1996–97 New Jersey Nets Season
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1996–97 New Jersey Nets Season
The 1996–97 NBA season was the Nets' 30th season in the National Basketball Association, and 21st season in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In the 1996 NBA draft, the Nets selected Kerry Kittles out of Villanova Wildcats, Villanova with the eighth pick. In the off-season, the team signed free agents Robert Pack (basketball), Robert Pack, Tony Massenburg, Xavier McDaniel, who played in Greece during the previous season, and David Benoit (basketball), David Benoit, who missed the entire season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Under new head coach John Calipari, the Nets continued to struggle losing their first five games of the season, which included two games against the 1996–97 Orlando Magic season, Orlando Magic in Tokyo, Japan. The team held a 13–33 record at the All-Star break. At midseason, the Nets traded Pack along with Shawn Bradley, Khalid Reeves and second-year forward Ed O'Bannon to the 1996–97 Dallas Mavericks season, Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Sam Cassell, ...
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John Calipari
John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (in 1996, 2008 and 2015), and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. He was previously the head coach at the University of Massachusetts from 1988 to 1996, the NBA's New Jersey Nets from 1996 to 1999 and the University of Memphis from 2000 to 2009, and was the head coach of the Dominican Republic national team in 2011 and 2012. Calipari has coached Kentucky to four Final Fours, in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He also led UMass and Memphis to the Final Four in 1996 and 2008 respectively; those appearances were later vacated, though Calipari was cleared of wrongdoing in both cases. As a college coach, Calipari has twenty-seven 20-win seasons, eleven 30-win seasons, and five 35-win seasons. ...
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Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 million residents ; the city proper has a population of 13.99 million people. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Tokyo serves as Japan's economic center and is the seat of both the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. Originally a fishing village named Edo, the city became politically prominent in 1603, when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, Edo was one of the most populous cities in the world with a population of over one million people. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to Edo, which was renamed "Tokyo" (). Tokyo was devastated b ...
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Jayson Williams
Jayson Williams (born February 22, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 11 seasons, primarily with the New Jersey Nets. He played his first three seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, who acquired him in trade with the Phoenix Suns following the 1990 NBA draft. Williams spent the remainder of his career with the Nets and was an All-Star in 1998. Following his retirement, Williams was charged in 2002 with the accidental shooting death of a limousine driver. He pled guilty to aggravated assault in 2010 and served a 27-month prison sentence. Early life Williams was born in Ritter, South Carolina, to Elijah Joshua "EJ" Williams and Barbara Williams. He is of Polish, Italian and African-American descent. His mother Barbara worked for years at Gouverneur skilled nursing facility in lower Manhattan. Raised Catholic, Williams moved to Brooklyn at the age of twelve and attended Christ The King Regional Hi ...
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Kendall Gill
Kendall Cedric Gill (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who now works as a television basketball analyst. Early life Gill was born in Chicago and attended Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois. Graduating in 1986 as a senior, he led Rich Central to a second-place finish in the IHSA class AA state boys basketball tournament. Gill led his team in scoring with 54 points in the four games of the tournament finals, and was named to the six-player All-Tournament team. After high school, Gill attended the University of Illinois. Playing four years for the Fighting Illini, he was a starter in his last three seasons. As a junior, Gill led the Fighting Illini to the 1989 Final Four before losing to Michigan on a last-second shot. Also among that fabled ''" Flyin' Illini"'' squadron were future NBA players Nick Anderson, Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle and Illini TV/radio broadcaster Stephen Bardo as well as four-year starter Lowell Ha ...
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Joe Kleine
Joseph William Kleine (born January 4, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player who played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and for the US national team. He won a gold medal as a member of the United States men's basketball team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1998, he won the NBA championship as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Kleine is now a restaurant proprietor, owning a number of successful Corky's Ribs & BBQ restaurants. College career Kleine, a seven-foot center, graduated from Slater High School in Slater, Missouri and originally enrolled to play basketball at the University of Notre Dame. After his freshman season, Kleine transferred to the University of Arkansas where he played alongside Darrell Walker and Alvin Robertson, who, like Kleine, would go on to have productive professional careers. Kleine's first season at Arkansas, he helped the Razorbacks to a 26-4 record, finish second in the Southwest Confere ...
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1996–97 Los Angeles Lakers Season
The 1996–97 NBA season was the Los Angeles Lakers' 49th season in the National Basketball Association, and 37th in the city of Los Angeles. This season was mostly remembered for the Lakers signing free agent All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal to a seven-year, $120 million deal, and acquiring high school basketball star Kobe Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets, who selected him with the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA draft during the off-season. The team also signed former Lakers guard Byron Scott from the "Showtime" era, signed free agents Jerome Kersey and Sean Rooks, and acquired rookie center Travis Knight from the Chicago Bulls. In January, they traded Cedric Ceballos back to his former team, the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Robert Horry, who won two championships with the Houston Rockets. The Lakers had the eighth best team defensive rating in the NBA. The Lakers played strong basketball as they had the best record in the Western Conference at the All-Star break with a 35– ...
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George McCloud
George Aaron McCloud (born May 27, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player who played eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life McCloud attended Mainland High School in Daytona Beach and Florida State University in Tallahassee. While at Florida State, McCloud was among the most discussed NBA prospects in the school’s history. Professional career McCloud was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the 1st round (7th overall) of the 1989 NBA Draft. The 6'6" (1.98 m) guard–forward averaged 5.5 points per game overall for the Pacers, perhaps peaking in the 1992 NBA Playoffs as he averaged 11.5 points and 3 assists per game as the Pacers lost to the Boston Celtics in the first round. Earlier that season, McCloud was suspended for one game and fined for a postgame fight with Cleveland’s John Battle. He was released after four seasons and played basketball in Italy during the 1993–94 season. He signed with the Dallas Maveric ...
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Eric Montross
Eric Scott “Big Grits” Montross (born September 23, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eight seasons with the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, and Toronto Raptors. Born in Indianapolis, he played for Lawrence North High School before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to play for the Tar Heels. High school Playing for Lawrence North High School, he was selected as a McDonald's All American in 1990. That same year, he was named to the USA Today All-USA first Team. After leading Lawrence North to the Indiana high school basketball championship Montross committed himself to the North Carolina. Montross was also a baseball pitcher in high school and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs with the 1,547th pick overall in the 1994 MLB draft. College career He was part of the UNC team that won the NCAA Championship against M ...
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Chris Gatling
Chris Raymond Gatling (born September 3, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player. Gatling played for many National Basketball Association (NBA) teams from 1991 to 2002. He played for the US national team in the 1990 FIBA World Championship, winning the bronze medal. College career Gatling played three years at Old Dominion University after transferring there from the University of Pittsburgh. He is ODU's sixth all-time scorer with 1,811 points. He also hauled down 859 career rebounds which rank him ninth all-time. Gatling is the school's all-time field goal percentage leader at .606 (697–1150), and is second all-time at ODU with (12) 30-point games. He shot .620 (251–405) from the field in 1991. Gatling scored 36 points in a game against UNC Charlotte in 1991 and against Alabama-Birmingham in March 1989. He earned honorable mention All-American honors in 1990 and 1991. Gatling was named sophomore of the year in 1988, and then Sun Belt Conference Player ...
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Jim Jackson (basketball)
James Arthur Jackson (born October 14, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player. Over his 14 National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons, Jackson was on the active roster of 12 different teams, which was an NBA record shared with Joe Smith, Tony Massenburg, Chucky Brown, and Ish Smith; until Ish played with the Denver Nuggets, his 13th team, in the 2022-23 season. He is currently a basketball analyst for Fox Sports, Turner Sports and the Los Angeles Clippers on Bally Sports West, having previously worked for the Big Ten Network. High school career Jackson was a 6'6" (198 cm), shooting guard who started all four years at Macomber High School in Toledo, Ohio. The former McDonald's All American led Macomber to the 1989 Division I state championship over Cleveland St. Joseph. He was high school teammates with former NFL safety Myron Bell. College career Jackson was a member of the Ohio State Buckeyes. He instantly contributed, starting as a fresh ...
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Sam Cassell
Samuel James Cassell Sr. (born November 18, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach and former point guard who serves as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Drafted 24th overall in the 1993 NBA draft out of Florida State, Cassell played for eight different teams during his 15-year career. He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and All-NBA Team once, both in the 2003–04 season. In his first two seasons, he helped the Houston Rockets win back to back championships, in 1994 and 1995, and won a third with the Boston Celtics in 2008, his last season. He also helped the Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves reach the Conference Finals of the playoffs in 2001 and 2004 respectively, the latter's first-ever in franchise history, and helped the Los Angeles Clippers to their first-ever playoff series victory in 2006. Known for his mid-range jumpshot, Cassell often made clutch baskets late in the fourth quarter to he ...
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1996–97 Dallas Mavericks Season
The 1996–97 NBA season was the Mavericks' 17th season in the National Basketball Association. The Mavericks had the ninth pick in the 1996 NBA draft, and selected Samaki Walker out of Louisville. In the off-season, the team signed free agents Chris Gatling, Oliver Miller, and former Mavs guard Derek Harper, and acquired Eric Montross Eric Scott “Big Grits” Montross (born September 23, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eight seasons with the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets ... from the 1995–96 Boston Celtics season, Boston Celtics, and signed undrafted rookie guard Erick Strickland. Under new head coach Jim Cleamons, the Mavericks struggles continued with a 4–10 start in November. With the team not showing any improvement, they traded All-Star guard Jason Kidd to the 1996–97 Phoenix Suns season, Phoenix Suns in exchange for second-year star Michael Finley, Sam Casse ...
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