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Mike Mitchell (basketball, born 1956) facts for kids

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Mike Mitchell
Personal information
Born (1956-01-01)January 1, 1956
Atlanta, Georgia
Nationality American
Died June 9, 2011(2011-06-09) (aged 55)
San Antonio, Texas
High school Luther Judson Price
(Atlanta, Georgia)
Listed height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight 234 lb (106 kg)
Career information
College Auburn (1974–1978)
NBA Draft 1978 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15th overall
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Pro career 1978–1999
Career history
1978–1981 Cleveland Cavaliers
1981–1987 San Antonio Spurs
1988–1990 Filodoro Brescia
1990 San Antonio Spurs
1990–1991 Filodoro Napoli
1991–1992 Maccabi Tel Aviv
1992–1999 Reggio Emilia
Career highlights and awards
  • NBA All-Star (1981)
  • Italian League Top Scorer (1998)
  • First-team All-SEC (1978)
  • 2× Second-team All-SEC (1976, 1977)
  • Third-team All-SEC (1975)
  • No. 30 retired by Auburn Tigers
  • First-team Parade All-American (1974)
Career NBA statistics
Points 15,016 (19.8 ppg)
Rebounds 4,246 (5.6 rpg)
Assists 1,010 (1.3 apg)

Michael Anthony Mitchell (January 1, 1956 – June 9, 2011) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), over eleven seasons, from 1978 to 1990.

College career

Mitchell, who was born in Atlanta, played college basketball at Auburn University. While at Auburn, Mitchell was a four-time All-SEC selection and was named a second-team All-American in his 1977–78 season. He also became Auburn's all-time leader in scoring (2,123 points) and rebounding (996), after leaving for the NBA. He remains the all-time leading rebounder and is second in all-time scoring only to Chuck Person. Mitchell's number 30 jersey was retired on January 19, 2013, at the Auburn Arena.

Professional career

Mitchell was drafted with the 15th pick in the first round, of the 1978 NBA Draft, by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He started his NBA career with the Cavaliers but played most of his career for the San Antonio Spurs. Mitchell was a 6'7" and 234 lb. small forward, with career averages of 19.8 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, 1.3 assists per game, a .493 field goal percentage, and a .779 free throw percentage.

Mitchell was an All-Star in 1981 and was in the top ten in scoring four times, and the top ten in minutes played three times. Among other career highlights, he led the Spurs in scoring for the 1984–1985 season, which marked the only season in which George Gervin played on the Spurs and did not lead the team in scoring. Mitchell averaged 22.2 points per game, to Gervin's 21.2 per game.

Mitchell averaged 19.8 points per game over the course of his NBA career. His 9,799 total points scored for the San Antonio Spurs is seventh highest in franchise history, behind Gervin, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker, James Silas, and Manu Ginóbili.

From 1988, until a short return to the Spurs during the 1990 playoffs, Mitchell played in Italy, with Basket Brescia. He also played in Italy with Basket Napoli, before leaving for the Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv, in 1991. From 1992, until his retirement in 1999, Mitchell played for another Italian club, Pallacanestro Reggiana.

Post-playing career

Mitchell later worked as a counselor for at-risk youth, in San Antonio.

Death

Mitchell died of cancer in 2011.

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
1978–79 Cleveland 80 19.7 .513 .736 4.1 .8 .6 .4 10.7
1979–80 Cleveland 82 34.2 .523 .000 .787 7.2 1.1 .9 .9 22.2
1980–81 Cleveland 82 39.0 .476 .444 .784 6.1 1.7 .8 .6 24.5
1981–82 Cleveland 27 26 36.0 .454 .000 .720 5.2 1.4 1.0 .6 19.6
1981–82 San Antonio 57 57 36.7 .539 .000 .733 7.9 .8 .6 .5 21.0
1982–83 San Antonio 80 79 35.0 .511 .000 .758 6.7 1.2 .7 .7 19.9
1983–84 San Antonio 79 79 36.1 .488 .429 .779 7.2 1.2 .8 .9 23.3
1984–85 San Antonio 82 82 34.8 .497 .217 .777 5.1 1.8 .7 .3 22.2
1985–86 San Antonio 82 82 36.2 .473 .000 .809 5.0 2.3 .7 .3 23.4
1986–87 San Antonio 40 18 23.1 .435 .500 .821 2.6 1.0 .5 .2 12.7
1987–88 San Antonio 68 20 22.1 .482 .250 .825 2.9 1.0 .5 .2 13.5
Career 759 443 32.3 .493 .216 .779 5.6 1.3 .7 .5 19.8
All-Star 1 0 15.0 .500 1.000 4.0 2.0 1.0 .0 14.0

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1982 San Antonio 9 40.6 .533 .754 8.1 .8 .6 .1 24.8
1983 San Antonio 11 38.4 .510 .500 .758 9.5 1.1 .6 1.7 20.9
1985 San Antonio 5 5 36.0 .564 .000 .875 3.8 2.4 .6 .8 21.8
1986 San Antonio 3 3 35.7 .404 .500 3.0 3.3 1.0 1.0 15.7
1988 San Antonio 3 3 24.7 .351 .833 5.0 1.3 .3 .3 10.3
1990 San Antonio 4 0 3.8 .375 .8 .5 .0 .0 1.5
Career 35 11 33.2 .502 .333 .762 6.4 1.3 .5 .8 18.5

See also

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