Francis Anthony Brickowski (born August 14, 1959) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player, formerly 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 St ...

(NBA).

College and overseas career

Born in

Bayville, New York Bayville (sometimes also referred to as Pine Island) is a village located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 6,669 at the 2010 census. The Incorporated Vi ...

, Brickowski played college basketball for four years as a

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 ...

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 ...

for Penn State. He won the John Lawther Award in 1980 as Penn State's MVP. Brickowski was then selected with the 11th pick of the third round of the

1981 NBA draft The 1981 NBA draft was the 35th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 9, 1981, before the 1981–82 season. The draft was broadcast in the United States on the USA Network. In this draft, 23 NBA t ...

by the New York Knicks. The Knicks considered him not quite ready for the NBA, so he began his professional basketball career in Italy. After a year in Italy, he played for another year in France, and the Knicks relinquished their draft rights after the

1982–83 NBA season __NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab u ...

. Brickowski then played another season overseas for

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

NBA career

Seattle SuperSonics

Brickowski signed with the

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 ...

for the 1984–85 season on September 23, 1984, arriving in the league three years after being drafted. He played in Seattle two seasons.

Los Angeles Lakers

He signed on with the Los Angeles Lakers on October 8, 1986 but only played part of one season.

San Antonio Spurs

The Lakers traded him to the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

, along with Pétur Guðmundsson, two draft choices and cash, for

Mychal Thompson Mychal George Thompson (born January 30, 1955) is a Bahamian-American former basketball player. The top overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Thompson played the center position for the University of Minnesota and center and forward for the Na ...

. Although Brickowski only played 7 games the rest of that season, he played 3 more productive seasons for San Antonio, including scoring a career-high 16 points per game during the 1987–88 season.

Milwaukee Bucks

During the 1990 off-season, the salary cap went up, which led to Brickowski being traded to 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 ...

for

Paul Pressey Paul Matthew Pressey (born December 24, 1958) is an American former professional basketball player who was also an assistant coach for seven different National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. Pressey is widely credited as being one of the initi ...

, to which the Bucks agreed due to an injury to

Larry Krystkowiak Larry Brett Krystkowiak ( ; born September 23, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player, and former head coach of the Utah Utes men's basketball team. Early life He was born in Missoula, Montana, to Bernard and Helen Krystkowia ...

. On March, 22, 1991, Brickowski scored 32 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in a 99–92 victory in Los Angeles against the Lakers. Although the Bucks finished with a respectable 48–34 record, they would be surprisingly swept by

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons ...

and the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. The Bucks would not return to the playoffs until the 1998–99 season. He was a productive player during his time in Milwaukee. During 1991–92, Brickowski was found with an ounce of cannabis at his Montana ranch. He pleaded guilty, and was forced to pay a $2,000 fine and undergo drug counseling.

Charlotte Hornets

At the 1994 trading deadline, The Bucks traded Brickowski to the Charlotte Hornets with a first-round draft pick for

Mike Gminski Michael Thomas Gminski (born August 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player and a college basketball TV analyst for CBS Sports. In 2003, Gminski, of Polish descent, was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall ...

. He spent the rest of the season with Charlotte.

Sacramento Kings

The next season Brickowski joined 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 ...

. However, he injured his shoulder during preseason, aggravating the injury in a practice in January, and ended up being lost for the entire

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

Return to Seattle

Brickowski signed on for a second stint with Seattle, in which he became a surprising contributor in terms of

three-pointers A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or trey) is a Field goal (basketball), field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, i ...

, hitting 32 of 79 (.405). He helped Seattle make it to the

1996 NBA Finals The 1996 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1995–96 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics (64–18) played the Eastern Co ...

against

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

. During that series, Brickowski became notorious in his very physical defense against

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best reboundin ...

that led to several technical and flagrant fouls.

Boston Celtics

Brickowski signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics on August 1, 1996. After only 17 games, he was released on July 7, 1997, and retired, holding career averages of 10 points, 5 rebounds and two assists per game, in 731 contests.

After the NBA

One year after he retired in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, Brickowski joined a team of retired NBA players on a tour of China for a series of exhibition games against the Chinese national team. Brickowski currently works with the

NBA Players Association The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is a labor union that represents National Basketball Association (NBA) players. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major professional sports leagues in the Unit ...

and lives in Montana. He is married to Meaghan McCarthy. In a 2020 interview, Brickowski recounted one of the "wildest" moments of his life: "

Charles Oakley Charles Oakley (born December 18, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. Oakley played for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association ...

comes up behind me and grabs me and we laugh. He gets a phone call and he says, ‘I’m talking with Brick,’ and then he says to me, ‘Let’s go.’ So I just follow him out the door, we go to this other tower and we up and we go to Michael Jordan’s suite and he has a gambling game still going on from the night before. It’s nine o’clock in the morning and I look around the room and all I see is piles of cash. My mind goes to, ‘We’ll put sleeping gas under the door, everyone will get knocked out and we’ll split the profits.’ I saw Oakley later that night and said, ‘Oak, how much money was in that room? There must have been a million dollars in that room.’ He held up two fingers – there was $2 million in cash in that room."

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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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 ...

, 78 , , 9 , , 14.3 , , .492 , , .000 , , .669 , , 3.3 , , 1.3 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 4.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 40 , , 2 , , 7.8 , , .517 , , – , , .667 , , 1.4 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

L.A. Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

, 37 , , 0 , , 10.9 , , .564 , , – , , .678 , , 2.6 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, 7 , , 0 , , 11.9 , , .333 , , .000 , , .909 , , 2.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 4.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 70 , , 68 , , 31.8 , , .528 , , .200 , , .768 , , 6.9 , , 3.8 , , 1.1 , , 0.5 , , 16.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 64 , , 60 , , 28.5 , , .515 , , .000 , , .715 , , 6.3 , , 2.0 , , 1.6 , , 0.5 , , 13.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , 12 , , 18.4 , , .545 , , .000 , , .674 , , 4.2 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

, 75 , , 73 , , 25.5 , , .527 , , .000 , , .798 , , 5.7 , , 1.7 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 65 , , 60 , , 23.9 , , .524 , , .500 , , .767 , , 5.3 , , 1.9 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 11.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 66 , , 64 , , 31.4 , , .545 , , .308 , , .728 , , 6.1 , , 3.0 , , 1.2 , , 0.7 , , 16.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 43 , , 40 , , 33.5 , , .482 , , .167 , , .775 , , 6.5 , , 3.8 , , 1.2 , , 0.4 , , 15.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, 28 , , 6 , , 23.3 , , .502 , , .500 , , .746 , , 4.5 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 10.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 63 , , 8 , , 15.7 , , .488 , , .405 , , .709 , , 2.4 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 5.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, 17 , , 2 , , 15.0 , , .438 , , .350 , , .714 , , 2.0 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 4.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 731 , , 404 , , 22.3 , , .519 , , .324 , , .740 , , 4.7 , , 1.9 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 10.0

Playoffs

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1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

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

, 3, , 3, , 37.7, , .500, , 1.000, , .684, , 7.3, , 4.7, , 2.0, , 0.7, , 19.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

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

, 10, , 0, , 16.1, , .574, , –, , .654, , 4.4, , 1.1, , 0.8, , 0.1, , 7.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

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

, 3, , 3, , 36.7, , .533, , .000, , .500, , 8.7, , 1.0, , 0.3, , 0.7, , 18.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1996 , style="text-align:left;",

, 21, , 3, , 9.8, , .421, , .273, , .750, , 1.4, , 0.5, , 0.3, , 0.2, , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 37 , , 9 , , 15.9 , , .514 , , .280 , , .635 , , 3.3 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 6.3

Recognition

Brickowski's surname is believed to be the inspiration for the character Emmet Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt) from ''

The Lego Movie ''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, its story focu ...

''.

References

External links

Databasebasketball statsBasketpedya career data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brickowski, Frank 1959 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York (state) Boston Celtics players Charlotte Hornets players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Los Angeles Lakers players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Milwaukee Bucks players New York Knicks draft picks Penn State Nittany Lions basketball players People from Bayville, New York People from Locust Valley, New York Power forwards (basketball) San Antonio Spurs players Seattle SuperSonics players Sportspeople from Lake Oswego, Oregon