- Shawn Respert
Shawn Christopher Respert (born
February 6 1972 inDetroit, Michigan ) is a retired American professionalbasketball player. A 6'3" 195 lbshooting guard , he attendedBishop Borgess High School , and he came to prominence while playingcollege basketball atMichigan State University where his jersey is now retired. He played professionally in theNational Basketball Association for 4 seasons from1995 to1999 .Respert was a standout at Michigan State. He and
point guard Eric Snow combined to form one of the nation's most prolific backcourt tandems for head coachJud Heathcote 's Spartans. He was a unanimous first team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year with a 25.6 scoring average during his senior season.Respert was selected by the
Portland Trail Blazers in the 1st round, with the 8th overall pick, of the1995 NBA Draft . The Blazers traded his NBA rights to theMilwaukee Bucks for the rights toGary Trent and a first-round pick. He played for theMilwaukee Bucks (1995-1997), theToronto Raptors (1997-1998), theDallas Mavericks (1998) and thePhoenix Suns (1999). He was under contract withLos Angeles Lakers for a brief period in October 2000 but was waived before playing in any NBA games for them. In his NBA career, Respert played in 172 games and scored a total of 851 points.He played professionally in Italy for Adecco Milano (1999-2000) and Fillattice Imola (2001-2002).
Respert had
stomach cancer but did not admit it until2005 . He never told anybody during his NBA career because he "did not want to make an excuse, even if it was cancer." [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=290060] .Respert was the Director of Basketball Operations at
Rice University . He is currently the Director of Player Development of the NBA's minor league, theNBA Development League .External links
* [http://www.thedraftreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2401&Itemid=5 TheDraftReview.com - Respert's NBA Draft History Page]
* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/respesh01.html NBA stats] @ basketball-reference.com
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=1962444 Article on Respert's struggle with stomach cancer]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.