Milt Palacio

Milt Palacio
Idaho Vandals
Position Director of player development
League Big Sky Conference
Personal information
Born (1978-02-07) February 7, 1978
Los Angeles, California
Nationality Belizean / American
Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight 210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school Junípero Serra
(Gardena, California)
College Midland JC (1995–1996)
Colorado State (1996–1999)
NBA draft 1999 / Undrafted
Playing career 1999–2013
Position Point guard
Number 5, 9, 10, 3
Career history
1999–2000 Vancouver Grizzlies
2000–2002 Boston Celtics
2002 Phoenix Suns
2002–2003 Cleveland Cavaliers
2003–2005 Toronto Raptors
2005–2006 Utah Jazz
2007–2008 Partizan
2008–2009 Khimki
2009 Partizan
2010 Kavala
2010 Caja Laboral
2010–2011 Kavala
2011 Caja Laboral
2011–2012 Blu:sens Monbús
2012 Piratas de Quebradillas
2012 Bnei HaSharon
2013 Lietuvos rytas
Career highlights and awards

Milton Sigmund "Milt" Palacio (born February 7, 1978) is a retired Belizean-American professional basketball player who is currently the director of player development at the University of Idaho.

Early life

Palacio was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, to Belizean parents and is a Belizean citizen.

College career

Palacio attended Junípero Serra High School in Gardena, California. He played college basketball at Midland College and Colorado State University, going undrafted in 1999. In his three years with the Rams, Palacio averaged 12.1 points, 4.8 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Professional career

In a seven-year NBA career, from 1999 to 2006, Palacio played for the Vancouver Grizzlies, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz, with a career scoring average of 4.8 points per game.

His most notable achievement was scoring a buzzer beater for the Celtics in their shocking victory over the New Jersey Nets on December 28, 2000. With the Nets leading 111–109 and inbounding the ball with less than 2 seconds remaining, Palacio stole a pass from Lucious Harris and threw up an off-balance shot from 30 feet away. Improbably, the shot swished through the net, giving the Celtics a 112–111 victory.[1] Basketball writers dubbed Palacio with the nickname "Miracle Milt", as a recognition of this incredible incident.

Despite a solid season with the Jazz, Palacio was a free agent at the start of the 2006–07 preseason. He eventually caught on with the Seattle SuperSonics, but was waived before the regular season start, unable to unseat Mike Wilks as the third-string point guard behind Luke Ridnour and Earl Watson.

In the 2007–08 season, Palacio began an overseas adventure, signing for ex-European champions Partizan in Serbia.[2] While struggling mightily at times to begin the year, he learned the European game quickly, playing some great basketball in the second half of the season and being named Euroleague's MVP for the month of March 2008,[3][4] helping Partizan reach the last 8 of the competition for the first time in 10 years. In this season Palacio won triple crown with Partizan, winning the Basketball League of Serbia, Serbian Cup and ABA League.

During the 2008 summer transfer window, Palacio moved to the Russian team Khimki. After a year there, in September 2009, he rejoined Partizan,[5][6] but was released from his contract few weeks later, after he had not joined the team on time.[7] On January 5, 2010, Palacio signed a contract with the Greek League team Kavala.[8] In 16 games for Kavala, Palacio averaged 10.3 points, 2.6 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game, which has helped the club avoid relegation.

On May 4, 2010, Palacio moved to Spain and signed with Caja Laboral by the end of the 2009–10 season.[9] He helped the Basque team to win the national title for the third time in the club history, beating Barcelona 3–0 in the final series. He then returned to Kavala in August 2010, signing a one-year contract.[10] He averaged 15.7 points, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals during the regular season, and thus led the team to the playoffs. After the team was eliminated by PAOK, Palacio again moved to Caja Laboral until the end of the 2010–11 season.

In August 2011, Palacio signed a one-year deal with Blu:sens Monbús,[11] where he averaged 6.4 points and 2.4 assists in the 2011–12 season. During the summer of 2012, Palacio played for Piratas de Quebradillas in Puerto Rico. He started the 2012–13 season with Bnei HaSharon in Israel, but finished with Lietuvos rytas in Lithuania.

Coaching career

In 2013, Palacio joined Don Verlin's staff at the University of Idaho as director of player development.[12]

Belizean national team

In his first international tournament, Palacio led Belize to a gold medal at the 1998 CARICOM Basketball Championship, which the country hosted.

Palacio was also a member of the team that won a silver medal at the 2009 FIBA COCABA Championship, held in Cancún, Mexico, losing in the finals of the hosts 106–103.[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

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1999–00 Vancouver 53 0 7.4 .439 .000 .595 1.0 .9 .4 .0 2.0
2000–01 Boston 58 6 19.7 .472 .333 .848 1.8 2.6 .8 .0 5.9
2001–02 Boston
Phoenix		 41
28 		0
1 		12.6
9.7 		.385
.380 		.353
.143 		.706
.783 		1.2
.8 		1.3
1.0 		.5
.3 		.1
.0 		3.7
2.8
2002–03 Cleveland 80 46 24.7 .418 .216 .747 2.9 3.2 .9 .2 5.0
2003–04 Toronto 59 13 20.5 .349 .154 .662 1.7 3.1 .7 .2 4.4
2004–05 Toronto 80 4 19.2 .446 .167 .742 1.7 3.5 .6 .2 5.8
2005–06 Utah 71 18 19.4 .424 .063 .653 1.9 2.7 .7 .2 6.2
Career 470 88 17.9 .419 .235 .719 1.8 2.5 .6 .1 4.8

References

  1. ↑ "Celtics beat Nets on Palacio's miracle 3-pointer". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. December 29, 2000. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Partizan inks Milt Palacio". euroleague.net. August 27, 2007. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Euroleague Basketball MVP for March: Milt Palacio, Partizan Igokea". euroleague.net. March 24, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  4. ↑ "March MVP interview: Milt Palacio, Partizan". euroleague.net. March 25, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Milt Palacio returns to Partizan". euroleague.net. September 16, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Palacio returns to Partizan". thehoop.blogspot.com. September 16, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Partizan, Palacio part ways". euroleague.net. October 6, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Kavala announced Milton Palacio, Sow to follow?". thehoop.blogspot.com. January 5, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Baskonia announced Milton Palacio". thehoop.blogspot.com. May 4, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Kavala renewed Milton Palacio". thehoop.blogspot.com. August 5, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Obradoiro CAB tabs experienced point guard Milt Palacio". sportando.net. August 22, 2011. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Milt Palacio". University of Idaho. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Mexico wins 2009 CoCaBa, defeats Belize 106-103". interbasket.net. August 14, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2012.

External links

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