Ronnie Henderson (born March 29, 1974) 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. He was a

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 ...

. Despite dislocating his shoulder, Henderson was the nation's top rated

during his senior high school year in 1993. Then, despite former

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 (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

head coach

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebe ...

making the then unheard of declaration of drafting a high school player (Henderson would be his first pick if he'd enter the draft), he joined the nation's top

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 ...

Randy Livingston Randy Livingston (born April 2, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player and current coach. He played parts of eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for nine different teams. The national high school player ...

, at

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. However, college basketball's most highly touted backcourt duo never lived up to expectations due to injuries to Livingston. Henderson did go on to lead the SEC in scoring two straight years (23.3 points per game as a sophomore, 21.8 ppg as a junior) despite suffering knee injuries of his own. He was a 1st team All SEC selection in 1995 and 1996. Henderson chose to leave school after his junior year where he slipped far below most people's expectations when he was selected by the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

as the 55th overall pick of the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting college basketball play ...

. Henderson went on to play overseas. He played in Australia, Spain, Poland and France. He retired in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Ronnie 1974 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Mississippi LSU Tigers men's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Sportspeople from Gulfport, Mississippi Shooting guards Washington Bullets draft picks