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Frank Brickowski

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Frank Brickowski
Personal information
Born (1959-08-14) August 14, 1959 (age 65)
Bayville, New York, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
High schoolLocust Valley Central School
(Locust Valley, New York)
CollegePenn State (1977–1981)
NBA draft1981: 3rd round, 57th overall pick
Selected by the New York Knicks
Playing career1981–1997
PositionPower forward / center
Number34, 33, 43, 40
Career history
1981–1982Cagiva Varese
1982–1983Reims CAUFA
1983–1984Maccabi Tel Aviv
1984–1986Seattle SuperSonics
1986–1987Los Angeles Lakers
1987–1990San Antonio Spurs
1990–1994Milwaukee Bucks
1994Charlotte Hornets
1995–1996Seattle SuperSonics
1996–1997Boston Celtics
Career NBA statistics
Points7,302 (10.0 ppg)
Rebounds3,410 (4.7 rpg)
Assists1,384 (1.9 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Francis Anthony Brickowski (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, formerly in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

College and overseas career

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Born in Bayville, New York, Brickowski played college basketball for four years as a power forward/center for Penn State. He won the John Lawther Award in 1980 as Penn State's MVP.[1]

Brickowski was then selected with the 11th pick of the third round of the 1981 NBA draft by the New York Knicks. The Knicks considered him not quite ready for the NBA, so he began his professional basketball career in Italy.[2] After a year in Italy, he played for another year in France, and the Knicks relinquished their draft rights after the 1982–83 NBA season.[1] Brickowski then played another season overseas for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.

NBA career

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Seattle SuperSonics

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Brickowski signed with the Seattle SuperSonics for the 1984–85 season on September 23, 1984, arriving in the league three years after being drafted.[1] He played in Seattle two seasons.

Los Angeles Lakers

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He signed on with the Los Angeles Lakers on October 8, 1986, but only played part of one season.

San Antonio Spurs

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The Lakers traded him to the San Antonio Spurs, along with Pétur Guðmundsson, two draft choices and cash, for Mychal Thompson.[3] Although Brickowski only played 7 games the rest of that season, he played 3 more productive seasons for San Antonio, including scoring a career-high 16 points per game during the 1987–88 season.

Milwaukee Bucks

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During the 1990 off-season, the salary cap went up, which led to Brickowski being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for Paul Pressey, to which the Bucks agreed due to an injury to Larry Krystkowiak.[4] On March, 22, 1991, Brickowski scored 32 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in a 99–92 victory in Los Angeles against the Lakers.[5] Although the Bucks finished with a respectable 48–34 record, they would be surprisingly swept by Charles Barkley and the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. The Bucks would not return to the playoffs until the 1998–99 season.[6][circular reference] He was a productive player during his time in Milwaukee. During 1991–92, Brickowski was found with an ounce of cannabis at his Montana ranch. He pleaded guilty,[7] and was forced to pay a $2,000 fine and undergo drug counseling.[8]

Charlotte Hornets

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At the 1994 trading deadline, The Bucks traded Brickowski to the Charlotte Hornets with a first-round draft pick for Mike Gminski.[9] He spent the rest of the season with Charlotte.

Sacramento Kings

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The next season Brickowski joined the Sacramento Kings.[10] However, he injured his shoulder during preseason, aggravating the injury in a practice in January, and ended up being lost for the entire season.[11]

Return to Seattle

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Brickowski signed on for a second stint with Seattle, in which he became a surprising contributor in terms of three-pointers, hitting 32 of 79 (.405). He helped Seattle make it to the 1996 NBA Finals against Chicago Bulls. During that series, Brickowski became notorious in his very physical defense against Dennis Rodman that led to several technical and flagrant fouls.[12][13][clarification needed][according to whom?]

Boston Celtics

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Brickowski signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics on August 1, 1996.[1] After only 17 games, he was released on July 7, 1997,[1] and retired, holding career averages of 10 points, 5 rebounds and two assists per game, in 731 contests.

After the NBA

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One year after he retired in 1997, Brickowski joined a team of retired NBA players on a tour of China for a series of exhibition games against the Chinese national team.[14]

Brickowski currently works with the NBA Players Association and lives in Montana.

Personal life

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He is married to Meaghan McCarthy.[15]

In a 2020 interview, Brickowski recounted one of the "wildest" moments of his life: "Charles Oakley comes up behind me and grabs me and we laugh. He gets a phone call and he says, ‘I’m talking with Brick,’ and then he says to me, ‘Let’s go.’ So I just follow him out the door, we go to this other tower and we up and we go to Michael Jordan’s suite and he has a gambling game still going on from the night before. It’s nine o’clock in the morning and I look around the room and all I see is piles of cash. My mind goes to, ‘We’ll put sleeping gas under the door, everyone will get knocked out and we’ll split the profits.’ I saw Oakley later that night and said, ‘Oak, how much money was in that room? There must have been a million dollars in that room.’ He held up two fingers – there was $2 million in cash in that room."[16]

NBA career statistics

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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

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1984–85 Seattle 78 9 14.3 .492 .000 .669 3.3 1.3 0.4 0.2 4.9
1985–86 Seattle 40 2 7.8 .517 – .667 1.4 0.5 0.3 0.2 2.0
1986–87 L.A. Lakers 37 0 10.9 .564 – .678 2.6 0.3 0.4 0.1 3.9
1986–87 San Antonio 7 0 11.9 .333 .000 .909 2.7 0.7 0.9 0.3 4.3
1987–88 San Antonio 70 68 31.8 .528 .200 .768 6.9 3.8 1.1 0.5 16.0
1988–89 San Antonio 64 60 28.5 .515 .000 .715 6.3 2.0 1.6 0.5 13.7
1989–90 San Antonio 78 12 18.4 .545 .000 .674 4.2 1.3 0.8 0.5 6.6
1990–91 Milwaukee 75 73 25.5 .527 .000 .798 5.7 1.7 1.1 0.6 12.6
1991–92 Milwaukee 65 60 23.9 .524 .500 .767 5.3 1.9 0.9 0.4 11.4
1992–93 Milwaukee 66 64 31.4 .545 .308 .728 6.1 3.0 1.2 0.7 16.9
1993–94 Milwaukee 43 40 33.5 .482 .167 .775 6.5 3.8 1.2 0.4 15.2
1993–94 Charlotte 28 6 23.3 .502 .500 .746 4.5 2.0 1.0 0.4 10.1
1995–96 Seattle 63 8 15.7 .488 .405 .709 2.4 0.9 0.4 0.1 5.4
1996–97 Boston 17 2 15.0 .438 .350 .714 2.0 0.9 0.3 0.2 4.8
Career 731 404 22.3 .519 .324 .740 4.7 1.9 0.9 0.4 10.0

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1988 San Antonio 3 3 37.7 .500 1.000 .684 7.3 4.7 2.0 0.7 19.3
1990 San Antonio 10 0 16.1 .574 – .654 4.4 1.1 0.8 0.1 7.9
1991 Milwaukee 3 3 36.7 .533 .000 .500 8.7 1.0 0.3 0.7 18.3
1996 Seattle 21 3 9.8 .421 .273 .750 1.4 0.5 0.3 0.2 2.0
Career 37 9 15.9 .514 .280 .635 3.3 1.1 0.6 0.3 6.3

Recognition

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Brickowski's surname is believed to be the inspiration for the character Emmet Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt) from The Lego Movie.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Boston Celtics player statistics: Frank Brickowski". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
  2. ^ "McKoy to Europe". The New York Times. September 12, 1981. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
  3. ^ "Moncrief activated". The New York Times. February 14, 1987. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  4. ^ "Salary cap goes up". The New York Times. August 2, 1990. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  5. ^ "Milwaukee Bucks at Los Angeles Lakers Box Score, March 22, 1991".
  6. ^ List of Milwaukee Bucks seasons
  7. ^ "Brickowski pleads guilty to marijuana possession". The New York Times. February 8, 1992. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  8. ^ "Brickowski is sentenced". The New York Times. May 20, 1992. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  9. ^ "NBA breaks trend with exciting 2001 trading deadline". CNN. Archived from the original on August 4, 2001. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  10. ^ "Kings tell Tisdale no and Brickowski yes". The New York Times. August 20, 1994. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  11. ^ "Kings' Brickowski is lost for season". The New York Times. January 19, 1995. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  12. ^ Friend, Tom (June 11, 1996). "N.B.A. FINALS;Rodman Is Baiting; Seattle Is Bawling". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  13. ^ Friend, Tom (June 10, 1996). "N.B.A. FINALS;Sonics See Rodman, Rodman Everywhere". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  14. ^ "The Big O: News & Background". Archived from the original on July 28, 2005. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
  15. ^ Canzano, John (February 9, 2013). "The rules for millionaire matchmaking with Greg Oden". The Oregonian.
  16. ^ "Frank Brickowski talks Michael Jordan and a $2 million gambling adventure". May 15, 2020.
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