Sam Perkins

Samuel Bruce Perkins (born June 14, 1961)[1] is an American retired professional basketball player and executive. Perkins was a three-time college All-American, was a member of the 1982 national champion North Carolina Tar Heels, and won a gold medal with the 1984 United States men's Olympic basketball team. Perkins played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 17 seasons.

Sam Perkins

Perkins in 2016
Personal information
Born	(1961-06-14) June 14, 1961 Brooklyn, New York
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school	Samuel J. Tilden (Brooklyn, New York) Shaker (Latham, New York)
College	North Carolina (1980–1984)
NBA draft	1984 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall
Selected by the Dallas Mavericks
Playing career	1984–2001
Position	Power forward / Center
Number	41, 44, 14
Career history
1984–1990	Dallas Mavericks
1990–1993	Los Angeles Lakers
1993–1998	Seattle SuperSonics
1998–2001	Indiana Pacers
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1985) NCAA champion (1982) 2× Consensus first-team All-American (1983, 1984) Consensus second-team All-American (1982) 3× First-team All-ACC (1982–1984) ACC Tournament MVP (1981) ACC Rookie of the Year (1981) No. 41 honored by North Carolina Tar Heels USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (1984) First-team Parade All-American (1980) McDonald's All-American (1980)
Career NBA statistics
Points	15,324 (11.9 ppg)
Rebounds	7,666 (6.0 rpg)
Blocks	933 (0.7 bpg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2018
Medals Men's basketball Representing  United States Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team competition Pan American Games 1983 Caracas Team competition FIBA U19 World Championship 1979 Salvador Team competition

High school career

Born in Brooklyn, New York,[1] Perkins attended Samuel J. Tilden High School.[2] He later attended and graduated from Shaker High School in Latham, New York.[2][3] He was named large-school player of the year (high school) by the New York State Sportswriters Association in 1980 and was also named to the 35 Greatest Boys McDonald's All Americans team.

College career

Perkins attended college at the University of North Carolina and played basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1980 to 1984.[4] He was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 1981[5] and starred alongside future NBA Hall of Famers James Worthy and Michael Jordan on the Tar Heels' 1982 NCAA championship team.[5][6] A three-time All-American,[5] Perkins was the 1984 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year.[4] Perkins finished his collegiate basketball career as the Tar Heels' all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots and as the second-highest scorer in team history.[5] He graduated from UNC in 1984.[7] Perkins was a co-captain of the gold-medal-winning 1984 United States men's Olympic basketball team.[8] He was named first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference three times in his Tar Heel career.[9]

Professional career

Chosen by the Dallas Mavericks as the fourth overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft,[4] Perkins went on to play as a power forward and center in the NBA from 1984 to 2001.[10] He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1985.[11] Perkins played for the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Seattle SuperSonics, and Indiana Pacers, respectively.[12] He scored a career-high 45 points on April 12, 1990. Perkins tied an NBA record on January 15, 1997, by making eight three-pointers without a miss.[13] He appeared in three NBA Finals: The 1991 NBA Finals (with the Lakers),[14] the 1996 NBA Finals (with the SuperSonics),[14] and the 2000 NBA Finals (with the Pacers).[15] In game one of the 1991 NBA Finals, Perkins made a game-winning three-point shot to defeat the Chicago Bulls.[1] He was known by the nicknames "Sleepy Sam", "Big Smooth",[16][10] and "The Big Easy".[1]

Post-retirement activities

In 2002, Perkins was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history.[17]

In 2008, Perkins was named vice president of player relations for the Indiana Pacers.[18] That September, he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.[19] Perkins held his position with the Pacers until 2010.[20]

In 2011, Perkins traveled to South Sudan as a SportsUnited Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State. In this capacity, he worked with Dikembe Mutombo to lead a series of basketball clinics and team-building exercises with 50 youth and 36 coaches. This helped contribute to the State Department's mission to remove barriers and create a world in which individuals with disabilities enjoy dignity and full inclusion in society.[21]

Perkins was named to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.[5]

Perkins at his camp in 2019

Perkins runs a summer camp for Chapel Hill, North Carolina youth that focuses on developing the basic skills of basketball.[22]

Personal

Perkins is a Jehovah's Witness. During his professional career, he did not stand for the national anthem due to his faith.[23]

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
1984–85	Dallas	82	42	28.3	.471	.250	.820	7.4	1.6	.8	.8	11.0
1985–86	Dallas	80	79	32.8	.503	.333	.814	8.6	1.9	.9	1.2	15.4
1986–87	Dallas	80	80	33.6	.482	.352	.828	7.7	1.8	1.4	1.0	14.8
1987–88	Dallas	75	75	33.3	.450	.167	.822	8.0	1.6	1.0	.7	14.2
1988–89	Dallas	78	77	36.7	.464	.184	.833	8.8	1.6	1.0	1.2	15.0
1989–90	Dallas	76	70	35.1	.493	.214	.778	7.5	2.3	1.2	.8	15.9
1990–91	L.A. Lakers	76	66	34.3	.495	.281	.821	7.4	1.5	.9	1.1	13.5
1991–92	L.A. Lakers	63	63	37.0	.450	.217	.817	8.8	2.2	1.0	1.0	16.5
1992–93	L.A. Lakers	49	49	32.4	.459	.172	.829	7.7	2.6	.8	1.0	13.7
1992–93	Seattle	30	13	25.4	.511	.452	.795	4.8	.9	.7	1.0	12.1
1993–94	Seattle	81	41	26.8	.438	.367	.801	4.5	1.4	.8	4	12.3
1994–95	Seattle	82	37	28.7	.466	.397	.799	4.9	1.6	.9	.5	12.7
1995–96	Seattle	82	20	26.5	.408	.355	.793	4.5	1.5	1.0	.6	11.8
1996–97	Seattle	81	4	24.4	.439	.395	.817	3.7	1.3	.9	.6	11.0
1997–98	Seattle	81	0	20.7	.416	.392	.789	3.1	1.4	.8	.4	7.2
1998–99	Indiana	48	0	16.4	.400	.389	.717	2.9	.5	.3	.3	5.0
1999–00	Indiana	81	0	20.0	.417	.408	.825	3.6	.8	.4	.4	6.6
2000–01	Indiana	64	41	15.6	.381	.345	.842	2.6	.6	.5	.3	3.8
Career		1,286	757	28.5	.459	.362	.811	6.0	1.5	.9	.7	11.9

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1985	Dallas	4	4	42.3	.490	.250	.765	12.8	2.8	.5	.3	18.8
1986	Dallas	10	10	34.7	.429	.250	.767	8.3	2.4	.9	1.4	14.9
1987	Dallas	4	4	17.0	.500	.000	.696	8.5	1.3	1.0	.3	17.0
1988	Dallas	17	17	33.6	.451	.143	.803	6.6	1.8	1.5	1.0	13.5
1990	Dallas	3	3	39.3	.444	.000	.765	7.3	2.7	1.0	.7	15.0
1991	L.A. Lakers	19	19	39.6	.548	.367	.761	8.3	1.7	.8	1.4	17.7
1993	Seattle	19	17	32.9	.436	.380	.873	7.0	1.9	1.0	1.3	14.4
1994	Seattle	5	0	28.2	.333	.429	.882	7.2	.8	.8	.4	9.8
1995	Seattle	4	1	35.3	.438	.455	1.000	7.8	3.3	.8	1.3	13.5
1996	Seattle	21	1	31.1	.459	.368	.754	4.3	1.7	.7	.3	12.3
1997	Seattle	12	6	28.3	.337	.311	.862	4.4	1.3	1.0	1.0	8.4
1998	Seattle	10	1	21.0	.381	.417	.600	3.2	1.4	.3	.5	5.4
1999	Indiana	13	0	11.2	.514	.458	.667	1.9	.5	.0	.2	4.1
2000	Indiana	23	0	18.1	.324	.348	.905	3.2	.4	.2	.3	4.8
2001	Indiana	3	0	6.3	.250	.250	–	1.3	.0	.0	.0	1.7
Career		167	83	28.7	.444	.363	.785	5.6	1.5	.7	.8	11.1

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds
• List of National Basketball Association career games played leaders

References

1. "Sam Perkins - All Things Lakers - Los Angeles Times". projects.latimes.com.
2. Kirkpatrick, Curry. "A TOWERING TWOSOME". Vault.
3. Franchuk, Jason (20 December 2015). "Ballston Spa native Scott Cherry finds coaching home at High Point". Times Union.
4. "The great Sam Perkins is giving back in Chapel Hill". ABC11 Raleigh-Durham. June 30, 2017.
5. Sargent, Mike. "Sam Perkins, former UNC great, elected to collegiate basketball hall of fame". newsobserver.
6. "Sports - Easy Does It -- Sam Perkins: Selfless, Sacrificial Sonic - Seattle Times Newspaper". community.seattletimes.nwsource.com.
7. By. "Black alumni group calls for boycott of UNC fundraising campaign". newsobserver.
8. "Former Maverick Sam Perkins says NBA players united". star-telegram.
9. "Perkins to enter collegiate basketball Hall of Fame Sunday". GoHeels.com. November 18, 2018.
10. "Basketball great Sam Perkins touts Fox as best for council". Brooklyn Eagle. 6 August 2013.
11. "Top 5 picks make up NBA All-Rookie first team". ESPN.com. 21 May 2019.
12. Raj Prashad, Diehards. "Former North Carolina star Sam Perkins becomes sixth Tar Heel elected into College Basketball Hall of Fame". daytondailynews.
13. "NBA.com: It's Spree for Three as Knicks Rout Clips". www.nba.com.
14. "Playoffs 2000:Big Smooth outside shot was key this season". static.espn.go.com.
15. "O'Neal and Lakers Win a Title for Tinseltown". archive.nytimes.com.
16. Horowitz, Tom. "Dallas Mavericks: 10 Best Trades in Franchise History". Bleacher Report.
17. Markus, Don. "ACC's top 50 includes eight Terps". baltimoresun.com.
18. "Perkins named V.P. of Player Relations". Indiana Pacers.
19. Mallozzi, Vincent M. "City’s Basketball Hall Welcomes 98-Year-Old Inductee", The New York Times, September 17, 2008. Accessed September 14, 2009.
20. "15 years later: Where are the 2000 Pacers now?". Indianapolis Star.
21. "Sam Perkins and Dikembe Mutombo Travel to South Sudan | Exchange Programs". exchanges.state.gov. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
22. "Sam Perkins Basketball Camp fundamentals of the game". Retrieved July 3, 2019.
23. McCallum, Jack, "Oh Say Should We Sing?" Sports Illustrated, March 25, 1996, accessed October 21, 2016.

External links

• NBA.com Player File
• Sam Perkins at Basketball-Reference.com