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Tree Rollins

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Tree Rollins
Rollins in 2012
Personal information
Born (1955-06-16) June 16, 1955 (age 69)
Winter Haven, Florida, U.S.
Listed height7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)
Listed weight235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High schoolCrisp County (Cordele, Georgia)
CollegeClemson (1973–1977)
NBA draft1977: 1st round, 14th overall pick
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Playing career1977–1995
PositionCenter
Number30, 15
Coaching career1993–2015
Career history
As player:
1977–1988Atlanta Hawks
1988–1990Cleveland Cavaliers
1990–1991Detroit Pistons
1991–1993Houston Rockets
1994–1995Orlando Magic
As coach:
1993–1999Orlando Magic (assistant)
1999–2000Washington Wizards (assistant)
2000–2002Indiana Pacers (assistant)
2002–2003Greenville Groove
2006–2007Washington Mystics (assistant)
2007–2008Washington Mystics
2013–2015Chicago Sky (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points6,249 (5.4 ppg)
Rebounds6,750 (5.8 rpg)
Blocks2,542 (2.2 bpg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Representing  United States
Men's basketball
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1975 Mexico City Team competition

Wayne Monte "Tree" Rollins (born June 16, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player who played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, and Orlando Magic.

Career

Rollins at Clemson.

The 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m), 275 pounds (125 kg) Clemson University graduate played center, and gained high esteem for his defense, particularly his rebounding and shot-blocking ability. On February 21, 1979, while playing for the Atlanta Hawks, Rollins blocked a career high 12 shots in a 106-83 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.[1] In all, he finished in the top three in blocked shots six times, including leading the league during the 1982–83 NBA season, during which he would finish second in NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award voting.[2] At the time of his retirement in 1995, he was fourth all-time in career blocked shots, behind only Hakeem Olajuwon, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mark Eaton, with a total of 2,542. He currently holds the ninth highest total of career blocked shots, having been passed on the list by Dikembe Mutombo, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Tim Duncan, and Shaquille O'Neal. During his playing career, Rollins was given the nickname "The Intimidator".[3]

In 1983, as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, playing in Game 3 of the first round, he got into a fight with Danny Ainge of the Boston Celtics. In retaliation for allegedly being called a "sissy", Rollins elbowed Ainge in the face. Ainge subsequently tackled Rollins to the ground and the two began to wrestle. Rollins then bit Ainge's middle finger so badly that it required a couple of stitches. After the fight, Ainge was ejected and Rollins was not. However, the Celtics went on to win the series 2–1.[4][5][6] The incident inspired opposing fans to occasionally hold up signs referring to the incident with sayings like "If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em" during some of his subsequent games.

In the late 1980s, still with the Hawks, Rollins was asked how he felt about the team playing an exhibition game in the Soviet Union. Rollins replied that he had already been to the Soviet Union, "and I don't need to go back."[7]

Rollins was a player-coach with the Orlando Magic, serving as an assistant coach from 1993 to 1999 and backup center during the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons.[8] He was an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers and the second (and last) coach of the now-defunct Greenville Groove of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL).[9] He went 22-28 while the Groove dissolved after the season ended.

Rollins joined the WNBA's Washington Mystics in 2006 as an assistant coach. On June 1, 2007, he was named interim head coach following Richie Adubato's resignation early in the season.[3] Rollins led the Mystics to a 17–14 record.[3] On July 19, 2008, following lopsided losses to the New York Liberty and Detroit Shock, which put the Mystics at 8–14 on the season and 2.5 games out of playoff position, he was relieved of his duties. The Mystics' aggregate record under Rollins over the two seasons was 25–28, second best in Mystics history. He was replaced on an interim basis by one of his assistants, Jessie Kenlaw.[10] In 2013, Rollins became an assistant coach with the WNBA's Chicago Sky.[11]

One small distinction for Rollins was that he was the last player to wear canvas Converse All Stars (leather ones were worn in 1982 by Micheal Ray Richardson) in the NBA when in the 1979–80 season he laced up modified Chuck Taylors which had the Circle Star patch removed on the inside ankle. Instead these had star chevrons sewed to the sides of the canvas similar to the Converse All Star II that had been sold earlier.[12]

Achievements

  • First athlete in any sport at Clemson to have jersey number retired
  • Only Clemson basketball player to average double-double in four straight seasons
  • NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 1982–83 season[13]
  • NBA All-Defensive First Team, 1983–84 season[13]

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
1977–78 Atlanta 80 — 22.4 .487 — .703 6.9 1.0 .7 2.7 7.6
1978–79 Atlanta 81 — 23.5 .535 — .631 7.3 .6 .6 3.1 8.4
1979–80 Atlanta 82 — 25.9 .558 — .714 9.4 .9 .7 3.0 8.9
1980–81 Atlanta 40 — 26.1 .552 .000 .807 7.2 .9 .7 2.9 7.0
1981–82 Atlanta 79 39 25.5 .584 — .612 7.7 .7 .4 2.8 6.1
1982–83 Atlanta 80 80 30.9 .510 .000 .726 9.3 .9 .6 4.3* 7.8
1983–84 Atlanta 77 76 30.5 .518 — .621 7.7 .8 .5 3.6 8.6
1984–85 Atlanta 70 60 25.0 .549 — .720 6.3 .7 .5 2.4 6.3
1985–86 Atlanta 74 61 24.1 .499 .000 .767 6.2 .6 .5 2.3 5.6
1986–87 Atlanta 75 58 23.5 .546 — .724 6.5 .3 .6 1.9 5.4
1987–88 Atlanta 76 59 23.2 .512 — .875 6.0 .3 .4 1.7 4.4
1988–89 Cleveland 60 2 9.7 .449 .000 .632 2.3 .3 .2 .6 2.3
1989–90 Cleveland 48 19 14.0 .456 .000 .688 3.2 .5 .3 1.1 2.6
1990–91 Detroit 37 0 5.5 .424 — .571 1.1 .1 .1 .5 1.0
1991–92 Houston 59 5 11.8 .535 — .867 2.9 .3 .2 1.1 2.0
1992–93 Houston 42 0 5.9 .268 .000 .750 1.4 .2 .1 .4 .7
1993–94 Orlando 45 1 8.5 .547 — .600 2.1 .2 .2 .8 1.7
1994–95 Orlando 51 3 9.4 .476 — .677 1.9 .2 .1 .7 1.2
Career 1,156 463 20.8 .522 .000 .700 5.8 .6 .4 2.2 5.4

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1978 Atlanta 2 — 25.5 .583 — .250 4.5 .5 .5 2.0 8.0
1979 Atlanta 9 — 23.6 .412 — .692 7.9 .6 .3 2.7 5.7
1980 Atlanta 5 — 26.8 .581 — .600 7.6 .6 .4 2.8 8.4
1982 Atlanta 2 — 32.5 .333 — .750 4.0 1.0 .0 3.0 3.5
1983 Atlanta 3 — 39.3 .481 — .333 10.0 1.0 .3 3.3 9.7
1984 Atlanta 5 — 30.4 .400 — .625 6.8 .2 .4 2.0 5.0
1986 Atlanta 9 9 27.6 .553 — .636 8.7 .3 .2 1.7 6.6
1987 Atlanta 9 9 24.6 .536 — .714 5.9 .3 .3 1.8 4.4
1988 Atlanta 12 12 27.8 .556 — .867 5.9 .5 .8 1.6 4.4
1989 Cleveland 5 0 14.8 .750 — .600 3.2 .2 .6 1.4 3.0
1990 Cleveland 3 0 12.7 .333 — .750 2.7 .3 .7 .3 2.7
1991 Detroit 6 0 5.3 1.000 — — .5 .0 .2 .2 .7
1993 Houston 6 0 2.7 .000 .000 — .7 .0 .3 .0 .0
1994 Orlando 3 0 9.7 .400 — — 1.0 .0 .3 .3 1.3
1995 Orlando 14 0 5.8 .600 — .250 .4 .0 .0 .4 .5
Career 93 30 19.4 .505 .000 .624 4.6 .3 .4 1.4 3.9

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rollins Career High 12 Blocks Against Trail Blazers". Statmuse.
  2. ^ "1982-83 NBA Awards Voting". Basketball Reference.
  3. ^ a b c "Strong Roots Make Tree Rollins Excited About the Mystics in 2008". WNBA.com. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  4. ^ Diaz, Angel (April 21, 2017). "The Greatest Brawls in NBA Playoffs History". Complex. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  5. ^ Watanabe, Ben (April 24, 2012). "'Tree Bites Man' Entered Basketball Lexicon 29 Years Ago Tuesday When Tree Rollins Bit Danny Ainge". NESN.com. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  6. ^ Rosenberg, I.J. (April 15, 2016). "Rollins remembers biting Danny Ainge's finger". AJC.com. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  7. ^ "Washburn says no to Soviet jaunt". news.google.com. Wilmington Morning Star. April 15, 1988. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  8. ^ Rollins signs on for the season, web: The Naples Daily News, 1994, retrieved March 13, 2023
  9. ^ "Tree Rollins Named Greenville Head Coach". NBA.com. July 11, 2002. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  10. ^ "Mystics' assistant Kenlaw takes over as coach for fired Rollins". ESPN.com. July 19, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  11. ^ Hersh, Philip (April 30, 2013). "Tree Rollins named Sky assistant". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  12. ^ Bengtson, Russ (May 28, 2013). "50 Things You Didn't Know About Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars". Complex. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  13. ^ a b "NBA Postseason Awards - All-Defensive Teams". NBA.com. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
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