Pete Myers

Peter (Pete) E. Myers aka “Skeeter Hawk” was born September 15th, 1963 in Mobile Alabama to parents Milinda and Gregory Myers. Pete grew into quite the athlete and was a 3 sport star at Williamson High School in the late 70’s and early 80’s. What happened to Pete Myers from High School graduation in 1981 to his college debut in 1984 is unknown. Pete debuted at Arkansas Little Rock as a 21 year old Freshman in 1984. At ALR he was a star and set the Sun Belt Conference ablaze averaging 15 points and 7 rebounds in his first season. He was even better his sophomore campaign improving his scoring average to 19 a game. He declared for the NBA draft following that season and was snatched up by the Michael Jordan/Doug Collins/Jerry Krause led Bulls in the 6th round of the 1986 NBA draft. Pete found playing time tough to come by in Chicago during his rookie season. He rarely played meaningful minutes and found himself waived before the start of the 87-88 NBA season. Luckily for Pete the San Antonio Spurs saw him as a diamond in the rough when they signed him to a free agent deal on January 29th, 1988. Pete again struggled to find playing time on a San Antonio team that won just 31 games. San Antonio gave up on Peter Myers following the 88 season and shipped him to Philly in a blockbuster deal for Albert King. Pete appeared in just 4 games for Philly before they also cut his ass. New York was next in line in the Pete Myers sweepstakes when they signed him to a huge deal just 5 days after his release from Philly. Pete again failed in New York as he managed to put up just 2 points per game in 29 appearances( 4 of them playoff games against the Bulls) for the Knickerbockers. New Jersey then took on Pete’s contract in 1990 where he stuck for the entire season averaging 10 minutes a game and a career high 7 points per contest. The legend of Pete Myers grew to never before seen levels on April 4th 1990 during a 19 point loss to Boston. In this game Pete was unstoppable posting 15 points and 9 assists. Larry Bird managed 43 points while leading his team to the win. Here is the box score :

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199004040BOS.html

Despite this legendary performance New Jersey saw no use in keeping Pete around for the 90-91 campaign. San Antonio, who greatly regretted letting Pete go 3 years prior, decided to give Pete a second look and brought him in as a free agent. Pete’s second tour in San Antonio only lasted 2 weeks as they cut him Christmas Eve 1990. Pete was then out of the NBA for almost 2 full seasons before destiny beckoned. Serving as a practice player for the 3 time defending champion Chicago Bulls in October of 1993 Pete was stunned to learn that Bulls starting shooting guard Michael Jordan would be retiring. This opened up a roster spot that Pete took full advantage of. For the first time in his career Pete would be expected to be a regular contributor to a NBA franchise. In place of the living legend Pete went on to start 82 games in 93-94. It was this season that he reached his first and only NBA milestone. Pete Myers led the league in 93-94 in games played with 82. He of course shared the mark with many others but a milestone is a milestone. It can be argued that Pete had his best game as a pro while with Chicago in 1994 putting up 26 points 8 rebounds and 9 assists against the Golden State Warriors.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199402230CHI.html

Pete went on to be a regular and tough competitor for a Bulls team that fell in 7 games to eventually eastern conference champion New York. In game 3 of that series Myers was a key figure in one of the famous or infamous moments in Bull history. Having blown a huge 4th quarter lead to the Knicks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semi final the Bulls had the ball in a tie game (fact check that please) with 1.8 seconds to go. Scottie Pippen became furious with coach Phil Jackson when he drew up the final play and had Pippen inbounding the ball to Toni Kukoc. Kukoc's mistake on the previous possession had cost Scottie his chance at the last shot. In defiance of Coach Jackson Pippen decided to sit out the final 1.8 seconds, a move he would not make up for until years later. In Pippen's place was Pete Myers who threw a perfect inbounds pass to Kukoc who turned and nailed the winning shot. (Notice Myers on Jackson's right shoulder #20) (Also pay attention to the replay of Scottie's furious reaction to Kukoc after he missed the potential winning shot. He must have blown the play and it was the precursor to Scottie sitting out the final 1.8) Pete continued to play and start for the Bulls in 94-95 until a funny thing happened, that legend that he replaced the year before came back and assumed his starting role. The Bulls had no use for Pete once the legend came back and let him sign with Charlotte in the off season. During the 95-96 campaign Pete did little for the Hornets, accept for being a part of a blockbuster trade that ultimately sent Alonzo Mourning to Miami for Glen Rice. Pete appeared in 39 games for Miami before they also waived him. Remarkably Pete then signed back with Charlotte for the 2nd time in just one season. Charlotte of course let him go the following year. After a semi retirement Pete sat out one full season…then…dramatically New York, who deeply regretted releasing him in 1990, gave Pete one last shot at NBA glory. As a 34 year old Pete appeared in 9 games for the Knicks. History will show that Pete Myers played his last NBA game on December 20th 1997 where he played a season high 12 minutes and shot 3 for 3 from the floor in a loss at Milwaukee.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199712200MIL.html

Pete was waived following this game and went into seclusion, tired of his fame and fortune, awaiting Hall of Fame induction. He has since surfaced as a coach in Chicago(career 0-3 as interim head coach in 2003 and 2007) and is a leading candidate to replace current Bulls coach Vinny Dell Negro.

NBA career

Myers played in the NBA from 1986 to 1991 and also from 1994 to 1998. A 6' 6" guard for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he was drafted in 1986 by the Chicago Bulls in the 6th round (120th overall). He played briefly in both the CBA (including the Rockford Lightning for most of 1987-88) and the Italian League (for Aprimatic Bologna a.k.a. Mangiaebevi Bologna in Serie A2 in 1991-1992, Scavolini Pesaro in 1992-1993 and Polti Cantù in 1997 (reached the Italian Cup finals)) and played for seven NBA teams, including the Bulls (1986-87 and 1993-95) and the New York Knicks (1989-90 and 1998). He became the Bulls' starting shooting guard after the retirement of Michael Jordan in 1993, and averaged a career-high 7.9 points per game that year.

Coach

Myers joined Chicago’s coaching staff on December 28, 2001. Prior to joining the coaching staff, Myers spent two seasons as a scout. He became the interim head coach for two games when Bill Cartwright was fired in 2003. When the Bulls hired Scott Skiles, Myers went back to his regular duties at assistant coach. When Skiles was fired in 2007, Myers was named once again the interim head coach for one game before Jim Boylan became the head coach for the rest of the season.

Trivia

Myers is one of five former UALR players to make it to the NBA, and is one of just three to play in more than 25 NBA games. The others are Derek Fisher and Carlos Rogers.

References

• NBA.com: “Coaches: Pete Myers”, accessed October 18, 2005.

• Sports Pool.com: “NBA Coach Records and Statistics for Pete Meyers” and "NBA Player Records and Statistics for Pete Myers”, accessed October 18, 2005.