Mateen Cleaves facts for kids
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Cleaves with the Seattle SuperSonics in 2006
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
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| Born | September 3, 1977 Flint, Michigan, U.S. |
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| High school | Flint Northern (Flint, Michigan) | |||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | |||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) | |||||||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||||||
| College | Michigan State (1996–2000) | |||||||||||||
| NBA Draft | 2000 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall | |||||||||||||
| Selected by the Detroit Pistons | ||||||||||||||
| Pro career | 2000–2009 | |||||||||||||
| Career history | ||||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Detroit Pistons | |||||||||||||
| 2001–2003 | Sacramento Kings | |||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Huntsville Flight | |||||||||||||
| 2004 | Cleveland Cavaliers | |||||||||||||
| 2004 | Huntsville Flight | |||||||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Seattle SuperSonics | |||||||||||||
| 2006 | Fayetteville Patriots | |||||||||||||
| 2006–2007 | UNICS Kazan | |||||||||||||
| 2007 | Bakersfield Jam | |||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Panionios | |||||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | Bakersfield Jam | |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Mateen Ahmad Cleaves (born September 7, 1977) is a retired American basketball player. He played as a point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for several seasons. Before joining the NBA, he was a star college player for Michigan State University. He led his team to win the national championship in 2000. After his playing career, Mateen Cleaves became a sports analyst for Fox Sports.
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College Basketball Career
Mateen Cleaves was a very talented high school basketball player. Many colleges wanted him to play for their teams. He chose to attend Michigan State University. He was one of four players from Flint, Michigan, on the team. These players were often called "The Flintstones."
Cleaves became a team captain at Michigan State three times. He led the Spartans to win the national championship in 2000. He was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four tournament that year.
He was the only Michigan State player to be named an All-American three times. Cleaves also won the Big Ten Player of the Year award twice. He holds the record for most assists in Michigan State history with 816. He is also the all-time leader in steals for the Spartans with 193. In his last home game, he made 20 assists. This broke the Big Ten record for assists in a single game and for a career.
On February 3, 2007, Michigan State honored Mateen Cleaves. They retired his jersey number, 12. This means no other player at Michigan State will wear that number.
Professional Basketball Career
In 2000, the Detroit Pistons picked Mateen Cleaves as the 14th player in the 2000 NBA draft. During his first season (2000–01), he played in 78 games. He averaged about 5.4 points and 2.7 assists per game.
Before the 2001–02 season, Cleaves was traded to the Sacramento Kings. He played for them for two seasons. After that, he signed with the Boston Celtics but was later released. He then played a few games for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Later, he joined the Seattle SuperSonics.
In total, Mateen Cleaves played 167 games in the NBA. He started in 10 of those games. His career averages were 3.6 points, 2 assists, and 1 rebound per game. His last NBA game was on February 14, 2006.
After his time in the NBA, Cleaves played in the D-League for teams like the Fayetteville Patriots and the Bakersfield Jam. He also played basketball overseas. He played for Unics Kazan in Russia and Panionios BC in Greece. In 2008, he played for the Denver Nuggets in their pre-season games. However, he was released before the regular season began.
NBA Career Stats
| 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 Games
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | Detroit | 78 | 8 | 16.3 | .400 | .294 | .708 | 1.7 | 2.7 | .6 | .0 | 5.4 |
| 2001–02 | Sacramento | 32 | 0 | 4.8 | .441 | .250 | .889 | .3 | .8 | .2 | .0 | 2.2 |
| 2002–03 | Sacramento | 12 | 0 | 4.6 | .261 | 1.000 | .750 | .7 | .8 | .2 | .0 | 1.3 |
| 2003–04 | Cleveland | 4 | 2 | 23.0 | .304 | .000 | .500 | 1.8 | 4.8 | 1.0 | .5 | 3.8 |
| 2004–05 | Seattle | 14 | 0 | 4.6 | .357 | .000 | .750 | .4 | .5 | .1 | .0 | .9 |
| 2005–06 | Seattle | 27 | 0 | 8.5 | .352 | .250 | .792 | .5 | 1.6 | .1 | .1 | 2.7 |
| Career | 167 | 10 | 11.2 | .389 | .267 | .728 | 1.0 | 1.9 | .4 | .0 | 3.6 | |
Life After Playing Basketball
On March 14, 2010, Mateen Cleaves started working for Fox Sports Detroit. He became a studio analyst for the Detroit Pistons. This means he would talk about the team and games on TV.
Cleaves also got involved in the music business. He became an owner of a record label called All Varsity Entertainment. One of the artists on his label is Jon Connor.
In 2019, Cleaves joined United Wholesale Mortgage. He worked with his former teammate, Mat Ishbia. Cleaves became a leadership development coach there. In 2021, he was promoted to lead the whole leadership development team. He is well-known in the company for his "Mateen's Motivational Tuesday" posts.
More to Explore
- List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 20 or more assists in a game
