Miles Julian Simon (born November 21, 1975) is an American

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 ...

coach and former player who is the head coach for the

South Bay Lakers The South Bay Lakers are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Los Angeles. Founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the first National Basketball Associa ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

College career

Simon was born in Stockholm to an American father and a Norwegian mother. He played guard for the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

Wildcats men's basketball team, where he formed a formidable backcourt duo with future NBA point guard

Mike Bibby Michael Bibby (born May 13, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. He played professionally for 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He last served as the head coach for Hillcrest Prep Academy in Phoenix, ...

. He was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 1997 NCAA tournament in which

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

defeated three #1 seeded teams

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

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 ...

, and

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

to win the national championship. Simon had two 30-point performances during the 1997 NCAA tournament, including the championship game. In 2008, he was inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor.

Professional career

After college, Simon played five games with the Orlando Magic during the 1999 NBA season. He played for two seasons for the

Dakota Wizards The Dakota Wizards were an American professional basketball team based in Bismarck, North Dakota. They played in the NBA Development League from 2006 until 2012. After the 2011–12 season, the team relocated to Santa Cruz, California, and now pl ...

of the CBA, whom he led to a CBA championship in 2002. Simon earned enough awards and honors in 2001–2002 to make him the most decorated player in CBA history. He received honors as Player of the Week four times. He was named the CBA Newcomer of the Year, the CBA MVP, and the Playoff MVP. He also holds the CBA record for most free throws made in a row at 60.

Post-playing career

In 2005, Simon was announced as an assistant coach under his collegiate head coach Lute Olson at his alma mater winning the conference championship and reaching the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

in March 2005. He remained an assistant coach until May 2008, when it was announced by the Arizona athletics department that his coaching contract would not be renewed. Simon worked with

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

as an analyst. On June 27, 2017, he joined the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant coach. In 2021, he was named the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers' development team, the

, in the

References

External links

* 1975 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players American people of Norwegian descent Arizona Wildcats men's basketball coaches Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players Basket Livorno players College basketball announcers in the United States Dakota Wizards (CBA) players Hapoel Holon players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches Maccabi Ra'anana players National Basketball Association players from Sweden Orlando Magic draft picks Orlando Magic players Pallacanestro Reggiana players Pallacanestro Varese players Point guards Sportspeople from Stockholm Tuborg Pilsener basketball players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{1970s-US-basketball-bio-stub