Damion James

Damion James

James shooting a free throw in February 2008
No. 10   New Jersey Nets
Small Forward
Personal information
Date of birth	October 7, 1987 (1987-10-07) (age 24)
Place of birth	Hobbs, New Mexico
Nationality	American
High school	Nacogdoches High School, Nacogdoches, TX
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
College	Texas
NBA Draft	2010 / Round: 1 / Pick: 24th overall
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Career highlights and awards
Second-team High School All-American (Parade) 2006 Gatorade Player of the Year (Texas) College awards and honors
Damion James at NBA.com

Damion Marquez Williams James (born October 7, 1987 in Hobbs, New Mexico) is an American professional basketball player for the New Jersey Nets of the NBA. He previously played for the Texas Longhorns men's basketball team.

High school career

As a senior at Nacogdoches High School James averaged 23.5 points, 15.2 rebounds, 5.2 blocks, 4.3 assists, and 2.5 steals per game.

College career

At 6-foot-7, 230-pounds he was considered one of the top prospects in the country coming out of high school.^{[citation needed]} He had initially signed to play college basketball at the University of Oklahoma for head coach Kelvin Sampson. When Sampson took the head coaching position at the Indiana University the administration at OU released James from his letter of intent and he switched his decision to Texas.

Freshman season

James started all 35 games, along with fellow freshmen Kevin Durant and D. J. Augustin, in leading the Longhorns to a 25–10 record. James averaged 25.9 minutes per contest, with 7.6 points and 7.2 rebounds.^[1]

Sophomore season

James averaged 13.2 points and 10.5 rebounds helping Texas win a share of the Big 12 regular season title. While talking about the Texas Longhorns on Selection Sunday, Dick Vitale said that James may be the most athletic player in all of college basketball. He also shot 43.6% from behind the arc.

Junior Season

James, along with A. J. Abrams and Justin Mason, started all 35 games for the Texas Longhorn basketball team that went 23–12 and advanced to the second round of the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. He averaged 15.4 points and 9.2 rebounds with double doubles in 16 of the games on his way to earning a spot on the All-Big 12 Conference Second Team.^[2] On April 15, 2009, James entered his named into the 2009 NBA Draft, without hiring an agent, and thus retaining his NCAA eligibility.^[3] On June 13, 2009, it was reported that James pulled his name from the 2009 NBA Draft after not being guaranteed a first-round draft position.

NBA

James was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 24th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. His rights were traded to the New Jersey Nets for the rights of the 27th pick Jordan Crawford and the 31st pick Tibor Pleiss in the 2010 NBA draft. The Hawks then sold Pleiss' rights to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On December 9, 2010, James got his first career start against the Dallas Mavericks.

NBA 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
2010–11	New Jersey	25	9	16.1	.447	.000	.643	3.4	.8	.6	.5	4.4
Career		25	9	16.1	.447	.000	.643	3.4	.8	.6	.5	4.4

See also

• 2006 high school boys basketball All-Americans
• 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

References

1. ^ Texas – Season Statistics
2. ^ http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/60087/gamelog
3. ^ http://www.texassports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041509aaa.html

Persondata
Name	James, Damion
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 7, 1987
Place of birth	Hobbs, New Mexico
Date of death
Place of death