Mike Mitchell (basketball, born 1956)

This article is about the former NBA and European leagues player. For other American player who played in Australia and Europe, see Mike Mitchell (basketball, born 1967).

Mike Mitchell

No. 30, 34
Small forward
Personal information
Date of birth	January 1, 1956(1956-01-01)
Place of birth	Atlanta, Georgia
Nationality	American
Date of death	June 9, 2011(2011-06-09) (aged 55)
Place of death	San Antonio, Texas
High school	Luther Judson Price (Atlanta, Georgia)
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College	Auburn (1974–1978)
NBA Draft	1978 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15th overall
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Pro career	1978–1999
Career history
1978–1981	Cleveland Cavaliers
1981–1987	San Antonio Spurs
1988–1990	Filodoro Brescia (Italy)
1990	San Antonio Spurs
1990–1991	Filodoro Napoli (Italy)
1991–1992	Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
1992–1999	Reggio Emilia (Italy)
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Star (1981)
Career NBA and Serie A statistics
Points	24,080 (22.2 ppg)
Rebounds	6,787 (6.3 rpg)
Assists	1,189 (1.1 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Michael Anthony Mitchell (January 1, 1956 – June 9, 2011^[1]) was an American professional basketball player in the NBA from 1978 to 1990.

Mitchell, who was born in Atlanta, played collegiately at Auburn University. He started his NBA career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but played most of his career for the San Antonio Spurs. Mitchell was a 6'7" and 215 lb. small forward with career averages of 19.8 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, 1.3 assists per game, a .493 field goal percentage, and a .779 free throw percentage.

Mitchell was a one-time All-Star, in 1981, and was in the top ten in scoring four times and top ten in minutes played three times. Among other career highlights, he led the Spurs in scoring for the 1984-1985 season. This is significant because this was the only season in which George Gervin played on the Spurs and did not lead the team in scoring. Mitchell averaged 22.2 points per game to Gervin's 21.2 points per game.

Mitchell averaged 19.8 points per game over the course of his career.^[2] His 9799 total points for the San Antonio Spurs is 6th highest in franchise history, behind Gervin, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker and James Silas.^[3]

From 1988 until a short return to the Spurs during the 1990 playoffs, Mitchell played in Italy for Basket Brescia. He went on to play in Italy, this time for Basket Napoli, before leaving for Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. in 1991. From 1992 until his retirement in 1999, Mitchell played for another Italian club, Pallacanestro Reggiana.

References

1. ^ Former Spurs star Mitchell dies of cancer
2. ^ NBA & ABA Career Leaders and Records for Points Per Game, basketball-reference.com
3. ^ San Antonio Spurs Career Leaders, basketball-reference.com

External links

• Mike Mitchell page at basketball-reference.com
• Lega Basket Serie A stats (Italian)

Persondata
Name	Mitchell, Mike
Alternative names	Mitchell, Michael Anthony
Short description	American basketball player
Date of birth	1956-01-01
Place of birth	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Date of death	2011-06-09
Place of death	San Antonio, Texas, United States