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1996–97 Los Angeles Lakers Season
The 1996–97 NBA season was the 49th season for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association, and their 37th season in Los Angeles, California. This season was mostly remembered for the Lakers signing free agent All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal to a seven-year, $120 million deal, and acquiring shooting guard, and high school basketball star Kobe Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets, who selected him with the thirteenth overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft during the off-season. The team also signed former Lakers guard Byron Scott from the "Showtime" era, signed free agents Jerome Kersey, and Sean Rooks, and acquired rookie center Travis Knight from the Chicago Bulls. In January, they traded Cedric Ceballos back to his former team, the Phoenix Suns, in exchange for Robert Horry, who won two championships with the Houston Rockets. The Lakers played strong basketball as they had the best record in the Western Conference at the All-Star break with a 35–13 r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Del Harris
Delmer William Harris (born June 18, 1937) is an American basketball coach who is currently the vice president of the Texas Legends, the NBA G League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks. He served as a head coach for the NBA's Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Los Angeles Lakers, as well as the Legends. He was also an assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Houston Rockets. Early life and college career Harris is a 1955 graduate of Plainfield High School in Plainfield, Indiana. He was inducted into the first class of Plainfield High School's Hall of Fame. Harris graduated from Milligan College in 1959 ''cum laude'' with a bachelor's degree in religious studies. He was a 3-time All-Conference basketball player for Coach Duard Walker, in addition to the Honorable Mention Little All-American recognition while at Milligan. In 1965, Harris earned a master's degree in history from India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byron Scott
Byron Antom Scott (born March 28, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a role player, Scott won three NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime (basketball), Showtime era in the 1980s. He was named the NBA Coach of the Year with the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) in 2008. Early life and college career Scott grew up in Inglewood, California, and played at Morningside High School, in the shadow of what was then the Lakers' home arena, The Forum (Inglewood, California), The Forum. He played college basketball at Arizona State University for three years and had a successful career with the Sun Devils. He was Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Freshman of the Year, Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 1980 and First-team List of All-Pac-12 Conference men's basketball teams, All-Pac-10 in 1983. He averaged 17.5 points per game in his career for the Sun Devils. He left after hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Van Exel
Nickey Maxwell Van Exel (born November 27, 1971) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who last served as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Van Exel played for six NBA teams from 1993 through 2006. He was an NBA All-Star with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1998. Van Exel played college basketball for the Cincinnati Bearcats, earning third-team All-American honors as a senior in 1993. He was selected by the Lakers in the second round of the 1993 NBA draft. In his first season, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. Early life and education Van Exel was raised primarily by his mother, Joyce. He attended St. Joseph High School, a private high school in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He played from 1987 to 1989 and scored 1,282 points, including 772 as a senior. He led the WISAA (private schools) state tournament in scoring as a junior and senior when his team lost in the finals both years. He was named to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Jones (basketball)
Edward Charles Jones (born October 20, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played for five teams in his 14-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career. Jones played college basketball for the Temple Owls and was the 1993–94 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. He led the ''Owls'' to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament. The three-time NBA All-Star was selected 10th overall in the 1994 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. College career Jones played college basketball for Temple from 1991 to 1994. In his junior season, he led them to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, and in his final season with the Owls he averaged 19.2 points. In 1994, he was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. Professional career Los Angeles Lakers (1994–1999) The Los Angeles Lakers selected Jones with the 10th overall selection in the 1994 NBA draft. Lakers general manager Jerry West stated, "We wanted the best pure athlete available, and Eddie was too good to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All-NBA Team
The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been selected in every season of the league's existence, dating back to its inaugural season in 1946. The All-NBA Team originally had two teams, but since 1988 it is typically composed of three five-man lineups—a first, second, and third team. From 1956 through 2023, voters selected two guards, two forwards, and one center for each team. This contrasts with the voting for starters of the NBA All-Star Game, which has chosen two backcourt and three frontcourt players since 2013. The NBA's sister league, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), announced late in its 2022 season that it was changing the composition of its All-WNBA Teams from the All-NBA format to a "positionless" format in which members are selected without rega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Division (NBA)
The Pacific Division is one of the three divisions in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The division consists of five teams: the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings. All teams, except the Suns, are based in California. Along with the American League West of Major League Baseball, they are one of two North American major league divisions with no animal themed nicknames. The division was created at the start of the 1970–71 season, when the league expanded from 14 to 17 teams with the addition of the Buffalo Braves, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Portland Trail Blazers. The league realigned itself into two conferences: the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference, with two divisions each in each conference. The Pacific Division began with five inaugural members: the Lakers, the Blazers, the San Diego Rockets, the San Francisco Warriors and the Seatt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Conference (NBA)
The Western Conference is one of two conferences that make up the National Basketball Association (NBA), the other being the Eastern Conference. Both conferences consist of 15 teams organized into three divisions. The Western Conference comprises the Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest Divisions. The current divisional alignment was adopted at the start of the 2004–05 season, when the now Charlotte Hornets began play as the NBA's 30th franchise. This necessitated the move of the New Orleans Pelicans (named New Orleans Hornets at the time) from the Eastern Conference's Central Division to the newly created Southwest Division of the Western Conference. The NBA first started awarding a Western Conference championship trophy during the 2000–01 season, renaming it after Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson in the 2021–22 season. Also in 2021–22, the league began awarding the Earvin "Magic" Johnson Trophy to the Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player, named afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Toyota Center, located in Downtown Houston. Throughout its history, Houston has won two List of NBA champions, NBA championships and four Western Conference titles. It was established in 1967 as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego. In 1971, the Rockets Relocation of professional sports teams, relocated to Houston. The Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets were awarded the List of first overall NBA draft picks, first overall pick and selected power forward Elvin Hayes, who would lead the team to its 1969 NBA playoffs, first playoff appearance in his rookie season. The Rockets did not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Horry
Robert Keith Horry ( ; born August 25, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player and current sports commentator. Horry was a member of seven championship winning teams and is considered, by some, to be one of the most clutch shooters in NBA history. He was given the nicknames "Big Shot Rob" for making big shots in multiple playoff games and "Cheap Shot Rob" for dirty play throughout his career. Early life Robert Keith Horry was born on August 25, 1970, in Harford County, Maryland. Soon afterwards his father, Staff Sergeant Robert Horry Sr., divorced his mother, Leila, and moved to South Carolina. Horry grew up in Andalusia, Alabama. Later, when Robert Sr. was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, the father and son met weekly. As a senior at Andalusia High School, Horry won the Naismith Alabama High School Player of the Year Award. College career Horry attended the University of Alabama, where he played college basketball for Coach Wimp Sanderson, and he was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996–97 Phoenix Suns Season
The 1996–97 NBA season was the 29th season for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association. This season is notable for the Suns drafting point guard Steve Nash out of Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball, Santa Clara University with the fifteenth overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft. During the off-season, the team acquired Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Mark Bryant (basketball), Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown from the 1995–96 Houston Rockets season, Houston Rockets, and signed free agent Rex Chapman. However, the Suns struggled losing their first 13 games of the regular season, as Kevin Johnson (basketball), Kevin Johnson missed the first eleven games due to a hernia injury. After an 0–8 start, head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons resigned and was replaced by former Suns guard Danny Ainge. Along the way, there were many in-season moves such as trading Cassell, second-year star Michael Finley and A.C. Green, to the 1996–97 Dallas Mavericks season, Dallas Mavericks in exchan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cedric Ceballos
Cedric Zelos Ceballos (born August 2, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. As a small forward, he played mostly for the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers, later finishing his National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, and Miami Heat. Playing career Ceballos attended college at Ventura College and later Cal State Fullerton. His career highlights include winning the NBA Slam Dunk Contest with a blindfolded dunk in 1992. He also led the NBA in field goal percentage (57.6) in 1992–93 with the Suns. Ceballos played a major role for the Suns during the playoffs, leading the team to a Western Conference Finals Game 1 win over the Seattle SuperSonics with a team high 21 points. After beating Seattle in a seven-game series, the Suns reached the Finals, before losing to the Chicago Bulls. He also led the Lakers in scoring in 1994–95 with a 21.7 average and made the All-Star team, but couldn't participate due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996–97 Chicago Bulls Season
The 1996–97 NBA season was the 31st season for the Chicago Bulls in the National Basketball Association. The Bulls entered the regular season as defending NBA champions, having defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals in six games, winning their fourth NBA championship. During the off-season, the Bulls signed 43-year old free agent All-Star center Robert Parish, who won three championships with the Boston Celtics in the 1980s. Coming off of one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, the Bulls, on the backs of recording another first-place finish in their division and conference, repeated as NBA champions. The Bulls were led by Michael Jordan, perennial All-Star small forward Scottie Pippen, and rebound ace Dennis Rodman; other notable players on the club's roster that year were clutch-specialist Croatian Toni Kukoč, and sharp-shooting point guard Steve Kerr. The Bulls got off to a fast start by winning their first twelve games of the regular season, while po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
