Sean Lester Rooks (September 9, 1969 – June 7, 2016) was an American 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 played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

(NBA) from 1992 to 2004, and was an Assistant for Player Development for the

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 Ea ...

. 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

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college foot ...

, earning all-conference honors in the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisio ...

(known later as the Pac-12) as a senior. Rooks died of heart disease on June 7, 2016.

Early life

Rooks was born in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and attended

Fontana High School Fontana High School (FOHI) is a secondary public school in Fontana, California in the Fontana Unified School District. Fontana High serves grades 9 through 12. History A product of the Southern California post war boom, Fontana High (referred ...

Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regiona ...

. He played

at the

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

with

Brian Williams Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American retired journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for '' NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004. ...

and Ed Stokes. Rooks was an All-American honorable mention.

Playing career

The 6'10"

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 ...

was drafted by the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Southwest Division. Th ...

in the second round (30th overall pick) in the

1992 NBA Draft The 1992 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1992, at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The draft is considered to be one of the deepest in NBA history. The top three picks (Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner) were conside ...

. He was a starter for the Mavericks in his rookie season and then again in 1995 for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

. He also played for the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

, the

Los Angeles 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 ...

, the

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

, the

New Orleans Hornets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

, and the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

. Rooks played twelve seasons in the NBA between 1992 and 2004.

Coaching career

After retiring, Rooks moved into coaching and served as an assistant coach in the

NBA Development 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 Dev ...

for the

Bakersfield Jam Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's pop ...

(2007–2008), the New Mexico Thunderbirds (2010–2011) and the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team plays their home games in the Sanford Pentagon, a place they have call ...

(from March 2012). In 2012, he joined the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

' player development staff. He resigned from the staff in January 2013 to taking a coaching position overseas. From 2014 until his death, he was an assistant coach for the

Personal life

Rooks had 2 children, a daughter Khayla who played for the

Washington Huskies women's basketball The Washington Huskies women's basketball team represents the University of Washington in NCAA Division I college basketball competing in the Pac-12 Conference. Their home games are played at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, locat ...

team, and a son, Kameron, who was a member of the

2013–14 California Golden Bears men's basketball team The 2013–14 California Golden Bears men's basketball team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Mike Montgomery's sixth and final season at California. T ...

recruiting class at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

Death

Rooks died of heart disease in Philadelphia on June 7, 2016, hours after interviewing for a job on the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

coaching staff.

References

External links

*
One-on-One with Sean Rooks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooks, Sean 1969 births 2016 deaths American color commentators American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Bakersfield Jam coaches Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from California Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City Baloncesto Málaga players Centers (basketball) Dallas Mavericks draft picks Dallas Mavericks players Joventut Badalona players Liga ACB players Los Angeles Clippers players Los Angeles Lakers players Minnesota Timberwolves players New Mexico Thunderbirds coaches New Orleans Hornets players Orlando Magic players People from Fontana, California Philadelphia 76ers assistant coaches Phoenix Suns assistant coaches Sioux Falls Skyforce coaches Sportspeople from San Bernardino County, California