Smush Parker

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Smush Parker
Smush Parker 2007.jpg
Smush Parker in February 2007 playing for the LA Lakers
No. 5 – Étoile Sportive de Radès
Position Point guard / Shooting guard
Personal information
Born (1981-06-01) June 1, 1981 (age 43)
Brooklyn, New York
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight 190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school Newtown (Queens, New York)
College College of Southern Idaho (1999–2000)
Fordham (2001–2002)
NBA draft 2002 / Undrafted
Playing career 2002–present
Career history
2002–2003 Cleveland Cavaliers
2003–2004 Aris (Greece)
2004–2005 Detroit Pistons
2005 Florida Flame (NBDL)
2005 Phoenix Suns
2005 Florida Flame (NBDL)
2005–2007 Los Angeles Lakers
2007–2008 Miami Heat
2008 Los Angeles Clippers
2008 Rio Grande Valley Vipers (D-League)
2009–2010 Guangdong Southern Tigers (China)
2010–2011 Spartak Saint Petersburg (Russia)
2011 Iraklis (Greece)
2012 Petrochimi Bandar Imam (Iran)
2012 Guaros de Lara (Venezuela)
2012 Indios SFM (Dominican Republic)
2012–2013 Cibona (Croatia)
2013 Peristeri (Greece)
2014 Guaros de Lara (Venezuela)
2015 Mon-Altius Madimos Falcons (Mongolia)
2015-presnt Étoile Sportive de Radès (Tunisia)

William Henry "Smush" Parker (born June 1, 1981) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Étoile Sportive de Radès (Tunisia) of the Division 1 African Championships. He played in the NBA, the NBA D-League, and several leagues overseas. Parker played shooting guard in college but moved to point guard in the NBA.

Early years

Parker was born in Brooklyn and attended Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens, where he was a star guard on their varsity basketball team. He then enrolled in the College of Southern Idaho as a freshman in the 1999-2000 season and transferred to play college basketball at Fordham University.[1] Following his sophomore season at Fordham University, he entered the NBA in 2002 but went undrafted.[2] During his sophomore season, he was Second Team All A-10 and Second Team NABC All-Region.[3]

Professional career

While he was not drafted out of college, the Cleveland Cavaliers signed him for the 2002-03 season.[4]

In 2003, he signed with Aris Thessaloniki of the Greek League (FIBA Europe), and helped them win the 2004 Greek Basketball Cup in the final against Olympiacos. He returned to the NBA in 2004, and played for the Detroit Pistons and the Phoenix Suns. He then signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers during the summer of 2005.

Little known entering the 2005 season, Parker gained recognition as the starting point guard for the Lakers under coach Phil Jackson. While many experts thought that either newly signed veteran Aaron McKie or Sasha Vujačić would start at point guard, Parker became the surprise starter in the Lakers' season opener against the Denver Nuggets[5] and went on to score at least 20 points in four of his first five Laker games,.[6][7] This impressed Jackson, and Parker found himself in the starting line-up for the Lakers. From 2005 until 2007, Parker started 162 straight games averaging 11.5 points. During the last two games of the regular season and the playoffs (2006–2007), Parker lost his starting spot to rookie Jordan Farmar. While with the Lakers Parker clashed with coaches and players, and has even admitted to looking off Kobe Bryant and not passing him the ball nearing the end of his second season. Kobe Bryant singled out Parker as a bad teammate, saying in 2012 that Parker "shouldn't have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard."

On July 26, 2007, Parker signed with the Miami Heat.[8] For the Heat, Parker wore jersey number 21.[9] His production dropped off dramatically while with the Heat, with averages of 4.8 points, 1.7 assists and 2.1 rebounds, compared to his 11.1 in 164 games with the Los Angeles Lakers.[2]

Due to a physical altercation that Parker had with a parking attendant in November 2007, the Miami Heat put him on paid leave to investigate the matter. On March 10, 2008, the Miami Heat officially waived Parker.[10] The Los Angeles Clippers then signed him for the rest of the season on March 12, 2008.[2]

On July 10, 2008, the Los Angeles Clippers officially renounced their rights to Parker.

In the 2008 off season Parker was signed by the Denver Nuggets but was released on October 23, 2008, as the Nuggets trimmed their roster to the league-allowed 15. He then played with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League.

On January 9, 2009, Parker officially signed with Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, making him one of the better known foreign players employed in the CBA, which was due mainly to his exposure gained in the country playing alongside Kobe Bryant.

In September 2010 he signed a one-year contract with the Russian club Spartak Saint Petersburg.[11]

In January 2011 he returned to Greece and signed a contract with Iraklis Thessaloniki.[12]

In January 2012, Parker signed with Petrochimi Bandar Imam of the Iranian Basketball Super League.[13] He later played in Venezuela,[14] then signed with the Indios de San Francisco de Macorís of the Dominican Republic.[15]

In December 2012, Parker signed with Cibona Zagreb of the Adriatic Basketball Association.[16] After only 5 games in Adriatic League he was released.[17]

In March 2013 he returned to Greece and signed a contract with Peristeri of the Greek League.

In January 2014, he signed with his former team Guaros de Lara.[18] He left them in March 2014.[19]

In June 2014, Parker played in The Basketball Tournament.[20] His team reached the semi-finals,[21] and Parker's averages for the tournament were 16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game.[22]

In February 2015, Parker signed with Mon-Altius Madimos Falcons of the Mongolian National Basketball Association (MNBA). He averages 24 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 4.1 steals per game.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2002–03 Cleveland 66 18 16.7 .402 .322 .831 1.8 2.5 .7 .2 6.2
2004–05 Detroit 11 1 10.0 .393 .222 .692 .8 1.0 .3 .0 3.0
2004–05 Phoenix 5 0 6.8 .467 .250 .000 .6 .8 .4 .0 3.0
2005–06 L.A. Lakers 82 82 33.8 .447 .366 .694 3.3 3.7 1.7 .2 11.5
2006–07 L.A. Lakers 82 80 30.0 .436 .365 .646 2.5 2.8 1.5 .1 11.1
2007–08 Miami 9 0 20.3 .315 .250 .750 2.1 1.7 .6 .3 4.8
2007–08 L.A. Clippers 19 2 21.5 .362 .222 .667 1.7 3.6 1.0 .2 6.4
Career 274 183 25.8 .426 .345 .708 2.4 2.9 1.2 .2 9.0

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2006 L.A. Lakers 7 7 36.9 .333 .154 1.000 3.0 1.6 2.1 .1 8.9
2007 L.A. Lakers 5 0 11.8 .154 .167 1.000 1.4 .6 .6 .2 1.8
Career 12 7 26.4 .306 .156 1.000 2.3 1.2 1.5 .2 5.9

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Clippers fall, sign Parker[dead link]
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Smush Parker. Latin-Basket
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ http://www.thetournament.com/teams/big-apple-basketball
  21. ↑ http://www.thetournament.com/bracket,
  22. ↑ http://www.pointstreak.com/basketball/player.html?playerid=38483

External links

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