Vin Baker

Vin Baker

Vin Baker shoots a free throw
Personal information
Born (1971-11-23) November 23, 1971
Lake Wales, Florida
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight 232 lb (105 kg)
Career information
High school Old Saybrook
(Old Saybrook, Connecticut)
College Hartford (1989–1993)
NBA draft 1993 / Round: 1 / Pick: 8th overall
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Playing career 1993–2006
Position Power forward / Center
Number 42, 34
Career history
1993–1997 Milwaukee Bucks
1997–2002 Seattle SuperSonics
2002–2004 Boston Celtics
2004–2005 New York Knicks
2005 Houston Rockets
2006 Los Angeles Clippers
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 11,839 (15.0 ppg)
Rebounds 5,867 (7.4 rpg)
Assists 1,509 (1.9 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
Olympic Games
2000 Sydney Team competition
FIBA Americas Championship
1999 San Juan Team competition

Vincent Lamont "Vin" Baker (born November 23, 1971) is an American retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He appeared in four consecutive All-Star Games before his career was damaged due to substance abuse.[1]

High school and College Basketball career

High School

Baker played for Old Saybrook High School in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Baker was passed over by the bigger Division I schools and signed a scholarship offer from the Hartford Hawks.

College

During Baker's inaugural season in 1989, he averaged on 4.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, which earned him a place on the North Atlantic Conference All-Rookie Team. Named a starter for his sophomore season, Baker averaged 19.7ppg and 10.4rpg and a first team All-NAC spot. As a junior, Baker averaged 27.6 ppg (2nd in the country), 9.9 rpg, and 3.7 blocks per game (5th in the country), though the team finished with an abysmal 6-21 record. Entering his final season, Baker was called "America's Best-Kept Secret" by Sports Illustrated [2] and the conference's most dominant player since Reggie Lewis by Street & Smith's College/Prep Basketball Preview in 1992.[3] Baker averaged 28.3ppg (4th in the country) and finished with 792 points in only 28 games, a conference record that still remains in the NAC (now America East Conference). He finished with 2,238 points, a school record that still stands. However, Baker was not able to translate his immense scoring abilities into team success, as none of his teams ever made the NCAA tournament, and the best his Hartford teams ever finished in a season was .500 (14-14).

Baker's jersey (#42) hangs on the east wall of Chase Arena in the Reich Family Pavilion.[4]

NBA Career

Milwaukee Bucks

After a college career at the University of Hartford, not far from where he grew up in Old Saybrook, Baker was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 8th pick of the 1993 NBA draft. He played four seasons in Milwaukee.

Seatle SuperSonics

After four seasons with the Bucks, he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics following the 1996–97 NBA season in a three-team deal that sent Tyrone Hill and Terrell Brandon to the Bucks, and Shawn Kemp and Sherman Douglas to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Boston Celtics

After four years in Seattle, Baker was traded to the Boston Celtics with Shammond Williams for Kenny Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko and Joseph Forte. While his career averages include 15.1 points per game, his numbers had dropped considerably in the twenty-first century. After the 1998–99 NBA lockout season, Baker's weight ballooned to near 300 pounds and his game suffered tremendously. While Baker was able to get his weight down to around 250, Baker revealed that he was a recovering alcoholic who used to binge in hotel rooms and at home after playing poorly. In an interview in the Boston Globe, Baker said Celtics coach Jim O'Brien smelled alcohol on him in practice and confronted him about it. The team suspended him and he was eventually released.

New York Knicks

Baker would sign with the New York Knicks. The team reached the playoffs in the 2003–04 NBA season.

Houston Rockets

Baker was traded to the Rockets with Moochie Norris for Maurice Taylor on February 24, 2005.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Rockets would ultimately release Baker on October 7, 2005.[5] He would spend the 2005–06 NBA season in a reserve role with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Baker signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 1, 2006, reuniting him with head coach Dwane Casey, who served as an assistant coach when Baker was in Seattle.[6] His tenure in Minnesota would be short-lived, though. Baker was released from the Timberwolves on November 13, 2006. He never played in a regular season game after being on the inactive list for the first six games.[7]

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
Led the league

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1993–94 Milwaukee 82 63 31.2 .501 .200 .569 7.6 2.0 .7 1.4 13.5
1994–95 Milwaukee 82 82 41.0 .483 .292 .593 10.3 3.6 1.0 1.4 17.7
1995–96 Milwaukee 82 82 40.5 .489 .208 .670 9.9 2.6 .8 1.1 21.1
1996–97 Milwaukee 78 78 40.5 .505 .278 .687 10.3 2.7 1.0 1.4 21.0
1997–98 Seattle 82 82 35.9 .542 .143 .591 8.0 1.9 1.1 1.0 19.2
1998–99 Seattle 34 31 34.2 .453 .000 .450 6.2 1.6 .9 1.0 13.8
1999–00 Seattle 79 75 36.1 .455 .250 .682 7.7 1.9 .6 .8 16.6
2000–01 Seattle 76 27 28.0 .422 .063 .723 5.7 1.2 .5 1.0 12.2
2001–02 Seattle 55 41 31.1 .485 .125 .633 6.4 1.3 .4 .7 14.1
2002–03 Boston 52 9 18.1 .478 .000 .673 3.8 .6 .4 .6 5.2
2003–04 Boston 37 33 27.0 .505 .000 .732 5.7 1.5 .6 .6 11.3
2003–04 New York 17 0 18.4 .404 .500 .711 4.1 .7 .4 .5 6.6
2004–05 New York 24 0 8.0 .342 .000 .467 1.5 .4 .1 .2 1.4
2004–05 Houston 3 0 4.3 .000 .000 1.000 .7 .3 .0 .0 .7
2005–06 L.A. Clippers 8 1 10.6 .467 .000 .722 2.4 .5 .5 .5 3.4
Career 791 604 32.5 .485 .215 .638 7.4 1.9 .7 1.0 15.0
All-Star 4 0 17.5 .419 .000 .750 6.0 .7 .5 .2 8.7

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1998 Seattle 10 10 37.1 .530 .000 .421 9.4 1.8 1.8 1.5 15.8
2000 Seattle 5 4 35.4 .400 .000 .588 7.6 2.0 1.0 .4 14.0
2002 Seattle 5 4 28.8 .500 1.000 .778 5.0 .8 .6 1.2 13.2
2004 New York 4 0 14.3 .571 .000 .667 3.0 .3 .8 .5 5.5
Career 24 18 31.2 .491 .500 .534 7.0 1.4 1.2 1.0 13.2

Other enterprises

Vin Baker has a non-profit foundation called the Stand Tall Foundation. The Stand Tall Foundation is an organization that helps give kids a better future by financially assisting with different charitable and volunteer organizations. The goal of the Stand Tall Foundation is to help young people with their education, personal development and general well-being.

On June 3, 2011, he was hired as an assistant high school boys basketball coach at St. Bernard School in Uncasville, Connecticut.[8]

In 2014, Baker was named to a team assembled by Dennis Rodman as part of his "basketball diplomacy" effort in North Korea with the job of playing an exhibition match against the North Korean Senior National Team to celebrate the birthday of Kim Jong-un.[9]

Personal life

Baker's mother is Jean Baker. His father, Rev. James Baker, is an auto mechanic and Baptist minister.[10] Baker has a wife and four children.[11]

On June 19, 2007, Baker was arrested in Norwich, Connecticut for drunk driving after leaving Foxwoods Resort Casino.[12]

On June 21, 2008 ml-implode.com reported Baker's 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) Durham, Connecticut home was foreclosed and put up for sale for $2.3 million.[13] The house was purchased by U.S. Bank for $2.5 million at an auction on June 28, 2008.[14]

He reportedly lost over $100 million due to financial troubles,[15]

As of July 2015, Baker was training to become a Starbucks manager.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Athletes Who Damaged Their Careers With Drug Abuse
  2. ↑ "America's Best-kept Secret". CNN. November 23, 1992.
  3. ↑ 1992 Street & Smith's College/Prep Basketball Preview OCLC 14589910
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_Release_Vin_Baker-153006-34.html
  6. ↑ "Wolves sign Vin Baker to non-guaranteed contract". ESPN.com. 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  7. ↑ "Vin diesels out of Minnesota as Wolves release Baker". ESPN.com. 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  8. ↑ "Stonington ousted in Class S softball quarterfinals". The Bulletin. Stonington, Connecticut: Gatehouse Media, Inc. 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  9. ↑ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/07/rodman-s-goon-squad-goes-to-north-korea.html
  10. ↑ Harrison, Don (August 11, 1996). "Rising Star Already a Big Name at Camp". The New York Times.
  11. ↑ Augustine, Bernie (July 29, 2015). "Former NBA All-Star Vin Baker working as a Starbucks barista, training to become franchise manager". New York Daily News. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  12. ↑ Baker stopped for driving erratically, failed field sobriety test. Posted June 19, 2007
  13. ↑ Vin Baker Joins List Of Athlete Home Foreclosures. CNBC.com July 1, 2008
  14. ↑ The Famous and Foreclosured Trutv.com, Retrieved December 22, 2008
  15. ↑ http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/29/ex-nba-center-vin-baker-now-working-at-starbucks-report.html
  16. ↑ Devine, Dan (Jul 18, 2015). "Former NBA All-Star Vin Baker is training to manage a Starbucks". Yahoo! Sports!. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
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