Mookie Blaylock

This article is about the NBA basketball player. For the band, see Pearl Jam.
Mookie Blaylock
Personal information
Born (1967-03-20) March 20, 1967
Garland, Texas
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight 180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school Garland (Garland, Texas)
College
NBA draft 1989 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12th overall
Selected by the New Jersey Nets
Playing career 1989–2002
Position Point guard
Number 10
Career history
1989–1992 New Jersey Nets
1992–1999 Atlanta Hawks
1999–2002 Golden State Warriors
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 11,962 (13.5 ppg)
Steals 2,075 (2.3 spg)
3-pointers 1,283
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Daron Oshay "Mookie" Blaylock (born March 20, 1967) is a retired American professional basketball player. He spent 13 years in the NBA with three teams.

College career

A 6 ft 0 in (1.85 m) push-and-pass point guard, he was rated among the best defensive stoppers in the game. The former Garland High School, Midland College (where he earned NJCAA All American honors in 1987[1]), and University of Oklahoma star is most highly regarded for his quick hands and a ball hawking defensive style that produced more than 200 steals in a season five times and two NBA All-Defensive first-team selections. He was also a capable outside shooter, a fine passer who generally ranked among the league's assist leaders, and a durable instigator of the fast break. In 1988, he helped to lead the Sooners to the NCAA title game.

NBA career

Blaylock was selected by the New Jersey Nets with the 12th overall pick of the 1989 NBA Draft and settled quickly into Nets' rotation. He was traded to the Atlanta Hawks prior to the 1992–93 season, where he flourished under newly signed coach Lenny Wilkens. He spent seven years with the Hawks, leading them in career three-point field goals (made and attempted) and career steals. He was also selected for the 1994 NBA All-Star Game. He was traded to the Golden State Warriors in a deal that brought the 1999 10th overall draft pick, Jason Terry, to Atlanta, and finished off his career playing as a reserve for the Warriors.

NBA achievements

In popular culture

Fans of the basketball player, the band members of Pearl Jam originally named their group "Mookie Blaylock", but they were forced to change the name. They settled on naming their debut album Ten after Blaylock's jersey number.[2][3][4] In addition, Blaylock himself is a fan of Pearl Jam.[2]

In Tom Robbins' 1994 novel Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, character Larry Diamond uses the name "Mookie Blaylock" as a pseudonym for hotel stays.[5]

In the Homestar Runner cartoon "Kick-A-Ball", the Umpire tells the Announcer that Mookie Blaylock gave him the ball featured in the cartoon, a reference to a similar scene in an earlier cartoon about Mookie Wilson.

Personal life

In 2011, two of Blaylock's sons, twins Daron and Zack, committed to play football for the University of Kentucky.[6] The sons are graduates of Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia.[6] Blaylock resides in Zebulon, Georgia.[7]

During the afternoon of May 31, 2013, Blaylock was involved in a head-on collision in Clayton County, Georgia. He was initially placed on life support,[8] but his condition later improved.[7] Blaylock's vehicle traveled left-of-center, causing the accident. A family member stated he had a history of seizures, but it was unknown if Blaylock was experiencing any symptoms at the time of the collision.[7] Although initially surviving the crash, a passenger in the other vehicle died as a result of injuries from the collision.[7][8] Blaylock is charged with vehicular homicide,[9] driving on a suspended license and failing to stay in his lane.[10] Blaylock has an outstanding warrant in Spalding County, Georgia on charges of DUI and drug-related offenses, but "investigators did not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash."[7] On October 27, 2014, Blaylock pleaded guilty to killing Monica Murphy, the mother of five, rather than face a jury. Blaylock was sentenced to 15 years for vehicular homicide and other charges in the head-on collision as part of a plea bargain.[11] According to the plea, Blaylock will serve a seven-year prison sentence, of which three years will actually be spent in prison and the remaining four as a suspended sentence, followed by eight years of probation.[12]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Midland College, NJCAA All Americans, 1987
  2. 1 2 Stout, Gene (August 23, 2001). "Pearl Jam: 'Ten' plus ten". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  3. ↑ Slowikowski, Tim (June 24, 2003). "From Mookie Blaylock to Pearl Jam: The Matt Cameron Interview". PopMatters. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  4. ↑ Simmons, Bill (April 21, 2006). "State of NBA, Love & Trust". Page 2 (ESPN.com). Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  5. ↑ Robbins, Tom (1995) [1994]. Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (2nd ed.). Bantam Books. p. 380. ISBN 0-553-37787-6.
  6. 1 2 Carvell, Michael (30 September 2011). "Twin sons of ex-Atlanta Hawk Mookie Blaylock headed to Kentucky — for football". AJC Recruiting Blog (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Manasso, John (31 May 2013). "Ex-NBA guard Mookie Blaylock critically injured in car crash". Fox Sports (NewsCorp). Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  8. 1 2 Stevens, Alexis (May 31, 2013). "Former NBA star Mookie Blaylock critical, 1 killed after wreck". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "Mookie Blaylock charges upgraded". ESPN. Associated Press. June 3, 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  10. ↑ Glier, Ray (2 June 2013). "Mookie Blaylock faces at least 2 charges in fatal crash". USA Today. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  11. ↑ http://www.ajc.com/news/news/former-nba-star-blaylock-sentenced-in-fatal-crash/nhsTm/
  12. ↑ "Mookie Blaylock sentenced in fatality". ESPN.com. October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.