Billy Eugene Owens (born May 1, 1969) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who played for several teams in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He played college basketball for Syracuse, where he was an All-American and the 1991 Big East Conference Player of the Year. Born in

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

, Owens played for Carlisle High School.

Amateur career

As a high school senior, Owens averaged 34 points per game, and helped lead Carlisle High School (Pennsylvania) to four consecutive state titles. He was considered to be the second best prep player of 1988, behind Alonzo Mourning. Owens and Mourning were co-MVP's in the McDonald's' Game. Throughout his career, Owens drew some comparisons to

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

due to his great versatility, ball handling and passing skills for his height. In his three seasons with Syracuse he averaged 17.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game out of 103 games. In his junior season he was named

Big East Player of the Year The Big East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year award is given to the men's basketball player in the Big East Conference voted as the top performer by the conference coaches. It was first awarded at the end of the league's inaugural sea ...

Professional career

As a 6'8"

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, he was selected by the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

in the 1991 NBA draft. However, after Owens remained a holdout beyond the start of the regular season, he was traded to the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

in exchange for high-scoring guard

Mitch Richmond Mitchell James Richmond III (born June 30, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. He played collegiately at Moberly Area Community College and Kansas State University. He was a six-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA Tea ...

. The trade broke up the popular " Run TMC" trio of

Tim Hardaway Timothy Duane Hardaway Sr. (born September 1, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. Hardaway played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets a ...

, and

Chris Mullin Christopher Paul Mullin (born July 30, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player, executive and coach. He is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (in 2010 as a memb ...

; Owens' additional height compared to Richmond was the size that coach and general manager

Don Nelson Donald Arvid Nelson (born May 15, 1940) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. Nelson is second all-time in regular season wins of any coach in NBA history, with 1,335 (he held the record for most wins for almost 12 ...

believed would complete the team. Nelson said he "was under pressure to get

he team He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

bigger" to improve the Warriors from a good team to a great one. Owens averaged over 15 points and nearly eight rebounds during his tenure with the Warriors, including an

NBA All-Rookie First Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for playe ...

selection in 1992. The Warriors improved from 44 to 55 games won in his first season. However, he never provided his expected impact and played only three seasons with Golden State. Owens spent ten seasons with the Warriors,

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

, and

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

before a string of injuries finally took its toll; his career ended in 2001.

Coaching

From 2010 to 2018, Owens served as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team at Division III Rutgers-Camden. In practice, players asked Owens how they should prepare themselves for professional careers. “I don’t sugar-coat it because then you’re playing with young kids’ minds,” Owens said. “For them to have their dreams crushed can do serious damage to them when they become real adults.”

National team

He played for the US national team in the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at the Luna Pa ...

, winning the bronze medal. In the same year, he also represented the United States at the

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and led the team in scoring en route to a silver medal.

NBA player statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 80 , , 77 , , 31.4 , , .525 , , .111 , , .654 , , 8.0 , , 2.4 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 37 , , 37 , , 32.5 , , .501 , , .091 , , .639 , , 7.1 , , 3.9 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 16.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 79 , , 72 , , 34.7 , , .507 , , .200 , , .610 , , 8.1 , , 4.1 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 15.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, 70 , , 60 , , 32.8 , , .491 , , .091 , , .620 , , 7.2 , , 3.5 , , 1.1 , , 0.4 , , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 40 , , 40 , , 34.7 , , .505 , , .000 , , .633 , , 7.2 , , 3.4 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 14.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, 22 , , 11 , , 27.0 , , .420 , , .417 , , .643 , , 5.7 , , 3.2 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 9.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, 66 , , 56 , , 30.2 , , .467 , , .347 , , .697 , , 5.9 , , 2.8 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 11.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, 78 , , 78 , , 30.1 , , .464 , , .371 , , .589 , , 7.5 , , 2.8 , , 1.2 , , 0.5 , , 10.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 21 , , 19 , , 21.5 , , .394 , , .455 , , .800 , , 3.8 , , 1.8 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, 46 , , 7 , , 20.0 , , .434 , , .333 , , .594 , , 4.2 , , 1.3 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 5.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 16 , , 4 , , 24.1 , , .380 , , .286 , , .595 , , 6.8 , , 2.4 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 6.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, 45 , , 14 , , 17.6 , , .383 , , .150 , , .475 , , 4.6 , , 1.2 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 4.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 600 , , 475 , , 29.4 , , .481 , , .291 , , .629 , , 6.7 , , 2.8 , , 0.9 , , 0.5 , , 11.7

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, style="text-align:left;”, Golden State , 4, , 4, , 39.3, , .526, , –, , .630, , 8.3, , 3.3, , 2.0, , 0.5, , 19.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, style="text-align:left;”, Golden State , 3, , 3, , 42.3, , .500, , .000, , .750, , 10.0, , 4.3, , 1.3, , 0.7, , 19.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, style="text-align:left;”,

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, 4, , 4, , 32.8, , .441, , .000, , .500, , 6.5, , 3.5, , 1.0, , 0.3, , 8.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 11 , , 11 , , 37.7 , , .496 , , .000 , , .644 , , 8.1 , , 3.6 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 15.4

References

External links

*
NBA Draft Busts #13
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Billy 1969 births Living people 1990 FIBA World Championship players African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Pennsylvania Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Detroit Pistons players Golden State Warriors players Goodwill Games medalists in basketball McDonald's High School All-Americans Miami Heat players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Carlisle, Pennsylvania Philadelphia 76ers players Sacramento Kings draft picks Sacramento Kings players Seattle SuperSonics players Shooting guards Small forwards Syracuse Orange men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople