Clyde Drexler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
Gold	1992 Barcelona	United States

Clyde Austin "The Glide" Drexler (born June 22, 1962 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a former NBA shooting guard. He is a ten-time all-star, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and was named one of basketball's fifty greatest players by the NBA. Drexler won an Olympic gold medal in 1992 and an NBA championship in 1995.

1 Career
2 Playing style
3 Honors
4 External links

[edit] Career

Drexler graduated from Sterling High School in 1980 [1]. Drexler attended the University of Houston, where, alongside Hakeem Olajuwon and Larry Micheaux, he made up the "Phi Slamma Jamma" basketball fraternity, known for the aerial exploits of its members. Despite being heavily favored, Houston lost the 1983 NCAA finals against underdog North Carolina State.

He was selected 14th overall in the 1983 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. He helped lead that team to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992, with the help of young and talented teammates, such as Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams and Clifford Robinson. In 1992 he served for the U.S. Olympics basketball team, nicknamed The Dream Team, and won a gold medal in the process. He finished second to Michael Jordan in Most Valuable Player voting in 1991-92. He went head-to-head with Jordan in the NBA Finals that same season, also falling short, as Jordan and the Chicago Bulls went on to repeat as champions.

On February 14, 1995, Drexler was traded by the Blazers to the Houston Rockets, honoring the Blazer-great's request to be traded to a contender out of respect for his many contributions to the Portland club. The fortune of the Rockets, who were struggling to regain the championship form they had a year earlier, quickly turned around after the acquisition of Drexler. Delighted with being reunited with long-time friend Hakeem Olajuwon and playing in front of his home town where he played high school and college ball, Drexler helped the Rockets win the NBA title in 1995, and stayed with them for three more years. Drexler retired from the NBA after the 1997-98 season in order to become head coach at his alma mater, the University of Houston. Drexler's #22 jersey has been retired by both the Rockets and the Trail Blazers. He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 10, 2004.

[edit] Playing style

Drexler was famed for his speed and finesse on the court, completed by an unusually easy-going and quiet attitude. His extraordinary leaping abilities allowed him to be an excellent dunker.

Drexler was regarded as a versatile player, posting consistent numbers in the points, rebounds, assists, and steals categories, as well as a fairly impressive amount of blocks for a player his size, ranking third for his career totals among guards.

He is one of only three players in NBA history to have a career totals of at least 20,000 points, 6,000 rebounds and 6,000 assists (the two others being Oscar Robertson and John Havlicek). As of 2005, Drexler leads all guards with his career average of offensive rebounds per game (2.4).

[edit] Honors

10-time NBA All-Star (1986, 1988–1994, 1996, 1997)
All-NBA Second Team (1988, 1991)
All-NBA First Team (1992)
Olympic gold medalist (1992)
1 NBA championship (1995)
Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996)
Basketball Hall of Famer (2004)

[edit] External links

1992 Olympic Champions Men's Basketball – "Dream Team"
Charles Barkley \| Larry Bird \| Clyde Drexler \| Patrick Ewing \| Magic Johnson \| Michael Jordan Christian Laettner \| Karl Malone \| Chris Mullin \| Scottie Pippen \| David Robinson \| John Stockton
Coach: Chuck Daly