Larry Wright (basketball)

College coach infobox


Name = Larry Wright
Sport = Basketball
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DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1954|11|23
Birthplace = Monroe, Louisiana, U.S.
DateOfDeath =
Deathplace =
College =
Title =
Awards =
Championships =
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OverallRecord =
Player = *
Years = 1973–1976
Team = Grambling State
Position =
Coach = *
CoachYears = 1990–1992
1999–2008
CoachTeams = Grambling State (asst.)
Grambling State
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF = Infobox NBA Player
name =
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position = Point guard
nickname = The Dragonfly
height_ft = 6
height_in = 1
weight_lb = 160
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|1954|11|23
college = Grambling State
highschool = Western, Washington, D.C.
draft = 14th overall
draft_year = 1976
draft_team = Washington Bullets
career_start = 1976
career_end = 1988
former_teams = Washington Bullets (1976-1980)
Detroit Pistons (1980-1982)
Banco di Roma (1982-1984)
Fantoni Udine (1985-1987)
Banco di Roma (1987-1988)
awards =

Larry Glenn Wright (born November 23 1954 in Monroe, Louisiana) is a retired American basketball player and former Grambling State University men's basketball team head coach, his alma mater. During his playing days including stints in the National Basketball Association and abroad in Italy.

College career

from 1973-76, Wright was one of the most decorated Grambling players. In 1974, he was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference Freshman of the year along with being a two-time All-SWAC selection for the remainder of his career. Wright was also a two-time first team NCAA Small College All-American while leading the University to the 1976 SWAC Tournament Championship. After being named the SWAC Player-of-the-Year in 1975-76 as a junior, he decided to declare for the 1976 NBA Draft.

Professional NBA career

Wright was selected with the 14th pick overall in the 1976 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets. He played a significant part of the Bullets' successful team of the late 1970s, as a substitute. With the Bullets he won an NBA title in 1978 and reached the Finals the next year. After another disappointing season in which they were knocked out from the playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers, he was traded to Detroit Pistons where he played only 46 games in his two year span there. He decided to move to Italy in 1982 and signed for Banco di Roma.

Superstar in Italy

Wright was an immediate star in Italy. The team finished the regular season in first place before Mike D'Antoni's Olimpia Milano and reached the finals series against Milano after defeating European champions Ford Cantù in the semi final series , with homecourt advantage in hand in the final. Roma won the series 2 games to 1 and won its first ever Italian championship.The next season was even greater, as Roma participated in the European Champion Cup as Italian champions, and Wright provided one stellar performance after another and Roma finished the Final group stage first placed tied with Barcelona, so the two team qualified for the final game for the European champions cup in Geneva. Wright was the MVP of the 79-73 final win scoring 27 points leading Roma to its first ever European title, and the most important, on its first appearance. Wright was also selected as the European player of the year.Although he had a successful European season, Wright left the team after failing to qualify to the Italian playoffs and signed with Fantoni Udine where he played for two seasons. In 1987 he returned to Banco di Roma for one more season.

Coaching career

Wright already was a player-coach in his last days in Italy.He was appointed assistant coach at Grambling in 1990 and stayed for office for two seasons.Afterwards he was a scout for the Seattle Sonics and the Washington Wizards, and an assistance coach at Quachita High School in his hometown of Monroe, Louisiana.In 1999 Wright was appointed head coach at Grambling. He was released from his duties in April 2008.

External links

* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wrighla01.html NBA stats]
* [http://www.gsutigers.com/ssp/athletics-dept?c_id=21 Grambling Profile page]
* [http://195.56.77.208/player/?id=WRI-LAR&year=1987 Banco di Roma Profile page]

Persondata
NAME = Wright, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = American basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH = November 23, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH = Monroe, Louisiana
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =