Brandon Knight

Knight in an exhibition game against the Dominican Republic National Team in 2011
No. 7 – Detroit Pistons
Point Guard
Personal information
Born	(1991-12-02) December 2, 1991 (age 20) Miami, Florida
Nationality	American
High school	Pine Crest (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	189 lb (86 kg)
Career information
College	Kentucky
NBA Draft	2011 / Round: 1 / Pick: 8th overall
Selected by the Detroit Pistons
Pro career	2011–present
League	National Basketball Association
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Rookie First Team (2012)
Stats at NBA.com

Brandon Knight (born December 2, 1991) is an American professional basketball point guard with the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association. Knight won the 2009 and 2010 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year Awards. He became the third junior to receive the award following LeBron James (2002) and Greg Oden (2005).^[1]

High school career[link]

Knight attended Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Knight was recognized in 2009 and again in 2010 as the Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year as a junior and senior. Knight was the first student-athlete from the state of Florida to win Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors.^[2] A national advisory board was composed of sportswriters and sport-specific experts from around the US. This board selected Knight from more than 552,000 high school boys basketball players nationwide. Knight maintained a 4.3 grade-point average.^[3]

In his junior year, he led the Panthers to their second consecutive Class 3A state title. He averaged 31.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and three steals per game during the season. Knight scored 27 points, pulled down nine rebounds and dished four assists in a 60–44 win over Jones High in the state final. He beat his own school single-season record by more than 200 points, finishing with 968 points. He also set a school record with 127 three-pointers. These accomplishments contributed to Knight being named the 2009 Florida Mr. Basketball.

Knight is second all time on the scoring list for high school basketball in Florida, amassing a staggering 3,515 points from 2005–2010. If not for missing 19 games his junior season, Knight might have been first on the scoring list.

On March 4, 2010, Knight played his last high school basketball game. After injuring his groin in the state semi-finals, he led Pine Crest to the championship game seeking a third consecutive Class 3A state title, but lost 70–46 to Rickards High School of Tallahassee.^[4]

Knight played in the 2010 McDonald's All-American Game in Columbus and hit the game winning 3 point basket to give the West a 107–104 victory. Also, he played in the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland and in 2010 Jordan Brand Classic in New York.^[5]

AAU[link]

Knight also had much success on the AAU circuit. As a sophomore, Brandon's Team Breakdown won the Junior Division National Championship, which is the most competitive division in AAU.^{[citation needed]} The following year, Knight formed a dominating backcourt with current Florida guard Kenny Boynton, Raymond Taylor and Team Breakdown defended their title easily. Once Boynton graduated, Knight switched to Team STAT/Each One Teach One during 2009, joining Austin Rivers in the backcourt. Knight broke his foot in mid July during a game at the Nike Peach Jam Tournament and took the rest of the summer off to rest his foot.^[6]

College recruiting[link]

Knight was ranked as the No. 4 recruit in the class of 2010 in the ESPNU 100, and the No. 6 recruit by Rivals.com and Scout.com.

Knight considered Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, and Syracuse. He had in-home visits with Kansas, Kentucky, and UConn.^[7] Knight had also taken official campus visits to Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, and Miami.^[8]

On April 14, 2010, Knight signed an aid agreement with the University of Kentucky, not a letter of intent. Amid rumors that Kentucky coach John Calipari would jump to coach in the NBA, Knight's parents advised him to sign an aid agreement. An aid agreement is different from a letter of intent in that the aid agreement is only a one way commitment: Kentucky committed to give him one scholarship year, while he could have transferred without any repercussions from the NCAA. By signing an aid agreement, the Wildcats were committed to Knight, but he was not committed to them.^[9]

Kentucky[link]

In his UK debut, Knight had 31 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 0 turnovers. Knight led Kentucky to a 95–62 win in an exhibition game in Canada over the Windsor Lancers.^[10] Knight had 17 points and 5 assists in his Kentucky debut.^[11] In 14 games completed, Knight led all freshmen in the nation in scoring, averaging 18.3 ppg on 47% from the field and 40% from the 3-point line. He also averaged 33 minutes a game, with 4 assists and 3 rebounds per game. Impressively, Knight won SEC freshman of the week three times.^[12] In January Knight was one of 20 players selected as a finalist for the 2011 Bob Cousy Award, given to the year's best point guard in college basketball.^[13] He was picked for the Fifth Team All-America by Fox Sports.^[14] He led his team to an SEC championship victory and then went on to advance to the Final Four.

Professional career[link]

Knight left Kentucky after his freshman season to enter the 2011 NBA Draft. On June 23, 2011 Knight was selected by the Detroit Pistons with the 8th overall pick in the draft.^[15] On February 8, 2012, Knight was selected to play in the 2012 Rising Stars competition; he was drafted to play for Team Shaq. Knight scored a career high 28 points in a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 17, 2012.

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Awards and honors[link]

• 2011 SEC Freshman of the Week (1/3/11)^[12]
• 2010 SEC Freshman of the Week (12/27/10)^[12]
• 2010 SEC Freshman of the Week (11/13/10)^[12]
• 2010 McDonald's All-American team selection
• 2010 Jordan Brand High School All-American team selection
• 2010 Gatorade National Basketball Player of the Year^[16]
• 2009 Gatorade National Basketball Player of the Year^[17]
• 2009 Gatorade Player of the Year Florida^[18]
• 2009 Florida Mr. Basketball
• 2009 First Team All-State selection

• Nominee, Gatorade Male High School Athlete of the Year Award
• Panhandle Sports Broadcasting 2009 Class 3A Tournament MVP^[19]
• Pine Crest school records:
  • Career points (3,515)
  • Single-season points (968)
  • Points in a game (55)
  • Career assists (594)
  • Single-game assists (16)
  • Career 3-pointers (259)
  • Single-season 3-pointers (127)
  • Single-season free throw percentage (81)

Personal life[link]

Knight is the son of Efrem and Tonya Knight.^[20]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Kentucky Bio
• NBADraft.net Profile
• Rivals.com Profile
• Scout.com Profile

Brandon Knight may refer to:

• Brandon Knight (basketball) (born 1991), American basketball player
• Brandon Knight (baseball) (born 1975), American baseball player

See also[link]

• Brandin Knight (born 1981), American basketball player

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Kyrie Irving

Irving in 2010
No. 2 – Cleveland Cavaliers
Point guard
Personal information
Born	(1992-03-23) March 23, 1992 (age 20) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian/American
High school	St. Patrick's High School, Elizabeth, New Jersey
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	191 lb (87 kg)
Career information
College	Duke
NBA Draft	2011 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Pro career	2011–present
League	National Basketball Association
Career highlights and awards
NBA Rookie of the Year (2012) NBA All-Rookie First Team (2012) Rising Stars Challenge MVP (2012)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Kyrie Irving (born March 23, 1992) is an Australian-American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played as a point guard for Duke University as a freshman before being selected as the 1st overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by Cleveland. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2012. Irving was born in Melbourne and grew up in New Jersey.

Early life[link]

Irving was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia where his father, Drederick Irving, played professional basketball for the Bulleen Boomers. Irving subsequently lived in Australia before relocating to the United States at the age of 2. He has dual citizenship in the United States and Australia.^[1] Irving's mother, Elizabeth, died from an illness when he was four, so Drederick raised him with the help of Irving's aunts.^[2] Growing up in New Jersey, Irving was a fan of the New Jersey Nets. His father took him and his sister to Continental Airlines Arena during the 2003 NBA Finals.^[3]

High school career[link]

Irving played for Montclair Kimberley Academy his freshman and sophomore years, where he averaged 26.5 points, 10.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 3.6 steals and became only the school's 2nd 1,000 point scorer, before transferring to St. Patrick.^[4] While at St. Patrick High School, Irving played with Michael Gilchrist, who was widely regarded as one of the best players in the class of 2011.^[5][6] On January 20, 2010, it was announced that Irving was selected to the 2010 Junior National Select Team. The team played at the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, on April 10.^[7] He was also selected to play in the 2010 McDonald's All-American Game^[8] and the 2010 Jordan Brand Classic, where he was named as co-mvp with Harrison Barnes.^[9] In June 2010 Irving was a part of the gold medal winning team at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.^[10] Irving was the #2 player in the class of 2010 by Scout.com,^[11] #3 player in the ESPNU 100,^[12] and rated as the #4 player by Rivals.com.^[13]

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Kyrie Irving PG	West Orange, New Jersey	St. Patrick HS	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	191 lb (87 kg)	Oct 22, 2009
	Scout:   Rivals:   ESPN grade: 97
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 2   Rivals: 4  ESPN: 3
Note: In many cases, Scout and Rivals may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, an average of the two was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Duke Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. http://rivals.yahoo.com/basketballrecruiting/basketball/recruiting/commitments/2010/alabama-2. Retrieved 2011-01-21.  "2010 Duke Basketball Commits". Scout.com. http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=167&p=9&cfg=bb&c=8&yr=2010. Retrieved 2011-01-21.  "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=167&p=9&cfg=bb&c=14&yr=2010. Retrieved 2011-01-21.  "2010 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1088659. Retrieved 2011-01-21.

College career[link]

Irving committed to Duke on October 22, 2009, in a television broadcast on ESPNU. Irving started playing with Duke in the 2010–11 basketball season under the guidance of head coach Mike Krzyzewski. He led the team in scoring at 17.4 points per game on 53.2% shooting through the first eight games of the season. In addition, he added 5.1 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game as he quickly began to make his case for NCAA Freshman of the Year.

In Duke's 8th game of the season, Irving suffered a severe ligament injury in his right big toe that sidelined him indefinitely. His right foot was placed in a cast on December 10, 2010. The cast was removed on February 4, 2011, and Irving began rehab.

On March 17, the day before Duke played Hampton in the first round of the NCAA tournament, it was revealed that Kyrie would return for his first game since Dec. 4th. It was announced that he would come off of the bench and play limited minutes.^{[citation needed]}

Duke lost to Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen. Irving scored 28 points in what turned out to be his last game for Duke.

Professional career[link]

Cleveland Cavaliers (2011–present)[link]

Irving announced that he would forgo his final three seasons of eligibility and enter the 2011 NBA Draft where he was the number 1 pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers.^[14][15] He signed an agent in early May 2011.^[16] Irving signed a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers alongside rookie teammate Tristan Thompson on December 10, 2011.

Irving got off to a fast start, and through twenty-three games, had ten games with 20+ points, including a loss to the Nets in which he had 32 points. In that game, Irving scored 21 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Both Irving and his teammate Thompson were named to the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge. However, Irving played for Team Chuck, while Thompson played for Team Shaq. Irving scored 34 points in the game, earning MVP honors.^[17] Irving won the 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year Award, receiving 117 of a possible 120 first-place votes.^[18] Irving was also the only unanimous selection to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.^[19] Over the season, he averaged 18.5 points, 5.4 assists and shot .469 from the field and .399 on three-pointers.^[20]

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Personal life[link]

Irving has made a promise to his father that he would finish his bachelor's degree at Duke by taking classes during the next few summers.^[21]

Awards and honors[link]

• 2010 McDonald's All-American team selection
• 2010 Nike Hoop Summit All-American team selection
• 2010 Jordan Brand High School All-American team selection
• 2011 NBA Draft 1st Overall Draft Pick
• 2011–12 NBA Rookie of the Month, December, January, February, March
• 2012 Rising Stars Challenge MVP
• 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year Award
• 2012 NBA All-Rookie First Team

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kyrie Irving

• Official Facebook Page
• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com, or Basketball-Reference.com, or ESPN.com

• Duke biography
• NBADraft.net profile
• Scout.com profile
• Rivals.com profile
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