To coincide with the All Anything NBA teams, I decided on going with an all Arizona State University to NBA team. This would be my five man starting lineup for an All ASU team. Now one of the best players in ASU history is not on this list due to the fact he did not have a great NBA career or much of one at all.
Michael Batiste for those who dont know of him (wiki him) attended ASU from 1995-1999 and was named to the All Pac 10 first team in 1998-1999. He did not go on to have a great NBA career only playing for the Grizzlies in the 2002-2003 season playing in 75 games averaging 6.4ppg.
He then moved on the Panathinaikos of the Greek League, also known as one of the top three best teams in all of Europe. Since being there he earned last season the Greek League award for best Forward in the league.
Now on to the list of players who actually have been in the NBA and have stuck there, there arent many to choose, but here they are, my starting lineup for ASU basketball.
PG: 2007/2008 Eddie House:
The 37th pick in the second round of the 2000 NBA draft, Eddie House has been a journeyman within the NBA playing for eight teams in his eight year NBA career. A former Pac 10 Player of the year in college House was able to light it up from almost anywhere for the Sun Devils which included a 61 point effort vs. Cal.
House saw himself get back on the NBA map with the Phoenix Suns in the '05-06 season which saw him score 9.8ppg but no season did he seem to play as big of a role as he did then last season the world champion Boston Celtics. Although House only avg. 7.5ppg during the regular season it was his leadership and incredible hussle that led the Celtics to the world title.
- B/R Ticket Guide
SG: 1987/1988 Byron Scott
The fourth overall pick in the 1983 draft Scott had a long and successful career winning three NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 1987-1988 season proved to be Scott's best as he averaged a Lakers best for that season 21.7ppg to go along with 1.91spg. He was the Lakers starting SG from the 1984 season until the 1993 season. He also won a Greek League and European Championship playing for Panathinaikos. He is now the head coach of the New Orleans Hornets where he most recently won the NBA 2007-2008 Coach of the Year.
SF: 1977/1978 Lionel Hollins:
The sixth overall pick of the 1975 NBA draft, Lionel Hollins had an excellent career which saw him named as an NBA All Star one time and an All NBA defender twice and named to the All NBA Rookie Team in 1975. He also won a World Title with the Portland Trailblazers in the 1976-1977 NBA season.
He was a solid player at Arizona State and that translated to the NBA as he enjoyed his best season during the 1977-1978 NBA season which saw him average a career high 15.9ppg. After his playing days were over he became the head coach of the then Vancouver Grizzlies for the '99-00 season and he is now an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks.
PF: 2005/2006 Ike Diogu:
The ninth overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, Ike Diogu was the reigning Pac 10 player of the year and was named to the 2nd Team All America when he left ASU after his Jr year to pursue and NBA career. Diogu hasn't lived up to the hype he had when he left ASU but did enjoy a nice rookie year campaign where he averaged 7.0ppg in 69 games with the Warriors, 14 of those games he started. Diogu has a lot of promise still ahead of him it is just injuries and multiple trades have slowed him down from becoming the player he can.
C: 1986/1987 Alton Lister:
The 21st overall pick in the 1981 draft Lister was a very successful player at ASU and that led to him having a pretty solid NBA career. His best season took place in the 1986-1987 season with the Seattle Supersonics which saw Lister avg. 11.6ppg and 9.4rpg in 75 games. Lister was known throughout his career as a solid defensive player and an excellent rebounder and shot blocker he retired from the NBA after the 97-98 season.
Bench:
2007-2008 - Awvee Storey
1968-1969 - Freddie Lewis
1970-1971 - Joe Caldwell
1985-1986 - Kurt Nimphius
1988-1989 - Lafayette Lever
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about 1 month ago
I actually changed a couple players, when I look to see who and what I changed, I'll update this
about 1 month ago
Great article, Ian! Hope you don't mind but we took the liberty of taking your Sun Devils team and played a matchup with another All-Time Pac-10 team. No article has been written yet, so we looked in our database and found an user had created an all-time UCLA team.
With a payroll of only 43 million, it was going to be hard to beat this all-time Bruins team with Baron Davis, Reggie Miller, Bill Walton, and Kareem (payroll of 83 million), but the first simulated game, the Sun Devils pulled out the upset 99-97!
Player of the Game Alton Lister had 16 points and 8 rebounds and Art Becker chipped with 16 and 7. Here's the box score!
http://www.whatifsports.com/nba/boxscore.asp?gameid=1110918&teamfee=-1
from about 1 month ago
haha, you guys should run a best of 7 series of the matchup, see who comes out on top.... ASU takes game 1 though, Go Devils
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