'Sean Michael Elliott' (born
February 2,
1968 in
Tucson, Arizona) is a retired American
National Basketball Association player.
Elliott played high school
basketball at Cholla High School in Tucson, Arizona and played
college basketball at the
University of Arizona, under the tutelage of
Lute Olson, and won the
Wooden Award after an exceptional senior season. He was drafted by the
San Antonio Spurs in the first round in 1989. Elliott spent the majority of his career with the Spurs, with the exception of the
1993-94 season, during which he played for the
Detroit Pistons. Elliott was an instrumental part of the Spurs' successful NBA title quest in
1999: he tight-roped the right sideline and launched a three-point basket to edge the
Portland Trail Blazers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. This play, referred to as the "
Memorial Day Miracle", shifted the momentum of the series to the Spurs.
Shortly after the championship run, Elliott announced that he had played despite having a
kidney disease,
focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, and that he would require a transplant. He underwent surgery on
August 16 of that year, receiving a kidney from his brother, Noel. On
March 13,
2000, Elliott became the first player to return after a kidney transplant, in a game against the
Atlanta Hawks. He announced his retirement in 2001.
Elliott's career high was 41 points against the
Dallas Mavericks on
December 18,
1992. He finished his career averaging 14.2 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game and 2.6 assists per game. Elliott is the all-time franchise leader in three-point field goals made (563) and attempted (1,485). He is also the only player in Spurs history to rank among the franchise's top ten in six different statistical categories: games played (third, 669), points (fourth, 9,659), rebounds (sixth, 2,941), assists (seventh, 1,700), steals (eighth, 522), and blocks (ninth, 257).
He played for the
US national team in the
1986 FIBA World Championship, winning the gold medal.
[1]
Elliott was basketball analyst for ''The
NBA on NBC'' and, during the
2003-2004 season, for
ABC Sports and
ESPN. He left that position for the
2004-2005 season and became the color commentator for the Spurs' local broadcasting.
On
March 6,
2005, his #32 jersey was retired and hung in the rafters of the
AT&T Center.
External links
★
References
1. 1986 USA Basketball