Derrick Michael Phelps (born July 31, 1972) 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. At 6'4" and 181 lbs., he played as a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

. He was most recently the associate head coach at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

High school

Phelps attended

Christ The King Regional High School Christ the King Regional High School is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic high school for grades 9-12 located in Middle Village, Queens, New York, United States and established in 1962. It is located within the Roman Catholic Dioces ...

, in

Middle Village, Queens Middle Village is a mainly residential neighborhood in the central section of the borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and the forme ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was named to the 1990

McDonald's All-American Team The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

. After, he played in the McDonald's All-American game with future UNC teammates

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 ...

, Brian Reese, and

Clifford Rozier Clifford may refer to: People *Clifford (name), an English given name and surname, includes a list of people with that name * William Kingdon Clifford *Baron Clifford * Baron Clifford of Chudleigh *Baron de Clifford * Clifford baronets *Clifford f ...

College career

Phelps rose to prominence while playing

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...

at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

, with the

Tar Heels Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace back to North Carolina's promi ...

. He was named as an All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

Honorable Mention in 1993, and was named to the 2nd Team in 1994. Phelps was a member of North Carolina's 1993 NCAA National Championship team, as the Tar Heels defeated

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, by a score of 77-71, in the title game. Graduating in 1994, Phelps left college holding two Tar Heel records: most steals in one game (9), and most steals in a career (247). He was also the only player in ACC history with 600 assists, 400 rebounds, and 200 steals.

Professional playing career

Phelps was not drafted by an

NBA 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 St ...

team. He was the sixth overall pick of the 1994

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) draft, by the

Chicago Rockers The Chicago Rockers were a men's professional basketball team based in Chicago from 1994 to 1996. The Rockers competed in the American Conference of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). The team was owned by Chris Devine, a Chicago busi ...

. He did play in three NBA games with 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 1994-95 season. The

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

selected him in the 1995 NBA

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansion ...

, but he did not play for them before they renounced his NBA rights in 1996. He also spent some time during the NBA preseason (but not in any

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

contests) with the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

(1994), and

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 ...

(1997). In 1996, Phelps signed with the German team TTL uniVersa Bamberg, before playing for the CBA's

Rockford Lightning The Rockford Lightning was a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association. They were based in Rockford, Illinois. History The Lightning were the oldest team in the CBA, originally existing as the Lancaster Red Roses fro ...

. From 2000–02, he played with the German club

ALBA Berlin Alba Berlin is a German professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Mercedes ...

, with former UNC teammate Henrik Rödl (having already played with the German club

Telekom Baskets Bonn Telekom Baskets Bonn, also known as Baskets Bonn, is a German professional basketball club that is based in Bonn, Germany. The club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga, which is German basketball league system, the highest level pro basketball le ...

in 1998–2000). He then played in France with

CSP Limoges Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, commonly referred to as Limoges CSP or CSP, is a French professional basketball club based in the city of Limoges. History The club was founded in 1929, but its peak was during the 1980s and 1990s, when they became t ...

, then returned to Germany, and had a brief stint in 2004, with

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish fo ...

in the Polish League. Phelps also played in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, in Germany with

GHP Bamberg Brose Bamberg is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia / North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketb ...

, and in the

Russian Super League Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

with Spartak Primorie Vladivostok. In the 2009-10 season, he played with

Gaz Metan Medias GAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (russian: ГАЗ or Го́рьковский автомоби́льный заво́д, , Gorky Automobile Plant) is a Russian automotive manufacturer located in Nizhny Novgorod, formerly known as Gorky (Го� ...

in the

Romanian League The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

Coaching career

In October 2010, Phelps was named the video coordinator for

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

's men's basketball team. In 2011, he joined the

Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter. There are about 4,400 full- ...

staff as an assistant

. Prior to the start of the 2014 season, he accepted a position as an assistant coach at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He served for three seasons as the associate

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, before following Kyle Smith to

after the 2018-19 season. He stepped down from the position in June 2022.

References

External links

Monmouth coaching biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelps, Derrick 1972 births Living people African-American basketball players Alba Berlin players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands American expatriate basketball people in Poland American expatriate basketball people in Romania American expatriate basketball people in Russia American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York City BC Spartak Primorye players Brose Bamberg players Chicago Rockers players Columbia Lions men's basketball coaches Heroes Den Bosch players La Crosse Bobcats players Limoges CSP players McDonald's High School All-Americans Monmouth Hawks men's basketball coaches North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Point guards Riesen Ludwigsburg players Sacramento Kings players San Francisco Dons men's basketball coaches Śląsk Wrocław basketball players Sportspeople from Queens, New York Telekom Baskets Bonn players Undrafted National Basketball Association players Vancouver Grizzlies expansion draft picks Washington State Cougars men's basketball coaches 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople