Adrian Dantley

Adrian Dantley
Player information
Full name	Adrian Delano Dantley
birthday	28th February 1956 (age 64)
place of birth	Washington, DC , United States
size	196 cm
position	Small forward
college	Notre Dame
NBA draft	1976 , 6th Pick, Buffalo Braves
Clubs as active
1973–1976 Notre Dame Fighting Irish ( NCAA ) 1976–1977 Buffalo Braves 1977 Indiana Pacers 1977–1979 Los Angeles Lakers 1979–1986 Utah Jazz 1986–1989 Detroit Pistons 1989–1990 Dallas Mavericks 1991 Milwaukee Bucks 1991–1992 Breeze Milano 00000 00000
National team
000001976	United States
Clubs as coaches
2003–2011 Denver Nuggets (Assistant)

Adrian Delano Dantley (born February 28, 1956 in Washington, DC ) is a retired American basketball player . From 1973 to 1991 he was in the NBA , including for the Los Angeles Lakers , Utah Jazz , Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks . In 2008, the 1.96 meter tall winger was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame .

Career

In his youth, Adrian Dantley was a star college player for the "Fighting Irish" of Notre Dame University in Indiana and broke several records. Together with the US team , he won the gold medal in the Montreal Olympic Games .

Committed by the Braves to sixth position in the 1976 NBA Draft , Dantley immediately scored 20.3 points per game, hit over 50% of his throws and was named Rookie of the Year in the NBA All-Rookie Team . He was then given to the Indiana Pacers for Billy Knight because the winger Knight was considered even more talented by the Braves. He stayed with the Pacers for only six months before moving to the Los Angeles Lakers . Dantley played with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for another six months before he went to Utah Jazz. It was bitter for Dantley that coach Jerry West considered for a long time whether he should hand over Dantley or teammate Jamaal Wilkes . He kept Wilkes, and Dantley missed the chance to join Magic Johnson's legendary Lakers team , which became five-time NBA champions.

At the Jazz, Dantley established himself as one of the league's most effective points collectors from 1979 and had four seasons in a row in which he scored more than 30 points per game and was twice the best basket hunter. Dantley found the game with the mediocre jazz frustrating, often criticized coaches and teammates and rarely showed leadership skills. In 1986 he moved to the up-and-coming Detroit Pistons , known for their hard defensive work and with Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, the most dangerous backcourt duo in the NBA. So Dantley missed the chance to play with the jazz for titles together with the young, then still unknown later NBA superstars Karl Malone and John Stockton .

With the Pistons, Dantley reached the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals in two years . Although Dantley's statistical yield was satisfactory (he scored 20 points per game as the third option behind Thomas and Dumars), he was considered too headstrong and did not fit into the Pistons' body-hugging game. On Thomas' advice, Dantley was eventually transferred to the Dallas Mavericks for Mark Aguirre . Dantley was so shocked that he went to Thomas when the Mavericks first game against the Pistons and said, "I will never forgive you for what you did to me." The Pistons won two NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, respectively . As with the Lakers, Dantley was given up just as the team became successful. He moved to the Milwaukee Bucks in the final year of his career and then retired from the NBA at the age of 35. With 23,177 points (24.3 points per game) he was the ninth-best NBA basket hunter in league history at the time. He then played in Italy for another year before finally ending his career in 1992.

After retiring, Dantley worked eight years as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets .

Awards

Although Dantley was considered the unlucky person who always played in the wrong team at the wrong moment, he was honored several times after his career. In gratitude for his service, Utah Jazz announced that Dantley's jersey number 4 will no longer be awarded. In 2008, Dantley was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame .

See also

• List of members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/dantlad01.html
2. ^ The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Adrian Dantley. Retrieved April 17, 2020 . 

Web links

• Adrian Dantley - player profile on NBA.com
• Adrian Dantley - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• Adrian Dantley in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame On: Hoophall website; Springfield, MA, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2017 (in English).