DeAngelo Marquis Collins (born November 21, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player.

High school career

The son of single mother Loretta Marie Taylor, he grew up in Stockton, California in a low-income neighborhood and since the beginning of his high school career Collins was a promising basketball player whose career was often slowed down by discipline issues. During his first year at Tustin High he was involved in a fight with a teammate, during which Collins caused serious injuries to the other student and was sentenced to 6 months in juvenile hall. After several more issues with the law (including another sentence for 2 months to be served in juvenile detention), Collins and his mother moved to Inglewood, California in an attempt to change the violent attitude of the teenager. This decision proved beneficial to the young Collins, who reportedly started to improve his behavior, helped by the guidance of Inglewood high school coach Patrick Roy.BEST In, Upperclassmen, Foreigners, Underclassmen, Junior College, High
ESPN.com. While he averaged 12 points and 12 rebounds in his 29 games of his freshman season at Tustin, he improved his numbers and recorded averages of 20 points and 15 rebounds in his sophomore year. Collins became nationally known during his last year of high school, during which he reached the first positions of most rankings:
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Hoop Scoop. throughout his senior year he was consistently ranked among the top 10 players of his class, going as high as 7th in the nation.Mark Mayemura

ESPN.com. During the 2001 ABCD Camp he was ranked among the top 10 players and was named MVP of the Seniors All-Star Game with 23 points and 10 rebounds.Final Ranking of the Top Players at the adidas ABCD Camp
Hoop Scoop. He also played during the Youth Development Festival organized by USA Basketball. According to various experts who watched him play during his high school days, his skillset was unusual: while his 6-9 frame (several sources listed him at 6-10) generally made him play as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

during his high school games, he was capable of playing the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

position thanks to his shooting skills and his quickness: he was frequently described as having the body of a big man and the skills of a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

.Draft Tracker - DeAngelo Collins
/ref> This also represented one of his weaknesses: while he had good skills in several parts of the game, he did not truly excel in any of them. After averaging 24.5 points and 17.4 rebounds, Collins was selected as a Third-team ''Parade'' All-American and as a

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger s ...

. During the

2002 McDonald's All-American Boys Game The 2002 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an All-star basketball game played on Thursday, April 4, 2002 at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited high school boy ...

he scored 15 points and recorded 6 rebounds. On May 1, 2002 Collins announced that he was going to skip college and enter the 2002 NBA draft as an early entrant.Roseto: ingaggiato DeAngelo Collins
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Professional career

During the 2002 draft, no NBA team selected Collins, who was then allowed to sign for any team as an unrestricted free agent. Despite having participated in the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

preseason camp, he did not receive any offers from the Raptors or any NBA team, and he decided to start his professional career in Europe. His first professional club was

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

-based

Darüşşafaka S.K. Darüşşafaka, meaning "home of compassion" in Ottoman Turkish, may refer to: * Darüşşafaka Society, a Turkish educational association founded to train apprentices ** Darüşşafaka High School, a school in Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey * Darü� ...

, and he played 1 game in the 2002–03 ULEB Cup: in 14 minutes of play he scored both of his field goals, scoring 4 points and recording 3 rebounds. Collins briefly played for several teams and struggled to find stability: in January 2004 he signed for Central Entrerriano, in the Argentine

Liga Nacional de Básquet The Liga Nacional de Básquet (abbreviated LNB, and literally in English, "National Basketball League"), also commonly referred to as "La Liga de Básquet" ("The Basketball League"), is the top-tier level of the Argentine basketball league system ...

, as a temporary replacement for Anthony Bishop, and played only 4 games there, averaging 20.5 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. After the short stint in Argentina he transferred to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he played for the Juarez Gallos. In 2004 he was called by the Philadelphia 76ers to be part of their Summer League squad, but he had to move to another country once more to find playing time: he signed for

Red Bull Barako Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

of the Philippine league. He came back to the United States to play for the Florida Flame, where he appeared in 12 games, averaging only 2.3 points and 4.3 rebounds.Chris Wang
SBL Imports Situation
Jumpshot.sg, November 21, 2011. At the beginning of 2005 he signed for Yunnan Honghe in the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

CBL, where he played 16 games with drastically improved averages of 28.9 points and 16.6 rebounds. After a brief experience at Grises de Humacao in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, Collins came back to Europe and in July 2005 he signed for Italian club Roseto, but during his three months there he only played 4 games, averaging 3.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in 15 minutes of play. The Italian team released him on October 22, 2005, following to several disciplinary issues, among which an argument with teammate Jack Michael Martínez that almost escalated in a fight. After Italy, Collins decided to play for the

Dodge City Legend The Dodge City Legend was a professional basketball franchise located in Dodge City, Kansas in the United States Basketball League, a minor league that played in the spring. The Legend won three USBL titles, in 2000, its first season, 2003 and in ...

in the

USBL The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

, appearing in 13 games. Another NBA team gave Collins a chance during the 2007 Summer Pro League: the Dallas Mavericks. He was not included in the final roster and had again to go abroad, this time in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

when he averaged 10 points per game with Orthodox, and in March 2007 he moved to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

where he played 5 games with

Cocodrilos de Caracas Cocodrilos de Caracas () is a Venezuelan professional basketball club based in Caracas. Established in 1990, the club competes in the Venezuelan SuperLiga and has won six national championships. The Cocodrilos' home games are played at the Parque ...

, averaging 8.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1 block per game in 26.4 minutes of playing time. After two short stints in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and in the American WCBL, Collins found a relatively stable role as a starter in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, where he joined the

Seoul SK Knights The Seoul SK Knights ( ko, 서울 SK 나이츠) is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League. The club was originally founded by Jinro Group in 1997 as Cheongju Jinro McCass. Before the official launch of the basketball clu ...

for 33 games, averaging 11.6 points and 10.3 rebounds. In January 2010 he came back to China, signing for the

Jilin Northeast Tigers The Jilin Northeast Tigers () or Jilin Tonggang, Jilin Tonggang Northeast Tigers () or Jiutai Rural Commercial Bank are a professional basketball team based in Changchun, Jilin, China, which plays in the North Division of the Chinese Basketball ...

, where he appeared in 14 games. He played again in Puerto Rico and Venezuela and in 2011 he signed for Shenyang Dongjin, posting averages of 23.1 points and 12.5 rebounds in 19 games.

Notes

References

External links