Ben Camey Wallace is an American basketball executive and former professional player who played most of his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Detroit Pistons. He is regarded by many to be the greatest undrafted player in NBA history, and was known for his shot-blocking, rebounding, and overall defensive play. A native of Alabama, Wallace attended Cuyahoga Community College and Virginia Union University. In his NBA career, he also played with the Washington Bullets/Wizards, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Bradley Ernest Davis is an American former professional basketball player who spent the bulk of his National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Dallas Mavericks. He has been associated with the Mavericks for the team's entire existence as either a player, assistant coach or broadcaster.
William Laimbeer Jr. is an American former professional basketball coach and player who spent the majority of his career with the Detroit Pistons. Known for his physical style of play, he played a big part in the Pistons earning the nickname the “Bad Boys" in the mid-1980s before helping them win back-to-back NBA championships.
Patrick Joseph Garrity is an American former professional basketball player who played from 1998 to 2008 in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A power forward who was known as a three-point marksman, Garrity played for the Phoenix Suns and the Orlando Magic. Garrity served as an assistant general manager of the Detroit Pistons from 2016 to 2020.
Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. was an American professional basketball player. He played center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lanier was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Mehmet Murat Okur is a Turkish former professional basketball player. Listed at 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), he played as a power forward and center.
Robert Allen McAdoo Jr. is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was a five-time NBA All-Star and named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1975. He won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s. In 2000, McAdoo was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
Corliss Mondari Williamson is an American basketball coach who serves as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also a former player who played for four teams during his 12-year career. He previously served as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns. His nickname is "Big Nasty", a moniker he received from his AAU coach when he was 13. Williamson was a dominating power forward in college at Arkansas, but an undersized power forward in the NBA and mostly played at the small forward position.
Adrian Delano Dantley is an American former professional basketball player and coach who played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Dantley is a six-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection and a two-time NBA scoring champion. Dantley finished ninth on the all-time NBA scoring list at the time of his retirement and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. He served as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA from 2003 to 2011. He played college basketball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Peter Kelly Tripucka is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1991. He was a two-time NBA All Star and averaged over twenty points a game in five of the ten seasons that he played in. Tripucka played for the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz and was a member of the Charlotte Hornets during their inaugural season in the NBA. The son of NFL Pro-Bowl quarterback Frank Tripucka, Kelly was a color analyst for the New York Knicks for four years, ending with the 2011–12 season.
Orlando Vernada Woolridge was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1994. He was known for his scoring ability, especially on slam dunks. He played college basketball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Christopher Joseph Ford was an American professional basketball player and head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Mad Bomber", Ford played most of his NBA career on the Detroit Pistons, before finishing his playing career at the Boston Celtics. In the Celtics' season opener in 1979–80, he was credited with making the first official three-point shot in NBA history. He won an NBA championship with the Celtics in 1981.
The 1973–74 NBA season was the 28th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals.
Mark Craig Bryant is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons. As a player, he played collegiately at Seton Hall University from 1984 to 1988, and was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the 1988 NBA draft. Bryant played for 10 NBA teams during his career, averaging 5.4 ppg and appeared in the 1990 and 1992 NBA Finals as a member of the Blazers.
Tavares Montgomery Williams is an American professional basketball coach, executive and former player who is the head coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Williams played for five NBA teams during a playing career that spanned from 1994 to 2003. His NBA coaching career has included stints as an assistant coach, associate head coach, and head coach.
Niele Deirdre Jamillah Viveca Ivey is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team. She is a former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) player for the Indiana Fever, Detroit Shock, and Phoenix Mercury. Prior to her move to the NBA in August 2019, she was an assistant coach for the University of Notre Dame women's basketball team, where she had played in college. She was an All-American point guard and became the 17th player in school history to record over 1,000 career points. She received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award presented for the nation's top player under 5'8" in 2001. She would go on to lead the Irish women to their first NCAA Championship in 2001, in her hometown of St. Louis as a fifth-year senior.
The 1975–76 Buffalo Braves season was the sixth season for the expansion Buffalo Braves franchise in the National Basketball Association and its Atlantic Division. It was the team's fourth season under head coach Jack Ramsay. The team's official home arena was Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
The 1975–76 Phoenix Suns season was the eighth season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. The season included an improbable run to the NBA Finals by a team that had never won a playoff series and made the playoffs only one other season in the franchise's existence. With a regular season record of 42–40, the Suns had finished third in the Pacific division standings and improved upon last season's win total by 10 games. The ensuing playoff run took plenty by surprise, including a seven-game series win against the Western Conference's top seed and defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, a team that had finished 17 games ahead of the Suns in the divisional standings. The franchise's first Finals appearance pitted them against a 12-time champion in the Boston Celtics, whose roster featured three players from that season's All-Star Game. The 1976 NBA Finals would feature a memorable Game 5 triple-overtime thriller filled with controversies in which the Suns narrowly lost. Returning home for Game 6, the demoralized Suns would lose Game 6 and the series but not before endearing a generation of fans to the Suns franchise and showcasing basketball from the desert southwest. The team's "Cinderella" season earned them the nickname Sunderella Suns. John MacLeod was head coach and the Suns played their home games at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The 1988–89 Phoenix Suns season was the 20th season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. The Suns had the seventh overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft, which they used to select Tim Perry out of Temple University, and also selected future All-Star Dan Majerle from the University of Central Michigan with the fourteenth overall pick. During the off-season, the Suns fired head coach John Wetzel and replaced him with director of player personnel Cotton Fitzsimmons, who coached the team for the '70–'71 and '71–'72 seasons, and signed free agent and one-time All-Star forward Tom Chambers. The Suns showed a lot of improvement over the previous season, holding a 29–17 record at the All-Star break, posting a nine-game winning streak between March and April, and finishing second in the Pacific Division with a 55–27 record. All home games were played at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Franklin Willis Jackson is an American professional basketball player for the Shanxi Loongs of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He previously played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils.
