John Thompson. They disappointingly finished with the bronze medal after losing to the Soviet Union in the semifinals.
He was then drafted 6th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in first round of the 1988 NBA Draft, but his rights were immediately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for the draft rights to former 1988 Olympic teammate Charles Smith. On the 76ers, "Hawk" was the second scoring option after Charles Barkley. Hawkins earned NBA All-Rookie First Team Honors in 1989. In 1991 he averaged 22.1 points and appeared in the NBA All-Star Game. In a game against the Boston Celtics, he made 9 steals. He also scored a career-high 43 points in a game against the Orlando Magic.

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Howie Dallmar
Howard Dallmar (May 24, 1922 – December 19, 1991) was an American professional basketball player and coach.
A 6'4" (1.93 m) forward from San Francisco, California, Dallmar played collegiately at Stanford University. He led Stanford to the 1942 NCAA Championship, earning Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. After transferring to Penn, he was an All-American selection in 1945. From 1946 to 1949, he played professionally for the Philadelphia Warriors of the Basketball Association of America (a forerunner to the NBA). Dallmar was the third leading scorer (behind Joe Fulks and Angelo Musi) on the team which won the 1947 BAA Championship.
Dallmar coached the University of Pennsylvania basketball team from 1948 to 1954, before returning to Stanford as head basketball coach in 1954. He remained at Stanford for 21 seasons, compiling a 256-264 record. He died of congestive heart failure in 1991.

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Irwin Dambrot
Irwin Dambrot (May 24, 1928 – January 21, 2010) was a first-round draft pick of the New York Knicks and the Most Outstanding Player of the 1950 NCAA men's basketball tournament.
A 6–foot–4, 175–pound forward, Dambrot attended William Howard Taft High School in the South Bronx, New York City. He played for coach Nat Holman at the City College of New York (CCNY) where as senior captain in 1950 led the Beavers to a 24–5 record and the NCAA men's basketball championship, earning MVP honors in the tournament. After the season, Dambrot was named to the Helms Athletic Foundation Basketball All-America team.
Dambrot's CCNY team also won the 1950 National Invitation Tournament (NIT), the only time that one school has won both the NCAA and NIT tournaments in the same season. Dambrot was the only senior starter on the CCNY roster that season.
A January 19, 2003, article in the New York Daily News described Dambrot as "a sharp-shooting forward known for his relentless enthusiasm."
Dambrot was selected in the first round (seventh overall) by the New York Knicks in the 1950 NBA draft, though he chose a career in dentistry instead.

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Isiah Thomas
Isiah Lord Thomas III (

/aɪˈzeɪ.ə/; born April 30, 1961), nicknamed "Zeke", is a retired American basketball player who played collegiately for the Indiana University Hoosiers. He went on to play professionally as point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 until 1994 and led the "Bad Boys" to the NBA Championship in the 1988–89 and 1989–90 seasons. He was a 12-time NBA All-Star and named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. After his playing career, he was an executive with the Toronto Raptors, a television commentator, an executive with the Continental Basketball Association, head coach of the Indiana Pacers, and an executive and head coach for the New York Knicks. He was later the men's basketball coach for the Florida International University (FIU) Golden Panthers for three seasons from 2009 to 2012.
Thomas was born on April 30, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois. The youngest of nine brothers and sisters, he commuted from the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago to play high school basketball at St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois for Gene Pingatore. He would wake up at 5 am and commute 90 minutes to attend the private school. During his junior year, he led St. Joseph to the State Finals and was considered one of the top college prospects in the country.

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Jack Givens
Jack "Goose" Givens (born September 21, 1956 in Lexington, Kentucky) is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player. Givens led the University of Kentucky to the 1978 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship and was named that year's Final Four Most Outstanding Player due in most part to his 41-point performance in Kentucky's 94-88 victory over Duke University in the championship game. He was a 6'5" (1.96 m), 205 lb (93 kg) forward.
Givens earned Kentucky Mr. Basketball and Parade All-America honors after his senior year at Lexington's Bryan Station High School in 1974. UK finished Givens' freshman season as national runners-up, falling 92-85 to UCLA in the 1975 Final Four championship game. In 1978, Givens and Kentucky returned to the Final Four at the Checkerdome in Saint Louis, Missouri. After leading Kentucky to a semifinal victory over the University of Arkansas, he scored a career-high 41 points and made 18 of 27 field goal attempts against Duke to help Kentucky clinch their fifth NCAA Championship in men's basketball.

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Jack McMahon
John Joseph (Jack) McMahon (December 3, 1928 – June 11, 1989) was a professional basketball player and coach. A 6'1" guard from St. John's University, McMahon was selected by the Rochester Royals in the 1952 NBA Draft. He played eight seasons in the NBA, for Rochester and the St. Louis Hawks.
He would go on to become a successful coach in the American Basketball League, the NBA and the ABA, with eleven seasons as a head coach in the three leagues. His first coaching stint was with the Kansas City Steers of the ABL (1961–62 season). The following season he began coaching in the NBA with the Chicago Zephyrs in the 1962–63 season. He would also coach the Cincinnati Royals, the San Diego Rockets, and the ABA's Pittsburgh Condors.

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Jack Twyman
John Kennedy "Jack" Twyman (May 21, 1934 – May 30, 2012) was an American professional basketball player and sports broadcaster.
A 6'6" forward from the University of Cincinnati, he spent eleven seasons (1955–1966) in the NBA as a member of the Rochester/Cincinnati Royals franchise (now the Sacramento Kings). Along with Wilt Chamberlain, Twyman became the first NBA player to average more than 30 points per game in a single season when he averaged 31.2 points per game during the 1959–60 season. He scored a career high 59 points in a game that same season. Twyman scored 15,840 points in his career, he was named to the All-NBA Second Team in both 1960 and 1962, and he appeared in six NBA All-Star Games.
Twyman was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983.
Twyman was also known for his humanitarian efforts. He became the legal guardian of his teammate Maurice Stokes, who was paralyzed due to the aftereffects of a head injury suffered during the final game of the 1958 regular season, to help with medical finances. Twyman also organized the NBA's Maurice Stokes Memorial Basketball game, held at Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, New York, to raise funds for needy former players from the game's early years – first to raise funds for Stokes's care and after his death, for other players. (The fundraising effort later became replaced by a pro-am golf event featuring NBA players.) Twyman also helped Stokes to obtain workers’ compensation and helped him to learn to communicate by blinking his eyes to denote individual letters.

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James Worthy
James Ager Worthy (born February 27, 1961) is a retired Hall of Fame American college and professional basketball player. Named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, "Big Game James" was a seven-time NBA All-Star and three-time NBA champion. A standout for the North Carolina Tar Heels, the 6 ft 9 in (2.05 m) small forward was the MOP of the 1982 NCAA Tournament and #1 pick of the 1982 NBA Draft. He was born in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Worthy was an All-American high school basketball player at Ashbrook High School in Gastonia. Worthy averaged 21.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists during his senior season, for a team that lost in the state championship game. Worthy was also selected to play in the 1979 McDonald's All-American game that also featured future Naismith Hall of Famers Isiaih Thomas, Dominique Wilkins and Ralph Sampson.
After graduating high school, Worthy attended the University of North Carolina (UNC). He quickly became a standout at UNC but saw his freshman year cut short by a broken ankle suffered near mid-season. As a sophomore he was a key member of that school's 1981 NCAA runner-up team, playing with Al Wood and Sam Perkins.

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Jeff Grayer
Jeffrey Grayer (born December 17, 1965, in Flint, Michigan) is a retired American basketball player. A 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) and 200 pounds (91 kg) shooting guard, Grayer starred at Iowa State University 1985-1988 where he set (and still holds) the all-time career scoring record, with 2,502 points. He was named 3-time all-Big Eight and All-American in 1988. Grayer was a member of the United States 1988 Olympic basketball team and was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round (13th pick overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. The NBA journeyman played nine years in the league for five different teams.
In April 2010, Grayer was hired as an assistant men's basketball coach at Iowa State. In August 2010, Grayer left the program and returned to his home state of Michigan when he was not offered an assistant coaching position under new Cyclones head coach Fred Hoiberg.

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Jeff Sheppard
Jeffrey Kyle Sheppard (born September 29, 1974 in Marietta, Georgia) is a retired American professional and collegiate basketball player.
Sheppard was Player of the Year in Georgia in 1993 at McIntosh High School in Peachtree City.
The 6' 3" (1.90 m) University of Kentucky guard (1993–1998), was named Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio in 1998. He played on two national championship teams at the University of Kentucky under Rick Pitino in 1996 and under Tubby Smith in 1998.
The success of his college basketball career did not carry over into the professional leagues in which he entered. He played briefly in the National Basketball Association with the Atlanta Hawks during the 1998-99 season, averaging 2.2 points and 1.2 rebounds in only 18 games. He has since played professionally in Italy with Benetton Treviso (1999-00) (won the Italian Cup), Cordivari Roseto (2000–01) and Würth Roma (2001). He played in the preseason games (but not in any regular season games) for the Toronto Raptors in 2000. He cited the September 11 terrorist attacks as being a factor in his decision to retire from basketball.

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Jerome Lane
Jerome Lane (born December 4, 1966, in Akron, Ohio) is a retired American professional basketball player. Lane attended Akron Saint Vincent-Saint Mary High School. He played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh, where he led the Big East Conference in rebounding during the 1986-87 and the 1987-88 regular seasons. He led the nation in rebounding during the 1986-87 season. He left school after his junior season and was selected in the first round of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets with the 23rd pick overall. Lane played in the NBA for five seasons with the Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although best known for his rebounding skills, Lane was also an adept ball handler. His jump shot and foul shooting were never consistent. He was voted as the best rebounder in the history of the ACB.
On January 25, 1988 in a game against Providence, Lane broke the glass backboard with a one-handed dunk with Sean Miller assisting on the play, famously called by color analyst Bill Raftery when he exclaimed "Send it in, Jerome!!" The play is on ESPN's list of the "100 Greatest Sports Highlights."

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Jerry Chambers
Jerome Purcell "Jerry" Chambers (born July 18, 1943 in Washington, D.C.) is a retired American professional basketball player. At 6'5" and 185 pounds, he played as a forward.
Chambers attended the University of Utah during the mid-1960s, winning the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player award in 1966 after his team reached the Final Four. He played four professional seasons in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, and Buffalo Braves. In 1968, he was involved in one of the most significant transactions in NBA history when the Lakers traded him, Archie Clark and Darrall Imhoff to the Philadelphia 76ers for Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain. Chambers never played for the 76ers, who traded him to Phoenix in 1969.
From 1972 to 1974, Chambers played in the rival American Basketball Association as a member of the San Diego Conquistadors and the San Antonio Spurs. He retired with 2,667 combined NBA/ABA career points.

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Jerry Lucas
Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is a former basketball player who played from the 1950s to the 1970s. He is now a memory education expert. In 1996, the NBA's 50th anniversary, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in National Basketball Association history. He was named to Sports Illustrated's five-man College All-Century Team in 1999.
Lucas was born in Middletown, Ohio, then a community of 30,000+ halfway between Dayton and Cincinnati, that in the 1940s and 1950s boasted one of the most respected high school basketball programs in the United States. Greatly encouraged, Lucas began pouring hours each day into the town's game during his early teens.
Lucas had become a local playground legend by age 15, in Sunset Park. Sunset Park was then a regional summer hotbed for high school, college and even some pro players. Future Cincinnati Royals teammates Wayne Embry and Oscar Robertson were visitors there. Lucas was already at almost his full-grown height of 6 ft 8 in (2.06 m) by age 15, out-playing college players with his advanced game.

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Jerry West
Jerry Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is a retired American basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames include "Mr. Clutch," for his ability to make a big play in a clutch situation, such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks; "The Logo," in reference to his silhouette being incorporated into the NBA logo; and "Zeke from Cabin Creek," after the creek near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia. Playing the small forward position early in his career, West was a standout at East Bank High School and at West Virginia University, leading the WVU Mountaineers to the 1959 NCAA championship game, earning Most Valuable Player honors despite the loss. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was the co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team in Rome, a squad that would be inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

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Jim Chones
James Bernett Chones (born November 30, 1949 in Racine, Wisconsin) is an American former professional basketball player, and current radio analyst for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
A 6'11" forward/center, Chones starred at Marquette University, where he earned All-America honors as a junior in 1972 after averaging 20.5 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. When he left Marquette to pursue an NBA career, he was only the second player in NCAA history to leave school for the NBA, before his graduating year.
Professionally, he first played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and later in the National Basketball Association. Chones won an NBA Championship as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980, and he retired from basketball in 1982 with combined ABA/NBA totals of 9,821 points and 6,427 rebounds.
After retiring from the NBA, Chones spent eleven seasons as the television color analyst for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and in 2007, returned as a radio postgame analyst. Thirty-five years after leaving Marquette, Chones returned to earn his degree in Philosophy. He was inducted into the Marquette University Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Cleveland Sports Commission Hall of Fame in 2006. In addition to his broadcasting duties with the Cavaliers, Chones has been an occasional color analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Jim Eyen
Jim Eyen is an assistant basketball coach for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA.
Eyen graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with a bachelor's degree in Communications Studies in 1979. He began his coaching career that same year as an assistant coach at Santa Barbara City College. In 1982, Eyen became head coach at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California, and an assistant coach for UC Santa Barbara in 1984.
In 1988, Eyen joined the coaching staff of the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA. The following year, he became an assistant coach of the Los Angeles Lakers under head coach Mike Dunleavy, staying on Dunleavy's staff through three more teams: the Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, and the Los Angeles Clippers.
In 2009, Eyen joined the Sacramento Kings under new head coach Paul Westphal.

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Jim Paxson
James Joseph "Jim" Paxson (born July 9, 1957 in Kettering, Ohio) is an American retired professional basketball player. A first round selection (12th overall) of the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1979 NBA Draft, Paxson played for the Portland and the Boston Celtics of the NBA from 1979-1990 and was twice an All-Star. Paxson served as general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers for six years and now works as a consultant with the Chicago Bulls where his brother John Paxson is an executive.
Paxson, a guard-forward and the son of former NBA player Jim Paxson, Sr., played college basketball at the University of Dayton. When the older Paxson tried out for the Dayton Flyers, he couldn't afford to buy athletic shoes, so athletic director Thomas Frericks loaned him a pair. Paxson was a three-time team MVP and earned All-America honors as a senior after averaging more than 23 points per game. He also averaged 17 points as a junior and 18 points as a sophomore at Dayton.
The 6-foot-6 Paxson was an NBA All-Star in 1983 and 1984. He also earned All-NBA Second Team honors in 1984 after averaging 21 points per game. He spent nine seasons with Portland (1979-1988) and, after being traded to Boston in February 1988, spent two full seasons with Boston (1988-1990). When he was traded from Portland, he left as the team's all-time leading scorer.

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Jimmer Fredette
James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette (born February 25, 1989) is an American professional basketball player with the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. He gained national fame during his collegiate career at Brigham Young University, where he was the leading scorer in all of NCAA Division I basketball during his senior season and earned every major National Player of the Year honor, including the Wooden Award, the Naismith Award, the Adolph Rupp Trophy, and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Fredette is a native of Glens Falls, New York.
James Taft Fredette was born in Glens Falls, New York to parents Al and Kay Fredette, as the youngest of three children. His mother wanted to call him something unique and nicknamed him "Jimmer".
From his early childhood, Jimmer showed unusual dedication to athletics. His older brother TJ recalled, "He was the most determined, competitive four-year-old I had ever seen." TJ helped Jimmer train for his basketball career since before kindergarten. He regularly played with TJ, seven years older, and TJ's friends on the family's backyard court. Fredette was able to hit three-pointers at age 5, and developed moves to get around his larger opponents. TJ also remembered that his brother "willed himself to find ways to win, even if he was physically outmatched. From the time he was 10, I was telling everybody he was going to make the NBA."

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Jimmy Hull
James R. "Jimmy" Hull (c. 1917 – November 2, 1991) was an American basketball forward who led the Ohio State Buckeyes to the championship game in the first-ever NCAA Basketball Tournament. The Buckeyes finished the season with a 16–7 record, and lost to the Oregon Ducks in the finals. Hull was named the Most Outstanding Player of that first tournament.
Hull was a two-year starter for the Buckeyes. As a senior and captain of the 1938–1939 team he was the leading scorer in the Big Ten Conference and was a consensus All-America selection.
In 1977 Hull was inducted as a charter member of the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Rocky Mountain Orthodontics Dentist Athletic Hall of Fame.

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Joakim Noah
Joakim Simon Noah (

/ˈdʒoʊ.ə.kɪm/ JOH-ə-kim; born February 25, 1985) is a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Born in New York City to a Swedish mother and French father, he holds American, Swedish and French citizenship. He played college basketball for the University of Florida, and was a key member of the Florida Gators' starting five that won two consecutive NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournaments in 2006 and 2007. In 2007, the Chicago Bulls selected Noah in the first round (ninth pick overall) in the 2007 NBA Draft.
Noah was born in New York City in 1985 to French singer and former professional tennis player Yannick Noah, and Cécilia Rodhe, Miss Sweden 1978. His paternal grandfather Zacharie Noah was a Cameroonian professional soccer player, winner of the Coupe de France in 1961. Noah lived in Paris, France from 1988 to 1998 and returned to New York City at age 13.
He competed on basketball teams at several high schools: the United Nations International School, Poly Prep, and The Lawrenceville School.

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Joby Wright
Joseph (Joby) Wright (born September 5, 1950) is an American former college and professional basketball player who was men's basketball head coach at Miami University and at the University of Wyoming.
He attended High School in Savannah, Georgia and played college basketball at Indiana University where he later became an assistant coach to Bob Knight. He was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2nd round (5th pick, 18th overall) of the 1972 NBA draft and played five seasons with teams in the NBA and the ABA.

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Joe Fulks
Joseph Franklin "Jumping Joe" Fulks (October 26, 1921 - March 21, 1976) was an American professional basketball player, sometimes called "the first of the high-scoring forwards". He was one of the first players, albeit posthumously, enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978. The 63 points Fulks scored on February 10, 1949, was the most in an NBA game (then called the Basketball Association of America) until Elgin Baylor scored 64 points on November 8, 1959. Fulks' 63-point outburst came during a Warriors 108-87 victory over the Indianapolis Jets. Fulks made 27 of 56 field goal attempts and nine of 14 free throws. Along the way he shattered the record for most points in one half (33), field goals, and field goal attempts.
Fulks was born in Birmingham, Kentucky, a small town in the state's far-western Purchase region that was inundated in the 1940s after the Tennessee Valley Authority dammed the Tennessee River to create Kentucky Lake. He played college ball at Murray State University for two years before leaving school to join the Marines.

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Joe Tait
Joseph "Joe" Tait (born May 15, 1937) is an American sports broadcaster, who called the radio play by play for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA. With the exception of two seasons in the early 1980s and illness in 2010-11, he has been the Cavaliers' radio announcer since the team's inception in 1970. He won the Basketball Hall of Fame 2010 Curt Gowdy Media Award.
Tait was born in Evanston, Illinois. He attended in Monmouth College in western Illinois, where he began his radio career. He did various jobs, including play-by-play on the college radio station (WRAM), sports reports, and operations manager. He graduated in 1959. After college, Tait spent three years in the United States Army Security Agency.
After the Army, Tait bounced around, spending time in Decatur, Illinois. He taught sportscasting at Ohio University from 1966 to 1968, served as the network voice of Indiana University football, and was the pre-game host for the Indiana Pacers in 1969.
In 1970, Tait began his longtime association with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were in their first year of existence. The games were broadcast on WERE for the first two years. After then-owner Nick Mileti, who also owned the Cleveland Indians, bought radio station WWWE in 1972, the radio broadcasts for both teams were moved from WERE to WWWE. Tait was the radio announcer for the Indians from 1973 through 1979 along with Herb Score, and their TV announcer with a variety of partners from 1980 through 1987.

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John Kotz
John Kotz (March 27, 1919—May 8, 1999) was an American collegiate basketball player and early professional, best known as the Most Outstanding Player of the 1941 NCAA Tournament as a member of the Wisconsin Badgers.
Kotz, a 6'3 forward from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1940 to 1943. As a sophomore, Kotz led the Badgers to the 1941 NCAA Championship and was named tournament Most Outstanding Player. He was an All-American in 1942 and 1943. Kotz left Wisconsin as the school's leading scorer.
He was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.
After his standout career, he played professionally for the Sheboygan Red Skins of the National Basketball League in the 1945-46 season.

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John Lucas II
John Harding Lucas II (born October 31, 1953 in Durham, North Carolina) is a retired American professional basketball player.
Lucas attended the University of Maryland where he was an all-American in basketball, and also in tennis. Lucas was a Second-team All-American for the excellent Terrapins team in 1973 - 74, along with his teammates Len Elmore and Tom McMillen. The Terrapins has a record of 23 - 5 in the regular season, and 9 - 3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). However, they lost during the ACC Tournament, and they could not go to the NCAA Tournament. Elmore and McMillan graduated in 1974, but in the following 1974 - 75 season, Lucas was a First-team All-American. The Terrapins recorded a 24 - 5 regular season record, 10 - 2 in the ACC, and they won the ACC regular season crown. However, they lost to NC State in the semifinals of the ACC tournament. The NCAA tournament, however, had been expanded to include 32 teams. Also, for the first time, more than one team per conference was allowed into the tournament. Maryland gained entry and advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to Louisville.

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John Salmons
John Rashall Salmons (born December 12, 1979, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. He played college basketball at the University of Miami.
Salmons was a member of a Pennsylvania high school state championship team while at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School in 1997, where he reached the 1,000 point club. He went on to play college basketball at the University of Miami, in Florida.
Salmons was drafted out of the University of Miami, with the 26th overall selection by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2002 NBA Draft. He was then immediately traded with Mark Bryant and rights to Randy Holcomb for Speedy Claxton to the Philadelphia 76ers for whom he played through the 2006 season, averaging 4.1 points per game.
Salmons was set to be acquired by the Toronto Raptors on July 13, 2006, in a sign-and-trade deal with Philadelphia. On July 21, 2006, however, there were reports that Salmons was having second thoughts about going to Toronto, and the sign and trade to Toronto was canceled.

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Johnny Bach
John William (Johnny) Bach (born July 10, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former professional basketball player and coach. A 6'2" forward/guard, Bach played collegiately at Fordham University and Brown. He was selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1948 Basketball Association of America (BAA) Draft, and played 24 games for the Celtics.
In 1950 he became one of the nation's youngest head coaches at a major college when he took over the coaching job at Fordham. He spent 18 years there, taking seven Ram teams to post-season tourneys, before starting a long and successful coaching career at Penn State, where he joined three former Brown friends - Rip Engle, Joe Paterno, and Joe McMullen.
Bach would later coach the Golden State Warriors for over three years. He served as an interim coach briefly in 1980, and then as the full-time coach from 1983 to 1986.
In 1986, Bach joined the Chicago Bulls as an assistant. After the team won three straight championships from 1991 to 1993, Bach moved on to coaching jobs with the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards. He returned to the Bulls in 2003, and retired in 2006.

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José Vargas
José Vargas (born June 23, 1963) is a Dominican former basketball player. He played for Louisiana State University, and was drafted in the second round of the 1988 National Basketball Association Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. He never played in the NBA, though, instead leaving to play in the Italian league.

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Juan Dixon
Juan Dixon (born October 9, 1978) is an American professional basketball player. Dixon led the University of Maryland Terrapins to their first NCAA championship in 2002 and earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the 2002 Final Four.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Dixon played high school basketball at Calvert Hall College High School in Baltimore and scored 1,590 career points under the tutelage of head coach Mark Amatucci. Both his mother, Juanita, and father, Phil, were heroin addicts, and died of AIDS-related illnesses before Dixon was 17 years old. He was then raised by his grandparents Roberta and Warnick Graves in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Kaleb Canales
Kaleb Canales (born July 7, 1978) is an American basketball coach and the current interim head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA.
Born in Laredo, Texas, Canales is a graduate of John B. Alexander High School. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a degree in kinesiology. He later earned a master's degree in sports leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Canales began his coaching career as an assistant coach at United High School and Martin High School, both in Laredo, and then at the college level at Texas-Arlington.
In 2005, Canales was hired as a video intern for the Portland Trail Blazers, and was eventually hired as the team's video coordinator. In 2009, he was promoted to an assistant coach for the team. In 2010, Canales served as the Blazers' head coach during the NBA Summer League. He was promoted to interim head coach of the Trail Blazers after head coach Nate McMillan was dismissed on March 15, 2012. Canales became the youngest active head coach in the NBA and the first Mexican-American coach in NBA history.

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Keith Smart
Jonathan Keith Smart (born September 21, 1964) is a retired American basketball player and the current head coach for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. He is best remembered for hitting the game-winning shot in the 1987 NCAA championship game. The shot gave the Indiana Hoosiers a 74–73 victory over the Syracuse Orangemen. He transferred to Indiana from Garden City Community College in Kansas where he was a two-year standout and Jayhawk Conference Player of the Year.
After two seasons at Indiana, Smart was signed by the San Antonio Spurs, with whom he played two games in the 1988–89 season. Smart later played in the Philippines, with the San Miguel Beermen of the PBA, in the 1989 Reinforced Conference, where he played through an injury and was eventually replaced by Ennis Whatley after only five games. After the PBA, he played in the World Basketball League: first with the Worcester Counts in 1989–90. He then played for the Youngstown Pride and was traded to the Halifax Windjammers in March 1991. Smart later played in the Continental Basketball Association with the Florida Beachdogs (1995-96) and Fort Wayne Fury (1996-97). He also played two seasons in France, and one in Venezuela.

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Kemba Walker
Kemba Hudley Walker (born May 8, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Bobcats. Walker grew up in The Bronx, New York and graduated from Rice High School in 2008. With the Huskies basketball team at the University of Connecticut, Walker was the 2nd leading college basketball scorer in the United States and helped his team win the 2011 NCAA tournament. In the 2011 NBA Draft, Walker was drafted ninth overall by the Bobcats.
In his junior year, Walker played against Simeon Career Academy and senior guard Derrick Rose in Madison Square Garden in a 53–51 win. During Walker's senior year he averaged 18.2 points per game and 5.3 assists per game, earning him a spot on the prestigious McDonald's All-American Team. Walker played for the New York Gauchos AAU basketball program with fellow Big East players Jordan Theodore, Darryl "Truck" Bryant, Devin Hill, and Danny Jennings. The team went on to finish #1 in the nation. Following high school he agreed to play for the University of Connecticut.

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Ken Sailors
Kenneth L. Sailors (born January 14, 1921 in Bushnell, Nebraska) is an American former professional basketball player. A 5-foot-10-inch (1.78 m) guard, he is notable for popularizing the jump shot as an alternative to the two-handed, flat-footed set shot.
Sailors grew up on a farm south of Hillsdale, Wyoming, where he developed his effective jump shot while playing against his 6'4" older brother Bud. He eventually brought his skills to the University of Wyoming, and in 1943 he led the Cowboys to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Sailors was named the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player for his efforts. He was the unanimous selection as College Basketball Player of the Year in 1943. He would earn the honor again in 1946. Sailors was the only player in the history of Wyoming Cowboys basketball to be selected as an All-American three times. He earned the honors in 1942, 1943 and 1946.
From 1946 to 1951, Sailors played professionally in the BAA and NBA as a member of the Cleveland Rebels, Chicago Stags, Philadelphia Warriors, Providence Steamrollers, Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics, and Baltimore Bullets. He scored 3,480 points in his professional career. Sailors was inducted into the University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame on October 29, 1993. In 2012, Sailors was named to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

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Kenny Natt
Kenneth (known Ken or Kenny) Wayne Natt (born October 5, 1958) is a retired American professional basketball player and ex-interim head coach for the NBA's Sacramento Kings. He was a 6'3" 185 lb (84 kg) guard and played collegiately at Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana-Monroe) and had a three-year NBA playing career. After serving as an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2004 to 2007, Natt was named to the coaching staff of newly-appointed Kings head coach and former Kansas City Kings teammate Reggie Theus in 2007. He was subsequently named interim head coach on the firing of Theus, but he himself was fired on April 24, 2009, after the Kings finished with an NBA season-low 17 wins.
Kenny Natt was selected with the 7th pick of the second round (30th overall) in the 1980 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers. He played for three different teams until the 1984–85 season.
Outside of his NBA career, he played for seven total teams in the CBA and the WBL.
Natt was an assistant coach for the Utah Jazz under Jerry Sloan for nine years until joining the Cleveland Cavaliers' coaching staff in 2004. He has also coached in the CBA and the Canadian NBL with the Cape Breton Breakers, and worked as an assistant coach at Youngstown State University and as a player scout for the Jazz and for the WBL. In 2011, he became the head coach of the India national basketball team.

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Kent Benson
Michael Kent Benson (born December 27, 1954 in New Castle, Indiana) is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player.
Kent Benson attended New Castle Chrysler High School, located in New Castle, Indiana, home of the New Castle Trojans. He was named Indiana's "Mr. Basketball" in 1973.
Kent attended Indiana University, located in Bloomington, Indiana, where he played college basketball for coach Bobby Knight. As a freshman, Benson averaged 9.3 points per game, while shooting 50.4 percent. He helped lead Indiana to the CCAT Championship, and onto a 23-5 record and a Big Ten title.
In his sophomore season, Kent Benson helped lead the Hoosiers to an undefeated conference record (18-0) and onto an Elite Eight appearance, where they lost their only game on the season to Kentucky. Helping lead the team to a 31-1 record on the season, he averaged 15 points and 8.9 rebounds a game.
With seniors Quinn Buckner and Scott May, he led Indiana to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship in the 1975-76 season. That season, they were undefeated throughout the entire regular and post season. That team was the last Division I Men's Basketball team to accomplish that feat. He averaged 17.3 points and 8.8 rebounds a game on the season with his college season high of 57.8 percent from the field. He scored his career high of 38 points against Michigan State.

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Kevin Edwards
Kevin Durell Edwards (born October 30, 1965, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio) is a retired American professional basketball player who currently serves as DePaul University men's basketball team's director of community, corporate, and professional relations. Edwards was selected by the Miami Heat with the 20th overall pick of the 1988 NBA Draft. Edwards was the second ever draft pick in Miami Heat history, behind teammate Rony Seikaly who was selected as the 9th pick in the same draft.
He played in 11 NBA seasons for the Heat, New Jersey Nets, Orlando Magic and Vancouver Grizzlies. Edwards best year as a pro came during the 1993-94 season as a member of the Nets, appearing in all 82 games and averaging 14.0 ppg. He had the most points in all of his seasons with the Nets. In his NBA career, Edwards scored a total of 6,596 points in 604 games. He retired as a member of the Grizzlies in 2001. He has a wife and three children.
He played collegiately at DePaul University and Lakeland Community College (in Kirtland, Ohio).

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Kyle Singler
Kyle Edward Singler (born May 4, 1988) is a professional basketball player for Real Madrid in Spain. He was a four-year starter for the Duke men's basketball team and was instrumental in their 2010 NCAA Championship run, earning MVP of the Final Four. In the 2011 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons selected Singler in the second round with the overall 33rd pick.
Singler attended South Medford High School and was ranked as the fourth best college recruit in the nation from the class of 2007. In high school, he averaged 29.3 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game as a senior.
In 2007, Singler led South Medford to its first-ever state basketball championship, winning 58–54 over defending champion Lake Oswego and national standout Kevin Love. A year earlier, Love and Lake Oswego had defeated Singler and South Medford for the state championship.
Singler was a member of the Legends AAU team, along with former UCLA player Kevin Love, and participated in many prestigious all-American camps, including the Nike All-American Camp (Indianapolis), the Nike Peach Jam (Augusta), and the Main Event (Las Vegas). In 2006 Singler played against Brandon Jennings in the championship game of The Les Schwab Invitational. Singler was also named to the 2006 U18 USA Junior National team, alongside fellow top prospects Michael Beasley, Jerryd Bayless, and 2006 star recruit Spencer Hawes. Singler is also one of eight players featured in Gunnin' for That #1 Spot, a 2008 documentary directed by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys which was filmed in 2006.

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Larry Drew
Larry Donnell Drew (born April 2, 1958) is an American basketball coach and the current head coach of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association. He is also a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the 1st round (17th overall) of the 1980 NBA Draft. A 6'1" point guard from the University of Missouri, Drew played in 10 NBA seasons. He played for the Pistons, Kansas City/Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers. In 1988–89, Drew played in the Italian League with Scavolini.
In his NBA career, Drew played in 714 games and scored a total of 8,110 points. His best year as a professional came during the 1982–83 season as a member of the Kings, appearing in 75 games and averaging 20.1 points, 8.1 assists and 1.7 steals per contest.
Before becoming the head coach, Drew was an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks from 2004 to 2010. He had also previously served as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers (starting in the 1992–93 season), Detroit Pistons (1999–2000), Washington Wizards (2000–2003) and New Jersey Nets (2003–2004).

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Larry Nance
Larry Donnell Nance (born February 12, 1959 in Anderson, South Carolina) is a retired American professional basketball player. A 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) power forward/center from Clemson University, Nance played thirteen seasons (1981–1994) in the NBA as a member of the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nance scored 15,687 career points and grabbed 7,352 career rebounds, but he is perhaps best known as the first winner of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 1984, earning him the nickname "The High-Ayatolla of Slamola". Nance was a model of consistency throughout his NBA career. He averaged over 16 points and 8 rebounds per game for all eleven seasons as a starter. His best scoring average year was in the 1986–1987 NBA season, where he averaged 22.5 points per game. Always among the highest in field goal percentage, Nance was an excellent mid-range shooter as well as a talented inside player.
Nance was involved in a trade between the Suns and the Cavaliers in 1988. Nance's stint in Phoenix came to an end on Feb. 25, 1988, when, with the Suns struggling to a 16–35 mark, he was traded with Mike Sanders and Detroit's No. 1 pick in 1988 (used to pick Randolph Keys) to Cleveland for Kevin Johnson, Mark West, Tyrone Corbin and Cleveland's first (used for Dan Majerle) and second round (used for Dean Garrett) picks in 1988 and the Lakers' second round pick in 1989.

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Larry Riley
Larry Riley, who has 23 years of experience in the NBA, is the Director of Scouting for the Golden State Warriors. He was formerly the team's General Manager, but was replaced by Bob Myers on April 24, 2012.
A graduate of Chadron State with an honors degree in education, Riley was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993. He received a master's degree in education from Southeast Missouri State.
Larry and his wife, Renae, have two children, Ryan and Ashlee and live in Dallas, Texas.

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Larry Staverman
Larry Joseph Staverman (October 11, 1936 – July 12, 2007) was an American professional basketball player and coach. A 6' 7" forward from Villa Madonna College (now known as Thomas More College), Staverman was drafted in the 9th round of the 1958 NBA Draft by the Cincinnati Royals. He had a five-year career as a player in the NBA, with the Royals, the Chicago Zephyrs/Baltimore Bullets, and the Detroit Pistons.
Staverman would later serve as the first coach of the American Basketball Association's Indiana Pacers, and with the NBA's Kansas City Kings.

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Lawrence Frank
Lawrence Frank (born August 23, 1970, in New York City) is an American basketball coach for the Detroit Pistons. He formerly served as the head coach of the NBA's New Jersey Nets and as an assistant coach of the Boston Celtics.
Frank earned his B.S. in education from Indiana University in 1992, where he spent four seasons as a manager for the Hoosier basketball team led by Bob Knight. During his time at Indiana the Hoosiers twice won a Big Ten Conference championship, once in the 1988–1989 season and again in the 1990-91 season. His senior year, during the 1991-92 season, Indiana reached the 1992 NCAA Final Four, but fell to Duke in a foul-plagued game in Minneapolis.
Frank frequently cites Knight as a role model and mentor. Asked what he learned most of Knight, he said, "It's more of what he stood for. If you work hard and are trustworthy it will carry you a long way. Master your subject manner, have confidence, be reliable and sincere. He is a great mentor and teacher to have at age 18. With him you started at the bottom and were given nothing. Everything you got, you earned – sweat equity."

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LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James (/ləˈbrɒn/; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he was a three-time "Mr. Basketball" of Ohio in high school, and was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar while a sophomore at St. Vincent – St. Mary High School. He was selected with the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Listed as a small forward, James has set numerous youngest player records since joining the league. He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003–04, was named the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2009, 2010, and 2012 and has been both an All-NBA selection and an All-Star every season since 2005. In 2010, a much-publicized free agency process ended with James signing with the Miami Heat.
James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to consecutive playoff appearances from 2006 through 2010. In 2007, the Cavaliers advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, but lost to the San Antonio Spurs. In 2011, James and the Miami Heat advanced to the NBA Finals but lost to the Dallas Mavericks. James has been a member of the USA national team, winning a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and gold at the 2008 Olympics.

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Ledell Eackles
Ledell Eackles (born November 24, 1966, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Washington Bullets in the second round (36th overall pick) of the 1988 NBA Draft. Eackles played in seven NBA seasons for the Bullets, Miami Heat and Washington Wizards, averaging 10.8 ppg in his career. His best season came during 1989–90 when he appeared in 78 games for the Bullets averaging 13.5 points.
Eackles played college basketball at the University of New Orleans and prepped at Broadmoor High School in Baton Rouge.
One of Eackles' sons, Ledell Eackles Jr., won two state championships at Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge and went on to play college basketball for Campbell College. Another son, Ledrick, currently plays basketball at McNeese State after transferring from Oakland University.

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Lenny Wilkens
Leonard Randolph "Lenny" Wilkens (born October 28, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) is a retired American basketball player and coach in the NBA. He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and as part of the US Olympic "The Dream Team" for whom he was an assistant coach.
He is only three victories behind Don Nelson for most career regular season wins as an NBA coach, with 1332, but he has five more playoff wins than Nelson.
Wilkens grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father was African American and his mother was Irish. Wilkens was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.
At Boys High School, Wilkens was a basketball teammate of longtime Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis.
Wilkens was a two-time All-American (1959 and 1960) at Providence College. He led the team to their first NIT appearance in 1959, and to the NIT finals in 1960. When he graduated, Wilkens was, with 1,193 points, the second-ranked scorer in Friar history (he has since dropped to twentieth as of 2005). In 1996, Wilkens' No. 14 jersey was retired by the college, the first alumnus to receive such an honor.

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Lester Harrison
Lester "Les" Harrison (August 20, 1904 – December 23, 1997) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and team owner and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Upon his graduation from East High School in Rochester, New York, in 1923, Harrison began playing, coaching, and organizing semi-professional basketball, working for the Rochester Seagrams and later the Rochester Ebers.
In 1945, with his brother Joseph (Jack), Harrison founded his own semi-pro team, the Rochester Pros; in 1946, the franchise changed its name to Royals and began play in the National Basketball League (NBL). Harrison coached the NBL iteration of his team for three years, leading the Royals to three straight NBL finals (of which the team won one, over the Sheboygan Red Skins in 1946) and amassing a record of 99 wins and 43 losses. In 1946, Harrison, as team owner, signed Long Island University standout Dolly King; King became the first African-American to have played in the league since 1943 and the first to see substantial playing time for his team.

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Lionel Hollins
Lionel Eugene Hollins (born October 19, 1953) is a retired American professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association.
During his ten-year NBA career playing as a point guard he played for five teams, averaging 11.6 points and 4.5 assists per game.
Drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers with the sixth pick of the 1975 NBA Draft out of Arizona State University, Hollins was bestowed All-Rookie first team honors that season, averaging 10.8 points in 78 games for the Blazers. Prior to his two seasons at Arizona State, he played two years at Dixie Community College in St. George, Utah.
He was a member of Portland's 1976–77 National Basketball Association championship team, and made his only All-Star Game appearance one year later. He was a member of the NBA All-Defensive team twice, in 1978 and 1979.
Prior to his head coaching career, Hollins served as an assistant coach at Arizona State in the 1985–86 season and again in the 1987–88 season. He then served as an assistant for the Phoenix Suns under head coaches Cotton Fitzsimmons and Paul Westphal from 1988 to 1995.

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Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
Johnson's career achievements include three NBA MVP Awards, nine NBA Finals appearances, twelve All-Star games, and ten All-NBA First and Second Team nominations. He led the league in regular-season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game, at 11.2. Johnson was a member of the "Dream Team", the U.S. basketball team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1992.

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Maloof family
The Maloof family owns numerous business properties in the Western United States. The origin of the family name is Maalouf and is of Lebanese descent; the family is Lebanese via their paternal grandfather. Originally from New Mexico, the Maloof's success really began with the distributing rights of Coors Beer in the Southwest region of the US in 1937. It was from this highly successful distribution service that the family was able to expand their "empire" . The Maloofs are the owners of the Sacramento Kings of the NBA (and their home stadium, Power Balance Pavilion, formerly known as ARCO Arena). The family consists of George J. Maloof, Sr., his wife Colleen, and their children: Adrienne Maloof-Nassif, Joe Maloof, Gavin Maloof, George J. Maloof, Jr., and Phil Maloof.
The family owns a sports franchise in the Sacramento, California market—the NBA's Sacramento Kings. They acquired a minority interest in the Kings in 1998 and took majority control the following year, with Joe and Gavin operating the franchise. As part of the purchase of the Kings, they also acquired the team's sister franchise in the WNBA, the Sacramento Monarchs. The Maloofs operated the Monarchs until 2009, when the WNBA was unable to find a new owner and the team folded.

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Mario Chalmers
Almario Vernard "Mario" Chalmers (born May 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the NBA. He was selected 34th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Chalmers played for the University of Kansas in college for three seasons, including the 2007–08 national championship team, hitting a dramatic three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to send the game against the Memphis Tigers into overtime, with Kansas eventually winning the game.
In the 2006–2007 Big 12 Coaches Awards, Chalmers was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year with Marcus Dove of Oklahoma State. Chalmers was also voted on the All Big 12 Third Team, and the All Big 12 Defensive Team.
In the 2007–2008 season, Chalmers was named Big 12 All-Defensive First Team and All Big 12 Second Team. He was also named Most Outstanding Player of the 2008 NCAA Championship.
Chalmers attended Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Alaska. Chalmers was named 4A State Player of the Year three times in a row, joining Trajan Langdon as the only other player to do so. Chalmers also led his school to two state championships in 2002 and 2003, and a runner up finish in 2004.

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Mark Price
William Mark Price (born February 15, 1964 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma) is a retired American basketball player who played for 12 seasons in the NBA, from 1986 to 1998. Spending the majority of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, his last three years consisted of one season each with the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, and Orlando Magic.
The 6-foot (183 cm) Price played college basketball at Georgia Tech. During his time playing on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball team, he was a two-time All American and four-time All ACC basketball player who helped lead the Yellow Jackets to an ACC Championship his junior year by defeating North Carolina in the ACC Tournament championship game. He was named the ACC Most Valuable Player for the 1984-85 season and his jersey was retired. A point guard, he mystified critics who said he was too slow, too small and too deliberate for a high-level game. Selected first in the second round (25th overall) by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1986 NBA Draft, he was acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a draft day trade that helped turn the team into an Eastern Conference power.

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Marvin Huffman
Marvin "Marv" Huffman (1917–1983) was an American basketball player.
A 6'2" forward, Huffman starred at New Castle High School in Indiana, where he started every game for four years. He then played collegiately at Indiana University, leading the Hoosiers to the 1940 NCAA Championship. After scoring a team-high 12 points in the deciding game over the University of Kansas, Huffman received the second-ever NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player award and earned Converse First Team All-American honors.
Huffman later had a brief professional career with the Akron Wingfoots of the National Basketball League, a forerunner to the NBA. During the 1940-41 NBL season, he averaged 5.1 points in 22 games.
Huffman was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Indiana University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989.

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Mateen Cleaves
Mateen Ahmad Cleaves (born September 7, 1977 in Flint, Michigan) is an American former professional basketball player who played in six NBA seasons. He is currently a music talent manager and an analyst on the television program Inside College Basketball on CBS Sports Network.
Cleaves is best remembered for his career with the Michigan State University Spartans (MSU).
He was a heavily recruited high school athlete. His recruiting trip with the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team touched off a major scandal after he was a passenger in a rollover accident. Cleaves eventually agreed to attend Michigan State University, the University of Michigan's in-state rival.
Cleaves, a three-time Michigan State University captain, led the Spartans to the 2000 national championship, and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
The school's only three-time All-American, Cleaves was named Big Ten Player of the Year twice. He led MSU and the conference in career assists with 816, and is Michigan State's all-time steals leader (193). In his final home game on senior night in East Lansing, Cleaves dished out 20 assists, breaking the Big Ten single-game and career assist marks.

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Maurice Stokes
Maurice Stokes (June 17, 1933 – April 6, 1970) was an American professional basketball player in the 1950s, whose career was cut short by a debilitating injury. He was born in Rankin, Pennsylvania and graduated from Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania in 1955.
Playing for the National Basketball Association's Rochester Royals (which became the Cincinnati Royals in 1957) from 1955 to 1958, Stokes grabbed 38 rebounds in a single game during his rookie season, averaged 16.3 rebounds per game overall, and was named NBA Rookie of the Year. The next season, he set a league record for most rebounds in a single season with 1,256 (17.4 per game). Stokes played in the All-Star Game all three years of his career, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team three times. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in September 2004.
On March 12, 1958 in the last game of the 1957–58 NBA season, in Minneapolis, Stokes drove to the basket, drew contact and fell to the floor, hit his head, and was knocked unconscious. He was revived with smelling salts and returned to the game. Three days later, after a 12-point, 15-rebound performance in an opening-round playoff game at Detroit against the Pistons, Stokes became ill on the team's flight back to Cincinnati; "I feel like I'm going to die," he told a teammate. Stokes reported feeling ill during the flight back to Cincinnati; he later suffered a seizure, fell into a coma and was left permanently paralyzed. In the end, he was diagnosed with "post-traumatic encephalopathy, a brain injury that damaged his motor control center."

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Micheal Williams
Micheal Douglas Williams (born July 23, 1966 in Dallas, Texas) is a retired American professional basketball player at the point guard position in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Out of Baylor University, Williams was selected with the 48th overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons with whom he played 49 games in his rookie season, averaging 2.4 points and 1.4 assists per game. The Pistons won the NBA championship in his rookie year.
Williams was traded by Detroit to the Phoenix Suns on draft day of 1991, along with the Pistons' first-round draft pick (27th overall) of the 1989 NBA Draft, Kenny Battle, in exchange for the Suns' first-round draft choice (24th overall pick), Anthony Cook. That season was spent split between the Phoenix Suns and the Charlotte Hornets averaging 5.6 points and 2.9 assists per game, before being acquired by the Indiana Pacers in 1990.
He thrived during his two seasons in Indiana, averaging 13.2 points, 6.5 assists and shooting 87.5% from the free-throw line. Prior to the 1992–93 season, he was traded along with Chuck Person to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Sam Mitchell and Pooh Richardson. He continued his solid play in Minnesota for the following two seasons but, due to various injuries, in his final four years with the Wolves he participated in just 35 games (including missing the entire 1996–97 season). On January 21, 1999 Minnesota traded him, along with Zeljko Rebraca, to the Toronto Raptors in a three-team deal. By then, Williams' career was on the decline, and he only played two games for the Raptors before retiring that year.

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Mike Fratello
Michael Robert "Mike" Fratello (born February 24, 1947) is an American color analyst and a professional basketball coach. He previously coached the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA, and is currently the head coach of the Ukraine national basketball team. Mike Fratello is among the winningest head coaches in NBA history, ranking 18th in both all-time regular season wins (667) and games coached (1,215).
Fratello was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, and he graduated from Hackensack High School, where he was captain of the basketball, baseball, football and field hockey teams. He was named to the Bergen "All County" Football team as a center in his senior year. He then went on to Montclair State College in Montclair, New Jersey to play football. Upon graduation he returned to Hackensack H.S. as an assistant for both the basketball and football teams. Fratello then went on to the University of Rhode Island as a graduate assistant assigned to head coach Tom Carmody, also coaching the U.R.I. freshman basketball team. He had been a college basketball assistant at James Madison University under Lou Campanelli and served as an assistant for Rollie Massimino at Villanova before going to the NBA as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks during Hubie Brown's tenure.

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Mike Montgomery
Mike Montgomery (born February 27, 1947) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach of the California Golden Bears men's basketball team. He was also the men's basketball coach at Stanford from 1986 to 2004 and at the University of Montana for eight seasons prior to coaching at Stanford. He also coached the Golden State Warriors of the NBA from 2004 to 2006.
Montgomery compiled a 547–244 (.692) overall record in 18 years at Stanford (1986–2004) and eight seasons at the University of Montana (1978–1986). He boasts 25 winning seasons in his 26 years as a head coach at both Stanford and Montana. Montgomery's Stanford teams reached the NCAA tournament ten straight times from 1995 to 2004. Stanford reached the Final Four under Montgomery in 1998, the school's first Final Four appearance in 56 years. He made his third appearance along the USA Basketball sidelines in 2002 when he was named an assistant under George Karl for the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship.

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Mike Woodson
Michael Dean "Mike" Woodson (born March 24, 1958) is a retired American basketball player and current head coach of the New York Knicks.
Growing up in Indiana, Woodson felt the Hoosier Hysteria which permeated the state helped prepare him for a career in basketball. He said, "Every yard had courts, little basketball hoops in the yard. If you didn't have it, you had neighbors two doors down that had it. You had parks in every area of town where you could go get a pickup game. Had rec centers where you could go play. It was a place to go learn your craft." He was also able to practice with a large number of talented basketball players in the Indianapolis area, including professionals such as George McGinnis, Roger Brown, and Rick Mount. According to Woodson, playing in Indiana meant "you had to be able to pass, and shoot, and dribble, and play without the basketball, you know, the motion offense. That was Indiana basketball. And Bob Knight is the one who really instilled a lot of the fundamentals and how high school coaches taught their teams."

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Miles Simon
Miles Julian Simon (born November 21, 1975 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a retired American professional basketball player.
Simon was born in Stockholm to an American father and a Norwegian mother. He played guard for the University of Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team, where he formed a formidable backcourt duo with future NBA point guard Mike Bibby. He won the Most Outstanding Player award in the 1997 NCAA Tournament in which Arizona defeated the University of Kentucky in overtime to win the national championship.
After college, Simon played briefly with the Orlando Magic of the NBA. He played for two seasons for the Dakota Wizards of the CBA, whom he led to a CBA championship in 2002. Simon earned enough awards and honors in 2001–2002 to make him the most decorated player in CBA history. He received honors as Player of the Week four times. He was named the CBA Newcomer of the Year, the CBA MVP, and the Playoff MVP. He also holds the CBA record for most free throws made in a row at 60.
In 2005, Simon was announced as an assistant coach under his collegiate head coach Lute Olson at his alma mater and served until May 2008, when it was announced by the Arizona athletics department that his coaching contract would not be renewed.

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Mitch Richmond
Mitchell James "Mitch" Richmond (born June 30, 1965 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played collegiately at Kansas State University. He was a 6-time NBA All-Star, a 5-time All-NBA Team member and a former NBA Rookie of the Year. In 976 NBA games, Richmond averaged 21.0 points per game and 3.5 assists per game. His nicknames include "The Rock." #2 has been retired in his honor by the Sacramento Kings, for whom he played seven seasons. He was on the cover of video game NBA Live 97. Richmond is now a scout for the Golden State Warriors, for whom he played from 1988 to 1991.
Richmond was drafted 5th overall in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, following two years at Kansas State, where he averaged 20 points per game, and two years at Moberly Junior College in Missouri.
Richmond captured the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in the 1988–89 season, after averaging 22 points per game for the Warriors. He was a key part of Don Nelson's fast-paced offense, which was dubbed "Run TMC" after the first names of its three main components, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin, respectively. The trio were named after the influential rap group Run DMC. In addition to the shooting he provided, he complemented Hardaway's passing and fast break skills and Mullin's shooting skills by slashing to the hoop as part of the Warriors' attack.

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Monty Williams
Tavares Montgomery (Monty) Williams, Jr. (born October 8, 1971, in Fredericksburg, Virginia) is a retired American professional basketball player and current head coach for the New Orleans Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
A 6'8" small forward from the University of Notre Dame, Williams was an NBA first-round pick despite a pre-existing heart condition. He was selected by the New York Knicks in the first round (24th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft. Williams played in 9 NBA seasons from 1994 to 2003. He played for the Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers.
In his NBA career, Williams played in 456 games and scored a total of 2,884 points. On April 8, 1997, he scored a career high 30 points as a member of the Spurs against the Denver Nuggets.
In 2005, Williams was hired by new head coach Nate McMillan as an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. On June 7, 2010, Williams was offered a three-year contract to be the head coach of the New Orleans Hornets.

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Morlon Wiley
Morlon David Wiley (born September 24, 1966 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic.
Wiley played college basketball at Long Beach State, where he was a four-year starter for the 49ers. In 1988, he was an all-Big West Conference pick, and his leadership led to the school's first NIT appearance. In his college career, he scored 30 points on six occasions, is third on the all-time list in assists with 425, second in steals with 187, and fourth in free throw percentage with .780. He was inducted into the 49ers' Hall of Fame in 2005.

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Nate Archibald
Nathaniel "Tiny" Archibald (born September 2, 1948, New York City) is a retired American professional basketball player. He spent 14 years playing in the NBA, most notably with the Kansas City Kings and Boston Celtics.
Archibald was a willing passer and an adequate shooter from midrange. However, it was his quickness and speed and shiftiness that made him difficult to guard in the open court, as he would regularly drive past defenders on his way to the basket.
Archibald, a playground legend while growing up in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in the South Bronx, New York City, only played high school basketball for one-and-a-half seasons, and was cut from the varsity squad at DeWitt Clinton High School as a sophomore. He returned to the team as a junior. During his time without basketball, Archibald briefly flirted with dropping out of school after having been largely truant in past years. But with the help of two mentors, Floyd Layne and Pablo Robertson, Archibald turned it around. Robertson, a former standout at Loyola of Chicago and a Harlem, NY, playground impressario, had seen the gifted, mercurial Archibald in action on the playgrounds and convinced the young man's high school coach to re-instate him on the squad. Despite only playing in blowouts as a junior, the shy, quiet teen managed to blossom into a high-school star, being named team captain and an All-City selection in 1966. Off the court, Archibald began to attend school regularly and worked to improve his poor academic standing, which deterred most colleges from offering him a scholarship. To improve his chances of playing major college basketball, Archibald enrolled at Arizona Western College, transferring to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) the following year. He had three standout seasons at El Paso, from 1967 to 1970 under the legendary coach Don Haskins.

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Nate Thurmond
Nathaniel "Nate" Thurmond (born July 25, 1941, in Akron, Ohio) is a retired American basketball player. Dominant at both center and power forward, he was a seven-time All-Star and the first player in NBA history to record an official quadruple-double.
Thurmond remains one of the greatest rebounders and shot blockers ever, named both a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.
Known to fans as "Nate the Great", Thurmond has had his #42 jersey retired by both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers franchises.
He played in high school with another future NBA star, Gus Johnson, at Akron Central. Their powerful team went undefeated before losing to Middletown, led by Jerry Lucas, in the Ohio state high school playoffs. Passing on a scholarship offer to Ohio State, to avoid becoming Lucas's backup there, the 6'11" Thurmond chose Bowling Green. He was named a first-team All-American by The Sporting News in 1963, and was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors later that year.

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Neil Johnston
Donald Neil Johnston (February 4, 1929 – September 28, 1978) was an American Hall of Fame basketball player at the center position who played 8 years in the NBA from 1951 to 1959.
He led the NBA in scoring for three consecutive seasons: 1952-53, 1953–54, and 1954-55. During the 1954-55 season, he also won the league's rebounding title. Johnston played his entire career with the Philadelphia Warriors, playing on their championship team in 1956. He played in six NBA All-Star Games, was an All-NBA First Team selection four times, and was an All-NBA Second Team selection once.
During his career, the 6 foot 8 inch Johnston was well known for his right-handed hook shot, which contributed to his leading the league in field goal shooting three times. Johnston was forced to retire after a serious knee injury in the 1958-59 season.
After his playing career, he coached the Warriors to a 95-59 winning record for the first two seasons of Wilt Chamberlain's NBA career.
Johnston also coached the Pittsburgh Rens, with Connie Hawkins, of the American Basketball League.

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Orlando Graham
Orlando Graham (born May 5, 1965 in Montgomery, Alabama), is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Miami Heat in the 2nd round (40th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. A 6'8" forward from Auburn University at Montgomery, Graham played in only one NBA season for the Golden State Warriors during the 1988-89 NBA season. He appeared in 7 games and scored a total of 8 points in his brief NBA career. Graham was the fifth ever draft pick in Miami Heat history.

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Oscar Robertson
Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, Tennessee), nicknamed "The Big O", is a former American National Basketball Association player with the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Robertson played the shooting guard/point guard position, and was a twelve-time All-Star, eleven-time member of the All-NBA Team, and one-time winner of the MVP award in fourteen professional seasons. He is the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season. He was a key player on the team which brought the Bucks their only NBA title in the 1970-71 NBA season. His playing career, especially during high school and college, was plagued by racism.
For his outstanding achievements, Robertson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, and was voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. The United States Basketball Writers Association renamed their college Player of the Year Award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in his honor in 1998, and he was one of five people chosen to represent the inaugural National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame class in 2006.

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Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing, Sr. (born August 5, 1962) 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 SuperSonics and Orlando Magic. Ewing was named as the 16th greatest college player of all time by ESPN. He won Olympic Gold Medals as a member of the 1984 and 1992 US Men's National Basketball teams. In a 1996 poll celebrating the 50th anniversary of the NBA, Ewing was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time. On April 7, 2008 he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 5, 2008 along with former NBA coach Pat Riley and former Houston Rockets center, Hakeem Olajuwon. His number 33 was retired by the Knicks in 2003.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Ewing excelled at cricket and soccer. He was 11 years old when he arrived in the United States with his family, settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He learned to play basketball at Cambridge Rindge and Latin. In order to prepare for college, Ewing joined the MIT-Wellesley Upward Bound Program. Upward Bound is a federally-funded TRIO college-prep program for disadvantaged high school students. He went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C..

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Paul Arizin
Paul Joseph Arizin (April 9, 1928 – December 12, 2006), nicknamed "Pitchin' Paul," was an American basketball player who spent his entire National Basketball Association career with the Philadelphia Warriors from 1950 to 1962. He retired with the third highest career point total (16,266) in NBA history, and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History upon its 50th anniversary in 1996. He was a high-scoring forward at Villanova University before being drafted by the Warriors of the fledgling NBA.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Arizin did not play basketball at La Salle College High School, failing to make the team in his only tryout as a senior. Arizin graduated just a year before another NBA hall of famer, Tom Gola, entered La Salle College High School as a freshman.
During his freshmen year at Villanova, Arizin played CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) basketball in Philadelphia. Late in that season, Al Severance, the then Villanova varsity basketball coach, attended one of Arizin's CYO games. Afterwards, Severance approached Arizin and asked, "How would you like to go to Villanova?" His answer: "I go to Villanova."

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Paul Hogue
Paul H. "Duke" Hogue (April 28, 1940 – August 17, 2009) was an American basketball player.
A 6'9" center from Knoxville, Tennessee, Hogue starred at the University of Cincinnati, with whom he won the NCAA Tournament in 1961 and 1962. Hogue was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1962 tournament, and was also named the 1962 Helms Foundation Player of the Year. He was the second overall selection of the New York Knickerbockers in the 1962 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft. He had a brief career (1962–64) in the NBA as a member of the Knicks and Baltimore Bullets, averaging 6.3 points per game. After Hogue retired, he became a member of the Princeton Schools board of education in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio.
According to his wife of 43 years, Patti, Hogue died of heart and kidney failure on August 17, 2009.

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Paul Silas
Paul Theron Silas (born July 12, 1943) is a retired American professional basketball player and former NBA head coach. He attended Creighton University, where he set an NCAA record for the most rebounds in three seasons and averaged 20.6 rebounds per game in 1963. In the NBA, Silas collected more than 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds during his distinguished 16 year career, played in two All-Star games, and won three championship rings (two with the Boston Celtics in 1974 and 1976, and one with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979). He was named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team twice, and to the All-NBA Defensive Second Team three times.
He was head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers until March 21, 2005. Prior to his job with the Cavaliers, he coached the San Diego Clippers and Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets. He worked for ESPN, although in April 2007 he interviewed for the vacant head coaching position with the Charlotte Bobcats which was eventually filled by Sam Vincent. Upon the firing of Sam Vincent in April 2008 he stated that coaching the Bobcats would be a "dream job." On December 22, 2010, Paul Silas was named interim head coach of the Bobcats, replacing the outgoing coach Larry Brown. On February 16, 2011, the Bobcats removed his interim status. On April 30, 2012, the Bobcats announced that Silas would not return to the Bobcats for the 2012–2013 season.

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Paul Westphal
Paul Westphal (born November 30, 1950) is a retired American basketball player and a former head coach with several National Basketball Association (NBA) and college teams. Westphal has had a storied career in the NBA, both as a player and as a coach. As a player, he won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in the 1974 NBA Finals. In addition to being a five-time All-Star selection, from 1977 to 1981, Westphal earned three All-NBA First Team selections and one Second Team honor. Later, returned to the Finals in 1993 as head coach of the Phoenix Suns. He returned to his home state of California when he was the men's basketball head coach at Pepperdine University from 2001 to 2006.
Westphal was born in Torrance, California. He went to Aviation High School and then USC. He was the 10th overall pick in the 1972 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. After three seasons in Boston, including a championship ring in 1974, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. In 1976, Westphal helped the Suns reach their first-ever Finals appearance. In Game 5 of that series, called by many^[who?] the greatest game ever played in basketball, Westphal made several memorable plays:

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Pervis Ellison
Pervis Ellison (born April 3, 1967 in Savannah, Georgia) is a former college and professional NBA basketball player.
Ellison was nicknamed "Never Nervous Pervis" for his play with the University of Louisville. At 6 ft 9 in and 242 lb, he started all four years as the center under coach Denny Crum. In his freshman year he led Louisville to its second national championship and was named the Most Outstanding Player—the second time a freshman had ever been awarded that honor, after Arnie Ferrin in 1944 for Utah.
Ellison was made the first overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. An injury kept him on the sidelines for 48 of 82 games of his rookie year, after which he was traded to the Washington Bullets. (A Sacramento teammate, Danny Ainge, had nicknamed him "Out of Service Pervis.") Although he was assigned as a backup in 1990-1991, the following year he became a starter and earned Most Improved Player honors after averaging 20.0 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.68 blocks per game.

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Randolph Keys
Randolph Keys (born April 19, 1966 in Collins, Mississippi) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1st round (22nd overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. Keys played in 5 NBA seasons in his career for the Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks. His best year as a pro came during the 1989–90 season when he split time between the Cavaliers and Hornets, appearing in 80 games and averaging 8.8 ppg. Keys played collegiately at the University of Southern Mississippi.

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Randy Wittman
Randy Scott Wittman (born October 28, 1959) is currently the interim head coach for the National Basketball Association's Washington Wizards. He is also a retired American basketball player at the guard position and former coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves.
6'6" Wittman played college basketball from 1979–1983 for Bob Knight and the Indiana University Hoosiers. The 1979-80 Hoosiers, led by Isiah Thomas, won the Big Ten championship and advanced to the 1980 Sweet Sixteen. The following season, in 1980-81, the Hoosiers once again won a conference title and won the 1981 NCAA tournament, the school's fourth national title. In 1982–1983, with the leadership of Wittman, the No. 1 ranked Hoosiers were favorites to win another national championship. However with an injury to star player Ted Kitchel mid-season, the Hoosiers' prospects were grim. Knight asked for fan support to rally around the team and, despite long odds, the team ultimately won the Big Ten title. Nevertheless in the tournament Kitchel's absence was felt and the team lost to Kentucky in the 1983 Sweet Sixteen. Wittman was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and a consensus second team All-American in 1983. He became a member of Indiana's Hall of Fame and was named to Indiana's Silver Anniversary Basketball Team, in March 1996.

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Reggie Theus
Reginald Wayne Theus (born October 13, 1957) is an American retired basketball player and the former head coach for the NBA's Sacramento Kings.
He was born in Inglewood, California. Prior to taking over as the Kings' coach Theus coached New Mexico State University's men's basketball team. On March 31, 2005, NMSU hired the 13-year NBA veteran. In just his second year as head coach, Theus led NMSU to their 17th NCAA Tournament, their first tournament appearance since 1999, and coached NMSU to its 14th conference tournament title which earned them an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. He was also previously an assistant coach for the University of Louisville under Rick Pitino.
In his first season, Theus turned the Aggies from a 6-24 squad in 2004-05 to a 16-14 team in the 2005-06 season – matching the fifth best turn-around for a Division-I men's basketball team. Theus was briefly recruited to be the head coach at Creighton University when coach Dana Altman left for the University of Arkansas. However, Altman decided to return to Creighton after several days at Arkansas.

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Rex Chapman
Rex Everett Chapman (born October 5, 1967, in Bowling Green, Kentucky) is a retired American professional basketball player. Chapman was a college standout at the University of Kentucky and went on to play for four NBA teams through his 12-year career in the league. He later served as the vice president of player personnel with the Denver Nuggets.
A high school basketball star at Apollo High in Owensboro, Kentucky, Chapman was heavily recruited by many universities. He chose, however, to stay close to home when he signed with the University of Kentucky. Chapman was a star with the Kentucky Wildcats where he was named to the All-SEC Team during his freshman and sophomore years. Chapman and Wildcat teammate and future NBA journeyman Winston Bennett helped lead Kentucky to their 37th SEC title with a 27-6 record during his sophomore year. The Wildcats were ranked as the 6th college basketball team in the nation by the Associated Press and UPI and secured the number two seed in the South region of the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Kentucky's talents led the team to the tournament's Sweet Sixteen, where they suffered a defeat against Villanova. Chapman scored 30 in a losing effort. Chapman amassed a total of 1,073 points in only two years at Kentucky before opting to enter the NBA Draft. According to Chapman, pressure from the university discouraging his interracial dating influenced his decision to leave early for the NBA draft.

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Rex Hughes
Rex Hughes is a former college and professional basketball coach. He coached men's basketball at Kent State University, and would later serve as an NBA head and assistant coach. He served as head coach for part of a season with the Sacramento Kings, and a single game (as an interim coach) with the San Antonio Spurs.
On March 4, 2009, Hughes became the 15th person in, "The Rex Streak", a streak by radio talk show host Jim Rome of consecutive days interviewing someone named Rex.

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Richard Washington
Richard Lee Washington (born July 15, 1955 in Portland, Oregon) is a retired American professional basketball player.
A 6'11" center, Washington played high school ball at Benson Tech in Portland, Oregon before starring at UCLA in the 1970s, where he was named NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player following UCLA's 1975 championship. He played six professional seasons in the NBA as a member of the Kansas City Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers. In his NBA career, he scored 3,456 points and grabbed 2,204 rebounds.

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Rick Adelman
Richard Leonard "Rick" Adelman (born June 16, 1946) is an American former basketball professional player and current basketball coach. He is the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA. Previously he served as head coach of the Golden State Warriors, the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and the Houston Rockets.
Born in Lynwood, California, Adelman began his basketball career as a collegiate star at Loyola University of Los Angeles, now known as Loyola Marymount University. In the 1968 NBA Draft, he was selected by the San Diego Rockets (now the Houston Rockets) in the 7th round. He played two seasons in San Diego before being taken by the expansion Trail Blazers in the 1970 expansion draft; he then played three seasons in Portland. He also played for the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans (now Utah) Jazz, and the Kansas City/Omaha (now Sacramento) Kings. He ended his playing career in 1975.
From 1977 through to 1983, Adelman coached at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, after which he was hired by the Portland Trail Blazers (then coached by Jack Ramsay) as an assistant. When Ramsay was fired and replaced with Mike Schuler in 1986, Adelman was retained; when Schuler was in turn fired during the 1988-89 season (when poor team chemistry resulted in the team having a losing record), Adelman was promoted to interim coach. After leading the team into the playoffs that year (despite a 39–43 record), Adelman was given the coaching position on a full-time basis in the 1989 off-season.

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Rick Barry
Richard Francis Dennis Barry III (born March 28, 1944), better known as Rick Barry, is a retired American professional basketball player. He is considered by many veteran basketball observers^[who?] to be one of the greatest pure small forwards of all time as a result of his very precise outside shot, uncanny court vision, knowledge and execution of team defense principles, tenacious and ofttimes demanding will to win, and unorthodox but accurate underhanded free throw shooting. Barry is one of the few elite players who altered their games without losing effectiveness; he broke into the professional ranks as a rebounder and all-purpose scorer before he became a primary ball distributor and lethal perimeter threat.
Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in history by the NBA in 1996, Barry is the only player to lead the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), ABA and NBA in scoring for an individual season. In 1987, Barry was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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Rick Calloway
Richard (Rick) Marlon Calloway (born December 12, 1966, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American professional basketball player. He played one season in the NBA for the Sacramento Kings during the 1990-91 season. He attended Indiana University and transferred to the University of Kansas in 1988. Calloway was a 6'6" 180 lb guard.
Calloway was selected in the 1990 CBA Draft by the Omaha Racers. He also played professionally in Argentina and Poland.

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Rick Carlisle
Richard Preston Carlisle (pronounced /ˈkɑrlaɪl/ KAR-lyl; born October 27, 1959) is the head coach of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. He has also coached the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons, and was previously a player in the NBA. He is also one of the only 11 people to win an NBA championship both as a player and as a coach.
Carlisle was raised in Lisbon, New York. He attended Lisbon Central High School, then spent a year at Worcester Academy. He played two years of college basketball at the University of Maine from 1979 to 1981, before transferring to the University of Virginia. He co-captained the Cavaliers to the Final Four in 1984 and averaged 12.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game during his college career.
After graduating that same year, he was drafted by the Boston Celtics (23rd pick in the third round), where he played alongside Larry Bird. With the Celtics under coach K.C. Jones he won the NBA championship in 1986 against the Houston Rockets and lost in the NBA Finals in 1985 and 1987 to the Los Angeles Lakers. From 1984 to 1987, he averaged 2.2 points, 1.0 assists and 0.8 rebounds per game in a limited reserve role. Carlisle then played for Bill Musselman's Albany Patroons, and was then signed as a free agent by the New York Knicks under coach Rick Pitino, where he played alongside future star Patrick Ewing. In 1989, Carlisle played in 5 games with the New Jersey Nets under Bill Fitch.

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Ricky Berry
Ricky Alan Berry (October 6, 1964 – August 14, 1989) was an American professional basketball player in the NBA for the Sacramento Kings.
Born in Lansing, Michigan, the 6'8" small forward out of Oregon State (1983/84) and San Jose State (1984/85-1987/88; in 1984/85 did not play as transfer student) was selected 18th overall in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Kings and had a solid rookie season, averaging 11.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists while shooting 40.6% from three-point range.
In the 1989 offseason, and just weeks before his 25th birthday, Berry was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Fair Oaks, California on August 14, 1989, following an argument with his wife. He had displayed no signs of depression and had left a suicide note.

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Rik Smits
Rik Smits (born August 23, 1966 in Eindhoven, Netherlands) is a retired Dutch professional basketball player who spent his entire professional career with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association. The 7'4" (2.24 m) center was drafted by the Pacers out of Marist College with the second overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. The Dutch-born player was nicknamed "The Dunkin' Dutchman".
Smits originally backed up Steve Stipanovich, but when Stipanovich suffered a terrible injury that ended his career, Smits ended up starting 71 games in his rookie year, averaging 11.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and earning All-Rookie First Team honors. Smits continued to average double-digit point totals in every year of his career, but it wasn't until 1993-1994 that Smits really came into his own as a team leader.
Throughout the Pacers' playoff runs in the mid- and late-1990s, Smits was considered the number two player, behind Reggie Miller, on the deeply talented Pacers team. Smits' highest point-per-game average was in 1995–96 when he averaged 18.5 points per game, relatively modest by NBA "superstar" standards, but the Dutchman endeared himself to Pacers fans with outstanding playoff performances.

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Robert Parish
Robert Lee Parish (born August 30, 1953) is a retired American basketball center. He was known for his strong defense and jump shooting, and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. In 1996, Parish was also named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. His nickname was The Chief, after the fictitious Chief Bromden, a silent, giant Native American character in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. According to Parish, former Celtics forward Cedric Maxwell gave him this nickname because of his stoic nature.
Although Parish had a successful college career at Centenary College of Louisiana from 1972–1976, he received virtually no notice because of one of the most severe penalties ever levied by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
In 1965, the NCAA adopted the so-called "1.6 rule" to determine academic eligibility of incoming freshmen. Under its provisions, freshmen would academically qualify if their high school grades and standardized test scores predicted a minimum college grade point average of 1.6 on a 4-point scale.

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Rod Strickland
Rodney "Rod" Strickland (born July 11, 1966, in The Bronx, New York) is a retired American professional basketball player and currently in an administrative role for the University of Kentucky basketball team under head coach John Calipari. Strickland was formerly the director of basketball operations at the University of Memphis. He is also the godfather of 2011 NBA Draft first overall pick Kyrie Irving.
A native of the Bronx, Strickland played for the New York Gauchos. While a junior he led Truman High School in Co-Op City to the state championship and was ranked as one of the top 10 high school recruits in the nation. As a senior he transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.
Strickland became a college star at DePaul University where he appeared in 87 games. As a junior, he was a First Team All-American after averaging 20.0 points and 7.8 assists. A 1987 and 1988 All-America pick, Strickland helped lead the Blue Demons to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1985–88, including Sweet Sixteen showings in 1986 and 1987. The four-time Blue Demon letterwinner ranks among the program's career leaders in scoring average (8th; 16.6 ppg), assists (3rd; 557) and steals (2nd; 204). He also averaged 3.4 rebounds while shooting 53.4% during his college career.

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Rolando Ferreira
Rolando Ferreira Júnior (born May 24, 1964 in Curitiba, Paraná) is a retired Brazilian professional basketball player. He was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2nd round (26th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. A 7'1" center, Ferreira played in only one NBA season as a member of the 1988–89 Blazers. In his NBA career, he played in 12 games and scored a total of 9 points. He owns the distinction of being the first Brazilian to play in the NBA.
Ferreira played college basketball at the University of Houston for two seasons, and was a member of the Brazil national basketball team for 12 years, taking part in three FIBA World Championships and two Olympic Games. He was also part of the team which won the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis over the US team. After his playing career, Ferreira went on to coach at the Universidade Federal do Paraná. Today he is a basketball coach in Curitiba-Paraná, Brazil.^{[citation needed]}

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Rony Seikaly
Ronald Fred "Rony" Seikaly (Arabic: رونالد ﺼيقلي‎; born May 10, 1965) is a retired Lebanese-born American professional basketball player.
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. He attended and graduated from the American Community School, also known as ACS Athens. Prior to playing basketball, he was a soccer player and accomplished track athlete. He was unable to attain Greek citizenship due to bureaucratic problems, but he later became a naturalized American citizen after attending college in the U.S. and playing in the NBA.
In 1984, he began attending Syracuse University in central New York. He played center for the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team. He was an All-American and was also named to the John R. Wooden All-American Team. He was chosen on the Orange's All Century Team and his number 4 jersey has been retired and raised to the rafters at the Carrier Dome. He graduated from Syracuse as the all time leading rebounder, second in blocked shots and fourth in scoring. He led his Syracuse team to the 1987 NCAA tournament championship finals against the Indiana Hoosiers after averaging 22 points and 11 rebounds throughout the tournament.

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Royce Waltman
Royce Waltman is a former NCAA Head Basketball Coach. He was the Head Coach at Indiana State University from 1997–2007; at the University of Indianapolis from 1992–1997 and the 2007-2008 season and at DePauw University from 1988-1992.
He won 100 or more games at each school and led all three to the NCAA National Tournament; in addition, he led them all to conference regular and tournament championships. His career collegiate record is: 337-263 (.562).
He is currently the color commentator for Indiana basketball broadcasts on radio.
It took just three seasons for Royce Waltman to return the Sycamores to the spotlight, attracting national attention unlike that since the fabled 1978-79 team danced to the NCAA Championship game. He was named as the 1999-2000 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of The Year.
As if an encore was needed, Waltman, in his fourth season at Indiana State, he directed the 2000-01 Sycamores to their first MVC Tournament Championship since the 1978-79 campaign - leading Indiana State to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. While Waltman will quickly deflect praise for what the 1999-2000 Sycamores accomplished as being due to the diligent efforts of his entire staff, the achievements which he and his program have attained certainly merit mention of the bold face, large type variety. Be it a mid-December, 63-60, victory at Indiana to claim the Indiana Classic Championship or defeating the Hoosiers again – this time in Terre Haute, recording the University’s first 20-win season in 21 years, claiming outright possession of Indiana State’s first MVC regular-season title over that same 21-year span or directing the Sycamores to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in the school’s history, Waltman’s dedication, or to use one of his favorite terms – passion – for his program and the game of basketball are nothing short of amazing.

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Sam Lacey
Samuel (Sam) Lacey (born March 28, 1948 in Indianola, Mississippi) is a retired American basketball player.
A 6'10" center from New Mexico State University, Lacey played 13 seasons (1970–1983) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Cincinnati Royals, Kansas City Kings, New Jersey Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers. Lacey averaged over 10 rebounds per game in his first six seasons, and was the third leading rebounder in the 1974–75 season. He also appeared in the 1975 NBA All-Star Game.
Lacey is one of five players (along with Hakeem Olajuwon, Julius Erving, David Robinson and Ben Wallace) to have registered 100 blocks and 100 steals in six consecutive seasons, and he has had his #44 jersey retired by the Sacramento Kings franchise. He is also one of three NBA players (along with Wes Unseld and Reggie Evans) to total a least 30 rebounds and fewer than 10 points in the first two games of the season.

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Scott Brooks
Scott William Brooks (born July 31, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player from Lathrop, California and is the current head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA. A 5' 11" (1.80 m) point guard, Brooks played collegiately at San Joaquin Delta College and Texas Christian University (TCU), before finishing his final two years at the University of California, Irvine. He was inducted into UCI's Hall of Fame in 2001.
Born in French Camp, California, Brooks graduated from East Union High School at Manteca, California in 1983. As a freshman, he played college basketball at Texas Christian University for a season and then transferred for his sophomore year to San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California, about 10 miles from his parents' home in Lathrop, California. After only being offered a walk-on spot by nearby University of the Pacific, he declined that offer and spent the next two years at the University of California, Irvine. In his senior season at UCI, he averaged 23.8 points and made 43.2% of his three-point attempts. On the night that the Bren Events Center opened at UC Irvine on January 8, 1987, Brooks scored 43 points as UCI defeated Utah State, 118-96. He scored 41 points in a 90-79 win at University of the Pacific later that season to tie the Spanos Center scoring record.

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Scott Skiles
Scott Allen Skiles (born March 5, 1964, in LaPorte, Indiana) is an American former professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. He also is the former head coach of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and Chicago Bulls. Skiles holds the NBA record for assists in one game with 30. In 1990–91 he won the NBA Most Improved Player Award.
In 1982 Skiles led Plymouth High School to the Indiana State Championship. Plymouth, with no starter taller than 6'2" and no reserve taller than 6'6", was considered to be the weakest of the final four teams in the tournament that year even though they were ranked #4 in the state with a record of 26-1 entering the state finals. Amazingly, they won the state title with a 75-74 double overtime victory over favored Gary Roosevelt. In that game Skiles scored 39 points (to follow-up his 30 point performance against Indianapolis Cathedral that morning) to lead the Pilgrims past the Roosevelt Panthers. His long 22-foot (6.7 m) field goal, that was well beyond where the current three-point line is (no three-point shot existed in 1982) as time expired sent the game into overtime. With a student body of 900, Plymouth is the smallest school to win the championship since Milan in 1954. Skiles scored 25 of his 39 points in the championship game after the third quarter of play. During the 1982 season Skiles led the state in scoring, averaging 30.2 points per game. He set several records during high school, including most points in a home game (53) and most points in an away game (56). He left Plymouth as the school's all-time career scoring leader (1,788 points), a record that would stand until 2005 (Kyle Benge-1,979 points). Skiles had his number 22 jersey retired at Plymouth High School in 1992.

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Sean May
Sean Gregory May (born April 4, 1984) is an American professional basketball player currently playing for Sutor Basket Montegranaro in Italy. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. He was a three-time all-state selection at Bloomington High School North, and was at one time a teammate of current NBA player Jared Jeffries. May was named to the 2002 McDonald's High School All-American team. He played in the 2002 McDonald's game with Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants, who would later team with May to win an NCAA Championship.
When the heavily-recruited May chose to attend North Carolina, it was a major surprise to most basketball recruiting observers; it had been thought that he would stay in his hometown and play for the Indiana University Hoosiers. He had strong family connections to IU; his father Scott was a forward on the school's undefeated 1975–76 NCAA championship team and won the Naismith Award the same year, and his brother Scott Jr. played for the Indiana basketball team that made the NCAA title game in 2002.

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Shane Battier
Shane Courtney Battier (born September 9, 1978) is an American professional basketball player. He currently plays with the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association. He has also been a member of the U.S. national team.
Battier was born and raised in Birmingham, Michigan, and attended Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Michigan, where he won many awards including 1997 "Mr. Basketball of Michigan." He went on to play four years of college basketball at Duke, where he captured the 2001 National Championship and swept the major National Player of the Year awards. Battier was selected with the sixth overall pick of the 2001 NBA Draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies and was traded five years later to the Houston Rockets. He was then traded back to the Memphis Grizzles during the 2010-2011 NBA season. His number has been retired by both Detroit Country Day School and Duke University. He is widely known for his aggressive defense and being able to guard the league's best players.
Battier was an outlier from his childhood; by the time he entered Country Day as a seventh-grader, he was already 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), and was 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) a year later. He was also the only child in the school with a black father and a white mother. As Michael Lewis put it in a 2009 article, the young Battier "was shuttling between a black world that treated him as white and a white world that treated him as black." More specifically in the context of basketball, Lewis noted that "the inner-city kids with whom he played on the A.A.U. circuit treated Battier like a suburban kid with a white game, and the suburban kids he played with during the regular season treated him like a visitor from the planet where they kept the black people." Battier also noted that his cerebral approach to the game was forged from that time:

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Shelton Jones
Shelton Jones (born April 4, 1966, in Copiague, New York) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2nd round (27th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. Shelton played only one year in the NBA during the 1988-89 season, splitting time with the Spurs, Golden State Warriors and mainly, the Philadelphia 76ers, for whom he also appeared in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, finishing on 4th place after advancing to the semi-finals. He played collegiately at St. John's University.
Jones founded the Shelton Jones Foundation, which "trains and mentors student-athletes to become successful in life through sports, community outreach and personal development".

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Sidney Wicks
Sidney Wicks (born September 19, 1949) is a retired American basketball player. A native of California, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1971 to 1981. In the NBA he played for the Portland Trail Blazers, Boston Celtics, and San Diego Clippers, earning NBA Rookie of the Year in 1972 as well as four all-star selections.
Sidney Wicks was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 19, 1949. He attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, but because of non-qualifying grades in high school, he had to attend Santa Monica College for a year until he could go to his preferred university, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Wicks later earned Academic All-America honors at UCLA in 1971.^{[citation needed]} He earned a degree in sociology from the school.
A 6'8" power forward/center, Wicks was a phenom at UCLA, playing on three straight NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships from 1969 to 1971, the Bruins' star player on the latter two, being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1970, Helms National Co-Player of the Year (1970) USBWA and Sporting News Player of the Year (1971) and two-time consensus All-American in 1970 and 1971. On Feb 1, 1996, his jersey #35 was retired in a halftime ceremony at UCLA's home court, Pauley Pavilion. Wicks was an 1985 inductee into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2010, was selected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

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Sleepy Floyd
Eric Augustus "Sleepy" Floyd (born March 6, 1960 in Gastonia, North Carolina) is a retired American professional basketball player.
A 6'3" guard, Floyd played competitively at Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia, and starred at Georgetown University before being drafted by the New Jersey Nets with the 13th pick of the 1982 NBA Draft. During the middle of an unspectacular rookie season, Floyd was traded by the Nets with Mickey Johnson to the Golden State Warriors for Micheal Ray Richardson. Floyd quickly blossomed while playing for the Warriors, averaging 16.5 points per game in his first full season with the franchise, and during the 1984–85 NBA season, he averaged a career high 19.5 points per game. Two seasons later, he averaged 18.8 points and 10.3 assists and earned a spot on the 1987 NBA All-Star Team. In December 1987, Floyd was traded with Joe Barry Carroll to the Houston Rockets for Ralph Sampson and Steve Harris, and Floyd would play 5½ seasons with the Rockets before signing as a free agent with the San Antonio Spurs in 1993, a year before the Rockets would win their 2 consecutive championships. After one season in San Antonio, he returned to the New Jersey Nets, and he retired in 1995 with 12,260 career points and 5,175 career assists.

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Stan Albeck
Stan Albeck (born May 17, 1931) is a former professional basketball coach. Albeck has coached for several teams in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA), including the Denver Rockets, the San Diego Conquistadors, (often subbing for an absent Wilt Chamberlain), the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Antonio Spurs, the New Jersey Nets, and the Chicago Bulls.
Albeck graduated from Chenoa High School in Chenoa, Illinois and received his bachelors degree at Bradley University in 1955 and his masters at Michigan State University in 1957. He married Phyllis L. Mann in 1952 and they have five children.
Albeck began his coaching at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan.
Albeck's next head coaching job was at Northern Michigan University.
Albeck was the head coach of the Denver Rockets during most of the 1970–1971 season. The Rockets had begun the season under head coach Joe Belmont, but Belmont was fired after the team lost 10 of its first 13 games. Albeck replaced Belmont as the Rockets' head coach. The Rockets went 27–44 under Albeck to finish the season with a record of 30 wins and 54 losses. They tied the Texas Chaparrals for fourth place in the Western Division (28 games behind the Indiana Pacers) and on April 1, 1971 lost a one game playoff to the Chaparrals, 115–109, to determine who would advance into the ABA Western Division semifinals. During the season Denver's average home attendance dropped to 4,139 fans per game from 6,281 the year before. One week after the playoff loss, on April 8, 1971, Albeck was replaced by Alex Hannum as Denver's head coach. Hannum resigned as coach of the San Diego Rockets to become the Rockets' head coach, general manager and president. Albeck then became player personnel director for the Rockets.

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Steve Alford
Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is a retired American basketball player and the current head coach of the University of New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team. Alford, a former college basketball star and NBA player, was born in Franklin, Indiana and grew up in New Castle, Indiana.
Alford learned to count as a three-year-old by watching the numbers tick off the scoreboard in Monroe City, Indiana, where his dad, Sam Alford, coached the high school team. Sam frequently moved around for various coaching jobs. Steve missed only two of his dad's games, once when he had chicken pox, and once when he made the regionals of the Elks Club free-throw shooting contest. When Alford was nine years old he attended a basketball camp put on by Coach Bob Knight. Eventually the Alfords settled in New Castle, Indiana, where Steve played on the New Castle Chrysler High School basketball team with his dad as coach. Alford was known to practice shooting so much that he would wear out six or seven nets a summer and frequently forego social activities in favor of practicing.

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Steve Kerr
Stephen Douglas "Steve" Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player. He shot .454 from 3-point range over his career and currently holds the record as the most accurate 3-point shooter in NBA history. Kerr is a 5-time NBA champion, winning 3 straight championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1996–98 and 2 with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 and 2003. He and Frank Saul are the only two players in NBA history who won two championships with two different teams in consecutive seasons.
On June 2, 2007, the Phoenix Suns named Kerr the team's President of Basketball Operations and General Manager. Kerr helped Managing Partner Robert Sarver buy the Suns in 2004 and became one of Sarver's trusted basketball advisors. Kerr announced his retirement from the Suns in June 2010.
The son of Malcolm Kerr, an American academic who specialized in the Middle East, Kerr spent much of his childhood in Lebanon and other Arab states. He attended Cairo American College in Egypt and Palisades High School (now Palisades Charter High School) in Pacific Palisades, California. On January 18, 1984, Malcolm, who was then serving as president of the American University of Beirut, was assassinated by suspected militant nationalists in Beirut.

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Sylvester Gray
Sylvester "Sly" Gray (born July 8, 1967, in Millington, Tennessee) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Miami Heat in the 2nd round (35th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. A 6'6" forward from Memphis State University, Gray played in only one NBA season.
As a member of the Heat during the 1988-89 season, he appeared in 55 games and averaged 8.0 ppg. Gray was the 4th ever draft pick in Miami Heat history.
He also played for CBA's Yakima Sun Kings, Turkish club Fenerbahçe and Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association, coached by legendary (and former player) Robert Jaworski.

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Ted Stepien
Ted Stepien (June 9, 1925 – September 10, 2007) was the former owner of the National Basketball Association's Cleveland Cavaliers. After becoming wealthy as the founder of Nationwide Advertising Service, Stepien purchased the Cavaliers in the spring of 1980. A December 6, 1982 article in The New York Times described the Cavaliers during Stepien's ownership as "the worst club and most poorly run franchise in professional basketball."
Stepien raised eyebrows when he introduced a scantily clad (by the NBA's then standards) dance team known as "The Teddy Bears". On the court, Stepien installed Bill Musselman as the team's head coach. Musselman, who coached the University of Minnesota to the 1972 Big Ten championship, the school's first in 53 years, compiled a 25–46 record with the Cavs before Stepien fired him.
Stepien thought he could quickly assemble a competitive team, however, he proved to be a poor judge of basketball talent. He spent the then lavish sum of $2 million on salaries for Scott Wedman, James Edwards and Bobby Wilkerson. While satisfactory role players (Wedman had been an All-Star but was injured and on the downside of his career), none were the stars Stepien envisioned them to be.

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Terrence Williams
Terrence Deshon Williams (born June 28, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. Williams was drafted 11th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Nets. He was the senior co-captain for Rick Pitino's 2008-09 University of Louisville Cardinals. He is a 6-foot-6 forward hailing from Seattle, Washington.
During the 2007-08 season, Williams achieved the third and fourth triple-doubles in Louisville basketball history (the first two by Samaki Walker and Ellis Myles). He racked up 14 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds in the Cardinals' season-opening 104-69 win over Hartford and had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in a January 19, 2008 loss to Seton Hall.
At Rainier Beach High School, Williams was a four-year starter on the basketball team. He helped the team to a state title in 2003. He averaged 21.7 points his senior year. He was also a starting wide receiver and free safety on the football team. He considered attending Indiana and Kansas before deciding to play for Pitino.

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Tim Perry
Timothy D. Perry (born June 4, 1965 in Freehold Township, New Jersey) is an American professional basketball player, formerly in the NBA.
Following a college career at Temple University, Perry was selected seventh overall by the Phoenix Suns in the 1988 NBA Draft. Through eight NBA seasons, he averaged 6.8 points and four rebounds per game. He appeared in three NBA Slam Dunk Contests, finishing 5th in 1989, 7th in 1993, and 5th in 1995.
Perry later became an assistant coach for Holy Family University, Pennsylvania of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference in NCAA Division II. In 2011, he received a degree in liberal studies from Neumann University.

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Tim Roye
Tim Roye is a radio play-by-play announcer for the NBA's Golden State Warriors He has been calling Warrior games for KNBR-AM in San Francisco since 1995.
Following his graduation from Utica College in New York, Roye spent eight years (1978–86) as the sports director at Utica's WIBX–WNYZ radio. He later moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he was the sports director at WVOK radio from 1986-87. Roye spent two years in the Phoenix market from 1987–89, serving as a talk show host for KTAR radio and a correspondent for the Arizona Cardinals Radio Network. He also served as the color analyst for the Arizona State University Basketball Network and called play-by-play for the Phoenix Firebirds and Arizona State Sun Devils baseball teams. Prior to his arrival with Golden State in 1995, Roye spent six seasons with the Sacramento Kings’ broadcast team as the pregame, halftime and postgame host for the team's radio broadcasts on KHTK-AM and KFBK-AM. He also handled the radio play-by-play duties for 45 games during the 1994-95 season. Roye hosted a daily three-hour sports talk show on KHTK as well as hosting a weekly two-hour Kings radio program. Roye served as sports director at KFBK in Sacramento for five years (1989–94). Roye served as a radio and television announcer for the Sacramento Gold Miners of the Canadian Football League from 1993–1994, and for Oakland Athletics baseball in 2005-06.

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Tito Horford
Tito Horford (born January 19, 1966 in La Romana, Dominican Republic) is a retired Dominican professional basketball player who was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2nd round (39th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. Horford played three years in the NBA, two with the Bucks from 1988–1990, and a short stint with the Washington Bullets during the 1993-94 season. He played in Spain in 1992. He was listed on the Bucks` summer 1992 roster.
In college he played basketball at Louisiana State University before being kicked off the team. He then played at University of Miami. Horford attended Marian Christian High School in Houston which originally recruited him from the Dominican Republic.
Tito Horford was the first Dominican-born player to play in the NBA. [1]
His son, Al Horford, went to the University of Florida and played a prominent role on the Gators team that won the national championship in 2006 and 2007. He was selected 3rd overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2007 NBA Draft.
His son Jon Horford plays forward for the University of Michigan basketball team. [2]

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Todd Mitchell
This is an article about an American basketball player. For the respondent in the decision of the United States Supreme Court, see Wisconsin v. Mitchell.
Ernest Todd Mitchell (born July 26, 1966, in Toledo, Ohio) is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a 6'7" (200 cm) 205 lb (93 kg) forward and played collegiately at Purdue University from 1984 to 1988.
Todd Mitchell attended Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he played basketball under head coach Gene Keady. Along with teammate Troy Lewis, he led the Boilermakers to two Big Ten Conference titles during his Junior and Senior seasons, along with a Sweet Sixteen appearance in the 1988 NCAA Tournament. He was named First Team All-Big Ten his Senior year.
Mitchell was the 43rd overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets in the 2nd round. He played one season in the NBA. In his lone season split with the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat, he averaged 5.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.

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Tom Garrick
Thomas (Tom) S. Garrick (born July 7, 1966 in West Warwick, Rhode Island) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2nd round (45th overall pick) of the 1988 NBA Draft. He played guard in four NBA seasons, mainly for the Clippers. Garrick's best year as a Clipper was during the 1989–90 NBA season when he averaged 7.0 ppg in 73 games. He played collegiately at the University of Rhode Island.
He was the head coach of the University of Rhode Island women's basketball team until he resigned following the 2008–09 season. He is now an assistant women's basketball coach at Vanderbilt University.

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Tom Gola
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Gola (born January 13, 1933, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American basketball player.
Gola was praised as a great all-around player as a high school student at La Salle College High School, where he led the Explorers to a Philadelphia Catholic League Championship. He entered La Salle a year after another Philadelphia basketball Hall of Famer, Paul Arizin, graduated from Villanova.
Gola was one of the most talented collegiate athletes in Philadelphia sports history. He came to national attention while playing for the hometown La Salle University Explorers men's basketball team in 1954 as an All-American forward. Gola paced the Explorers to the NCAA basketball championship in 1954 and was named Tournament MVP. That same season he was selected as National Player of the Year. As a senior, Gola helped La Salle finish as the runner-up in the 1955 NCAA Tournament. He averaged 20.9 points and 19.0 rebounds during 115 games and holds the NCAA record with 2,201 career rebounds. At 6'6" (198 cm), Gola was clearly a forward who could shoot/score, rebound and defend, but he also had the ballhandling (dribbling, passing) skills of a guard, and with his shooting range and All-Pro defensive skills, could play just as well in the backcourt. He was inducted into the La Salle Hall of Athletes in 1961 and the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1986. Gola was listed on "ESPN's Countdown to the Greatest" College basketball players as #17.

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Tom Meschery
Thomas Nicholas "Tom" Meschery (born October 26, 1938 as Tomislav Nikolayevich Meshcheryakov (Russian: Томислав Николаевич Мещеряков)) is a Russian American former professional basketball player. He was a power forward with a 10 year National Basketball Association career from 1961 to 1971. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors and the Seattle SuperSonics. He led the league in personal fouls in 1962 and played in the 1963 NBA All-Star Game. His jersey, number 14, was retired by the Warriors.
Meschery was born as Tomislav Nikolayevich Meshcheryakov in Harbin, China. His parents were Russian emigrants who fled from the October Revolution in 1917. The Meschery family was later relocated to a Japanese internment camp near Tokyo during World War II. After the war, Meschery and his parents emigrated to the United States. It was also in this phase of his life where his father renamed the family "Meschery" due to the anti-Communist/anti-Soviet Red Scare under Joseph McCarthy, and Tomislav Nikolayevich was renamed Thomas Nicholas, which later was abbreviated to Tom. Living in San Francisco, California, Meschery attended Lowell High School. After graduating in 1957, he went to Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961. In 1973 Meschery was inducted into the St Mary's Hall of Fame and his basketball jersey hangs in McKeon Pavilion on campus.

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Tom Nissalke
Thomas Edward "Tom" Nissalke (born July 7, 1932 in Madison, Wisconsin) is a retired former American professional basketball coach in the NBA and American Basketball Association. He has coached several teams in both leagues, and has an overall coaching record of 371-508.
After a season with the then-Dallas Chapparals (where he won ABA coach of the Year), Nissalke moved to the NBA with the Sonics for one season. He returned to the team, now in San Antonio, in 1973, bringing with him a "a patterned, deliberate offense to San Antonio". During his tenure, the "Iceman" George Gervin had arrived from the Virginia Squires and was the center of the team. Though Nissalke's club was successful, he was fired in the beginning of the 1974-75 ABA season. Nissalke, who is a graduate of Florida State University, first got his start in coaching on the high school-prep level at the Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He would later work his way onto the college ranks at the University of Wisconsin & Tulane.

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Tom Thibodeau
Tom Thibodeau (born January 17, 1958) is an American basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Chicago Bulls.
As a defensive coach, he helped the Houston Rockets rank among the Top 5 in the league in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense from 2004 to 2007, and has helped his team finish in the league's Top 10 in team defense 15 times. He coached in 87 playoff games and was part of the 1999 NBA Finals as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks prior to joining the Boston Celtics, with whom he won the 2008 NBA Championship while serving as an assistant coach. In 2011 he was named the NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Bulls to a 62-win season. In 2012, he became the fastest coach in NBA history to earn 100 victories and finished as the runner-up for Coach of the Year.
Thibodeau played basketball at Salem State University and became an assistant coach at the school in 1981. In 1984, he became head coach at Salem State after serving three years as an assistant. One season later he became an assistant coach at Harvard University, where he spent the next four seasons.

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Tom Tolbert
Byron Thomas "Tom" Tolbert (born October 16, 1965) is an American retired professional basketball player and sports broadcaster. He played a total of seven seasons in the National Basketball Association. After retiring from basketball, Tolbert became a radio show co-host in San Francisco and NBA commentator for the television networks NBC, ESPN, and ABC.
Tolbert graduated from Artesia High School in Lakewood, California in 1983. Following high school, he played college basketball at University of California, Irvine (1983–1985), Cerritos College (1985–86), and the University of Arizona (1986–1988). While at Arizona, Tolbert played under coach Lute Olson, helping the team to an appearance in the 1988 Final Four. In 1988, he was a second-round draft pick (9th pick, 34th overall) of the Charlotte Hornets. Tolbert spent seven seasons playing for a number of NBA teams, including Charlotte (1988–89, 94-95), the Golden State Warriors (1989–92), the Orlando Magic (1992–93), and the Los Angeles Clippers (1993–94). He also played briefly for Canarias in the Spanish league. He retired following the 1994-95 season after his oldest son was born.

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Tony Delk
Tony Lorenzo Delk (born January 28, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the New Mexico State Aggies men's basketball team. He was team leader of the 1996 University of Kentucky Wildcats team that won the 1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. After college, he played for seven NBA teams over ten seasons.
Delk attended Haywood Junior High School and Haywood High School in Brownsville, Tennessee. During his 1992 senior year of high school, Delk was named "Mr. Basketball" in the state of Tennessee (TSSAA Class 3A Mr.Basketball 1992) and also to the Parade and McDonald's All-American Teams.
As a sophomore at Kentucky, Delk was voted All-SEC 2nd Team by the coaches and All-SEC 3rd Team by the Associated Press, while also making the All-SEC Tournament Team for his outstanding play. Delk was named to the All-SEC 1st and All-NCAA Regional teams during the 1994-95 season. In the 1995-96 season, Delk was named to the All-American and All-SEC first teams and was named NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player. He also received SEC Player of the Year honors during the season. Delk joined Omega Psi Phi Fraternity while at Kentucky.

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Travis Outlaw
Travis Marquez Outlaw (born September 18, 1984 in Starkville, Mississippi) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association.
Entering the 2003 NBA Draft directly out of Starkville High School, Mississippi, the 6'9" forward was a first-round selection (23rd overall) by the Portland Trail Blazers. He averaged 8.6 points on 44.2% field goal shooting and 3.2 rebounds per game during his first five years in the NBA.
In the 2005 Las Vegas Summer League, Outlaw averaged 18.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in 35.5 minutes. The performance earned him First Team All-RVSL honors. Following the NBA summer league, several teams offered to trade for Outlaw in exchange for a first-round draft pick. Former Portland Trail Blazers director of player personnel Kevin Pritchard said that Travis "... [is] going to be with us for a long time. I feel comfortable enough to say he's going to be a special player."
On April 18, 2007, Outlaw set a new career-high with 36 points against the Golden State Warriors. He became a restricted free agent on July 1, 2007, and signed a three-year contract extension on July 17.

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Tyler Honeycutt
Tyler Deon Honeycutt (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) starting in 2009. He played for two seasons at UCLA before being drafted by the Kings in the second round of the 2011 NBA Draft.
Coming out of Sylmar High School, Honeycutt was very highly regarded, being rated as a top 10 small forward in the country by all of the major recruiting circuits. In his freshman year at UCLA, he played in the final 26 games, starting 18, and led the team in rebounding at 6.5 per game. He was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team. His sophomore year, he improved significantly, being named a team co-MVP, first team All-Pac-10 player, and led the conference in blocks with 2.1 per game. He declared for the NBA draft after the season.
Honeycutt was drafted in the second round with the 35th overall pick by the Sacramento Kings in the 2011 NBA Draft. He played in his first NBA game on December 31, 2011, and scored two points in four minutes. On January 1, 2012, Honeycutt was assigned to the Reno Bighorns of the NBA D-League. The Kings recalled him on January 24.

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Tyreke Evans
Tyreke Jamir Evans (born September 19, 1989) is an American professional basketball player with Sacramento Kings of the NBA. He played college basketball for the University of Memphis, and was selected by the Sacramento Kings as the 4th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Evans grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, and was mainly raised by his three older brothers. He attended American Christian Academy in Aston, Pennsylvania, and by his sophomore year began drawing comparisons to NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady. As a senior, he averaged 32.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 4.3 steals. He was named the MVP of the McDonald's High School All-American Game and co-MVP (with Brandon Jennings) of the Jordan Brand Classic. At the age of 16, he was featured in the documentary Gunning for That #1 Spot directed by Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Evans was chosen to be the keeper of the SLAM Magazine High School Diary for the 2008 season.
In April 2008, Evans announced that he would attend the University of Memphis, after also considering Villanova University and the University of Texas.

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Tyrone Corbin
Tyrone Kennedy Corbin (born December 31, 1962 in Columbia, South Carolina) is the head coach of the Utah Jazz in the National Basketball Association. He was installed as head coach on February 10, 2011 following the resignation of longtime coach Jerry Sloan.
Corbin played collegiately at DePaul University from 1981 to 1985. He played in 120 games for the Blue Demons, increasing his scoring average and field goal and free throw percentage in each of his four seasons. Corbin posted averages of 11.5 points (on .504 FG and .764 FT), 7.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steal and 2.3 turnovers in 31.1 minutes per game. He finished seventh on DePaul's career scoring list and was a two-time honorable mention AP All-America selection, as well as an All-NIT choice in 1983, and he was invited to the 1984 Olympic trials. He graduated with a degree in computer science — before becoming a second-round pick of the San Antonio Spurs in the 1985 NBA Draft. He was a team captain in his junior and senior years; the former was Ray Meyer's last as head coach, the latter was Joey Meyer's first. He was inducted into the DePaul University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005.

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Vernon Maxwell
Vernon Maxwell (born September 12, 1965) is a former American college and professional basketball player who was a shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for thirteen seasons during the late 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. Maxwell played college basketball for the University of Florida, and led the Florida Gators to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearances. He was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the 1988 NBA Draft, with his longest and most successful NBA tenure being with the Houston Rockets. The nickname "Mad Max" was bestowed upon Maxwell by color commentators for his clutch three-point shooting, which reached its pinnacle in the deciding game of the 1994 NBA Finals between Houston and New York. Maxwell is among just five players to amass 30 points in a single quarter, accomplishing that feat en route to a 51-point outing January 26, 1991, against Cleveland. Aside from his basketball achievements, he was known for his erratic public behavior and various run-ins with the law.

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Vinny Del Negro
Vincent Joseph "Vinny" Del Negro (born August 9, 1966) is a retired American basketball player. He is the current head coach of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, and was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 2008 until 2010.
Del Negro was born on August 9, 1966, in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father, Vince, was a two-time junior college All-American, and taught his son to play basketball at a young age. Vinny made the varsity basketball team during his freshman year at Cathedral High School. He caught the attention of the basketball coach at Suffield Academy, who persuaded him to attend Suffield Academy so that he could play basketball for them. Vinny led Suffield Academy to two New England championships. He scored 1,116 points, becoming Suffield Academy's all-time leading scorer.
Del Negro played for Jim Valvano at North Carolina State University. As a senior, he was selected to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference team after averaging 15.9 points, 3.6 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game. In his junior season, Del Negro led the Wolfpack to the 1987 ACC Tournament championship and was named tournament MVP.

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Vlade Divac
Vlade Divac (Serbian: Владе Дивац, pronounced [ʋlǎːde dǐːʋats]) (born February 3, 1968 in Prijepolje, Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a retired Yugoslav and Serbian professional basketball player who spent most of his career in the NBA. At 7 ft 1 in, he played center and was known for his passing skills. Divac was among the first group of European basketball players to transfer to the NBA in the late 1980s and was named as one of the 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors. Divac is one of six players in NBA history to record 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocked shots, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon. (The NBA hasn't always kept track of blocked shots, so some other players, such as Bill Russell, probably also had similar career achievements.) Divac is also the only NBA player born and trained outside of the United States to play in over 1,000 games in the NBA. On August 20, 2010, Divac was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his play in international competition.

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Walt Frazier
Walter "Clyde" Frazier (born March 29, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia) is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was blessed with a unique combination of court vision, quickness, and size (he stands 6'4") for a guard. As their floor general, he led the New York Knicks to the franchise's only two NBA Championships (1970 & 1973), and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. Upon his retirement from basketball, Frazier went into broadcasting; he is currently a color commentator for telecasts of Knicks games on the MSG Network.
The eldest of nine children, Frazier attended Atlanta's David Tobias Howard High School. He quarterbacked the football team and played catcher on the baseball team. He learned basketball on a rutted and dirt playground, the only facility available at his all-black school in the racially segregated South of the 1950s. After having a great career at Howard, Frazier attended Southern Illinois University. Although he was offered other scholarships for his football skills, Frazier accepted a basketball offer from Southern Illinois University.

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Walt Hazzard
Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr., later Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (April 15, 1942 – November 18, 2011), known professionally as Walt Hazzard, was an American college, Olympic and professional basketball player and college basketball coach. He is best known for his association with the men's basketball team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), having been a star player for that team in the 1960s and having served as the team's head coach in the 1980s. He died on November 18, 2011.
Hazzard attended Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his teams went 89-3 and he was named the city's player of the year when he was a senior. Hazzard then went on to UCLA, where he became an important player on the varsity basketball team. In Hazzard's first season on the varsity squad, the UCLA Bruins made their first Final Four appearance in the 1962 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They lost to the eventual champion, the Cincinnati Bearcats in the semi-finals.
UCLA's undefeated season, 1963–64, was in no small part due to Hazzard, his backcourt partner Gail Goodrich, and the team's coach John Wooden. The team won the NCAA Championship, and Hazzard was selected by the Associated Press as the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Hazzard was chosen as an All-American and also selected as College Player of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). His number 42 jersey was retired by UCLA in 1996 in Pauley Pavilion, but Hazzard gave his permission for stand-out recruit Kevin Love to wear the number.

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Wayne Ellington
Wayne Robert Ellington Jr. (born November 29, 1987 in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania), is an American basketball player who was drafted 28th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association. Ellington played for the University of North Carolina from 2006 to 2009. Ellington, 6'4" tall and 200 lbs, is a shooting guard who chose to forgo his final season of college eligibility to declare for the 2009 NBA Draft. His career-best performance came during a 90–88 overtime win against Clemson on January 6, 2008, in which he led all scorers with 36 points.
Ellington scored 2,211 points in his high school career, tallying 455 points at Daniel Boone High School, and then 1,756 points at The Episcopal Academy. He played at Episcopal along with Gerald Henderson, Jr., a member of the Charlotte Bobcats. In his senior year, Ellington averaged 21.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and shot 39% from the 3-Point line. He led Episcopal to an overall record of 52-7 in his junior and senior year, and to the Inter-Academic League Conference title in his last two years going 20-0 in both seasons. (Episcopal doesn't play in state championships.)

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Wayne Embry
Wayne Richard Embry (born March 26, 1937 in Springfield, Ohio) is a retired American basketball player; a center/forward whose 11-year career spanned from 1959 to 1969. He played for the Cincinnati Royals, Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks all of the NBA.
He attended Miami University and Tecumseh High School (both in Ohio) before that.

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Wikipedia Persondata
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Will Perdue
William Edward Perdue (born August 29, 1965) is a retired American NBA basketball player who was a member of four NBA championship teams. Perdue is now an ESPN basketball commentator and analyst.
Perdue attended Merritt Island High School, Merritt Island, Florida. He then played basketball at Vanderbilt University, where he was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and SEC Male Athlete of the Year in 1988. He was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 11th overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. Between 1991 and 1993, he won three championships with the Bulls, mainly as a backup to center Bill Cartwright. He became a regular starter during the 1994–95 NBA season, during which he averaged 8.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. However, the emergence of Luc Longley made him expendable, and before the next season's training camp, the Bulls traded him to the San Antonio Spurs for Dennis Rodman. Perdue won his fourth NBA championship with the Spurs in 1999.
In August 1999, Perdue rejoined the Chicago Bulls as a free agent. He started 15 of 67 games for them in 1999–2000, averaging 2.5 points and 3.9 rebounds. After the 2000 season, Perdue left Chicago and signed with the Portland Trail Blazers, where he averaged 1.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and 4.5 minutes in 13 games. He averaged 4.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game over a thirteen-year career.

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Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American basketball player. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA; he played for the University of Kansas and also for the Harlem Globetrotters before playing in the NBA. The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain weighed 250 pounds as a rookie before bulking up to 275 and eventually to over 300 pounds with the Lakers. He played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in NBA history.
Chamberlain holds numerous NBA all-time records in scoring, rebounding and durability categories. He is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season. He also won seven scoring, nine field goal percentage, and eleven rebounding titles, and once even led the league in assists. Although he suffered a long string of professional losses, Chamberlain had a successful career, winning two NBA championships, earning four regular-season Most Valuable Player awards, the Rookie of the Year award, one NBA Finals MVP award, and being selected to 13 All-Star Games and ten All-NBA First and Second teams. Chamberlain was subsequently enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team of 1980, and chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History of 1996.

wn.com/Wilt_Chamberlain

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss %
Post season	PG	Playoff Games	PW	Playoff Wins	PL	Playoff Losses	PW–L %	Playoff Win-loss %

v t e Current head coaches in the National Basketball Association
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Doc Rivers (Boston Celtics) Avery Johnson (Brooklyn Nets) Mike Woodson (New York Knicks) Doug Collins (Philadelphia 76ers) Dwane Casey (Toronto Raptors)	Central Tom Thibodeau (Chicago Bulls) Byron Scott (Cleveland Cavaliers) Lawrence Frank (Detroit Pistons) Frank Vogel (Indiana Pacers) Scott Skiles (Milwaukee Bucks)	Southeast Larry Drew (Atlanta Hawks) Vacant (Charlotte Bobcats) Erik Spoelstra (Miami Heat) Vacant (Orlando Magic) Randy Wittman (Washington Wizards)
Western Conference
Southwest Rick Carlisle (Dallas Mavericks) Kevin McHale (Houston Rockets) Lionel Hollins (Memphis Grizzlies) Monty Williams (New Orleans Hornets) Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs)	Northwest George Karl (Denver Nuggets) Rick Adelman (Minnesota Timberwolves) Scott Brooks (Oklahoma City Thunder) Kaleb Canales (Portland Trail Blazers) Tyrone Corbin (Utah Jazz)	Pacific Mark Jackson (Golden State Warriors) Vinny Del Negro (Los Angeles Clippers) Mike Brown (Los Angeles Lakers) Alvin Gentry (Phoenix Suns) Keith Smart (Sacramento Kings)

Persondata
Name	Smart, Keith
Alternative names
Short description	American basketball player-coach
Date of birth	September 21, 1964
Place of birth	Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Date of death
Place of death

No. 13 – Sacramento Kings

Guard / Small forward
Personal information
Born	(1989-09-19) September 19, 1989 (age 22) Chester, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
High school	American Christian Academy
Listed height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
College	Memphis (2008-2009)
NBA Draft	2009 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall
Selected by the Sacramento Kings
Pro career	2009–present
League	NBA
Career history
2009–present	Sacramento Kings
Career highlights and awards
NBA Rookie of the Year (2010) NBA All-Rookie First Team (2010) T-Mobile Rookie Challenge MVP (2010) Conference USA Freshman of the Year (2009) First-team All-Conference USA (2009) Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament MVP (2009) McDonald's All-American Game MVP (2008) Parade first-team All-American (2008)

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

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
CLE	2002–03	40	9	31	.255	8th in Central	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
GSW	2010–11	82	36	46	.439	3rd in Pacific	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
SAC	2011–12	59	20	39	.339	5th in Pacific	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Career		181	65	116	.359

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2009–10	Sacramento	72	72	37.2	.458	.255	.748	5.3	5.8	1.5	0.4	20.1
2010–11	Sacramento	57	53	37.0	.409	.291	.771	4.8	5.6	1.5	0.5	17.8
2011–12	Sacramento	63	61	34.3	.453	.202	.779	4.6	4.5	1.3	0.5	16.5
Career		192	186	36.2	.441	.255	.762	4.9	5.3	1.4	0.4	18.2

Persondata
Name	Evans, Tyreke
Alternative names
Short description	American basketball player
Date of birth	September 19, 1989
Place of birth	Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death

No. 15 – Sacramento Kings
Cousins in August 2011 at the Drew League/Goodman League game.
Center
Personal information
Born	(1990-08-13) August 13, 1990 (age 21) Mobile, Alabama
Nationality	American
High school	LeFlore High School, Mobile, Alabama
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	270 lb (122 kg)
Career information
College	Kentucky
NBA Draft	2010 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5th overall
Selected by the Sacramento Kings
Pro career	2010–present
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Rookie First Team (2011) NBA BBVA Rising Star (2012)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2010–11	Sacramento	81	62	28.5	.430	.167	.687	8.6	2.5	1.0	0.8	14.1
2011–12	Sacramento	64	62	30.5	.448	.143	.702	11.0	1.6	1.4	1.2	18.1
Career		145	124	29.4	.439	.156	.694	9.7	2.1	1.2	1.0	15.9

Persondata
Name	Cousins, Demarcus
Alternative names
Short description	American basketball player
Date of birth	August 13, 1990
Place of birth	Mobile, Alabama
Date of death
Place of death

Isaiah Thomas
oil on canvas by Ethan Allen Greenwood in 1818 (American Antiquarian Society)
Born	January 30, 1749 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	April 4, 1831
Signature

Persondata
Name	Thomas, Isaiah
Alternative names
Short description	Massachusetts printer, publisher and journalist
Date of birth	January 8, 1749
Place of birth	Boston, Massachusetts
Date of death	April 4, 1831
Place of death	Worcester, Massachusetts

Season	Team	G	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	FG%	3P%	FT%	MIN	TO
2009–10	Marshall Thundering Herd	34	13.1	8.9	0.3	0.6	5.4	.524	.600	.588	26.1	1.9
Totals:		34	13.1	8.9	0.3	0.6	5.4	.524	.600	.588	26.1	1.9

Persondata
Name	Whiteside, Hassan
Alternative names
Short description	American basketball player
Date of birth	June 13, 1989
Place of birth	Gastonia, North Carolina
Date of death
Place of death

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[edit] The Massachusetts Spy

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