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Phil Sellers

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Phil Sellers
Personal information
Born (1953-11-20) November 20, 1953 (age 70)
Brooklyn, New York
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High schoolThomas Jefferson
(Brooklyn, New York)
CollegeRutgers (1972–1976)
NBA draft1976: 3rd round, 48th overall pick
Selected by the Detroit Pistons
Playing career1976–1979
PositionSmall forward / Shooting guard
Number11
Career history
1976–1977Detroit Pistons
1978Jersey Shore Bullets
1978–1979Amsterdam Amstel Veen
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

Phillip Sellers, Jr. (born November 20, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA.[1]

Early life

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sellers played high school basketball at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn.[1] He achieved success at the prep level, winning the MVP Award of Pittsburgh's Dapper Dan Tournament at the end of his senior season.[2] He also earned All-America honors at Jefferson and received over 200 scholarship offers from colleges across the country to play basketball.[2] Sellers signed a letter of intent to play at Notre Dame, but worries about managing the tough academics made him reconsider and so he attended Livingston College in New Jersey, a part of Rutgers University specially designed to help students from low-income backgrounds.[2]

Rutgers University

At Rutgers, Sellers played under then-assistant coach and future college basketball legend Dick Vitale.[3] His decision to become a Scarlet Knight was initially criticized,[3] but Sellers led Rutgers to two NIT berths during his freshman and sophomore seasons and then back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in his final two seasons.[3]

1975–76 season

Rutgers University's best men's basketball season in school history came during 1975–76. Sellers, a senior and Consensus Second Team All-American,[4] led the team to a 31–0 start. The team finished 31–2, and their only two losses occurred in the national semifinals (to Michigan) and the third-place game (to UCLA).[3] Sellers graduated from Rutgers in 1976 and is still the school's all-time leading scorer (2,399) and rebounder (1,115).[3] On January 16, 1988, he had his jersey number (#12) retired, making him one of only three Scarlet Knights players to have ever been so honored.[3]

NBA

After graduating, Sellers was picked in the third round (38th overall) of the 1976 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons, but lasted only a year with the Pistons before being put on waivers.[3] He then served as an assistant at Rutgers for three years before moving on to a job with a mortgage banking firm in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.[3] Sellers finished his one-year NBA career averaging 4.5 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 44 games played.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Phil Sellers Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c Kirschenbaum, Jerry (January 20, 1975). "One Very Stormy Sellers". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thomas Jr., Robert M. (January 11, 1988). "SPORTS WORLD SPECIALS; The Right Choice". New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
  4. ^ "All-America - Division I (1970's)". National Association of Basketball Coaches. Archived from the original on June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
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