Russell E. Lee (born January 27, 1950) is a former American

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 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 was selected as the 6th overall pick in the 1972 NBA draft by 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 ...

. He played

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 the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Collegiate career

Lee played four seasons with the

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

Thundering Herd, with whom he averaged 23.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. In 1985, he was inducted into the Marshall Hall of Fame, and in 2003 he had his number retired.

Professional career

Lee was drafted sixth overall in the 1972 NBA Draft by the

, with whom he played two seasons averaging 2.6 points per game coming off the bench. His best season for the Bucks was his rookie season, when he averaged 2.8 points per game. Before the start of the 1974-1975 NBA season, Lee was traded to the New Orleans Jazz with a

1975 NBA Draft The 1975 NBA draft was the 29th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 29, 1975, before the 1975–76 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players a ...

first round pick for

Steve Kuberski Stephen Phil Kuberski (born November 6, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player. Kuberski won two NBA titles with the Boston Celtics, in 1974 and 1976 and had a nine-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career. Kuberski w ...

and a second round pick in 1975. Lee would play only 15 games for the Jazz, averaging 4.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game before being cut and opting to retire.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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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 is ...

, 46 , , 6.0 , , .386 , , .744 , , .9 , , .8 , , – , , – , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 4.6 , , .404 , , .688 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 15 , , 9.3 , , .382 , , .500 , , 2.1 , , .5 , , .7 , , .2 , , 4.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" , Career , 97 , , 6.0 , , .391 , , .685 , , 1.2 , , .7 , , .4 , , .1 , , 2.9

Playoffs

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1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

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

, 5 , , 2.6 , , .571 , , – , , .8 , , .4 , , – , , – , , 3.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

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

, 6 , , 2.0 , , .625 , , .250 , , .5 , , .2 , , .5 , , .2 , , 1.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" , Career , 11 , , 2.3 , , .591 , , .250 , , .6 , , .3 , , .5 , , .2 , , 2.5

Personal life

Lee is the older brother of

Ron Lee Ronald Henry Lee (born November 2, 1952) is an American former basketball player who played six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the University of Oregon, and epitomized the "Kamikaze Kids" un ...

, former All-American basketball player at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

and 1978 NBA steals leader. Lee has a brother who played basketball at Marshall as well named, Eugene.Old Dominion loaded with confidence with Gerald Lee
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Russ 1950 births Living people African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Boston Hyde Park High School (Massachusetts) alumni Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball players Milwaukee Bucks draft picks Milwaukee Bucks players New Orleans Jazz players Shooting guards Small forwards 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople