Brian Grant

Brian Wade Grant (born March 5, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player.

He played the power forward and center positions for five teams during 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association.

He was known for his tenacious rebounding and blue-collar defense.

During his career, he played with the Sacramento Kings (where he made First Team All-Rookie in the 1994–95 season), Portland Trail Blazers, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

Grant grew up in the small, rural community of Georgetown, Ohio, near the Ohio River about 40 miles southeast of Cincinnati.

During summers, he spent most of his time working at area farms, cutting, housing, and stripping tobacco, digging potatoes and baling hay.

He played basketball at Georgetown High School, mostly in anonymity until Xavier University's basketball office began receiving anonymous calls stating that they should take a look at Grant.

Xavier assistant coach Dino Gaudio finally scouted Grant, followed by visits from XU head coach Pete Gillen.

Georgetown High's gymnasium has since been renamed Brian Grant Gymnasium.

Grant played basketball at Xavier University, but the anonymity quickly faded.

After four seasons at Xavier, Grant was second on the all-time leading scorers' list with 1,719 points.

He was twice named Midwest Collegiate Conference Player of the Year.

All four seasons at Xavier he led the Musketeers in rebounding, and was third on the all-time leading rebounding list with 1,080.

He was named to the Associated Press honorable mention All-American team in his junior year, after ranking second in the nation in field goal percentage with 65.4 percent.

Grant was selected in the first round, eighth overall, in the 1994 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings.

In his rookie season he started in 59 out of 80 games, averaging 13.2 points a game with 7.5 rebounds.

The following year, he started in 75 out of 78 games, increasing his scoring average to 14.4 points a game as the Kings made the playoffs.

The Kings lost in four games to the top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics in the first round, with Grant averaging 9.8 points per game for the series.

He signed a five-year, $29 million contract, but due to injuries appeared in only 24 games in the 1996–1997 season, and the Kings did not make the playoffs.

Grant opted out of the deal following the 1997 season to sign a six-year, $56 million deal with the Portland Trail Blazers.

In his first year with the Trail Blazers he started in 49 of 61 games as the team made the playoffs but lost in the first round to the Los Angeles Lakers 3 games to 1.

Grant averaged 13.2 points and 10.7 rebounds a game for the series.

The 1998–1999 season was shortened to 50 games because of a league lockout, and Grant started 46 of 48 games with a scoring average of 11.5 points a game and a team high 9.8 rebounds per game.

The Trail Blazers won the Pacific Division, swept the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs and defeated the previous Western Conference Champion Utah Jazz in six games in the second round.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Trail Blazers were swept by the league-leading San Antonio Spurs.

Grant started all 13 playoff games and averaged 13.2 points with 9.2 rebounds.

Grant was inducted into the Xavier Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999 and became one of only four basketball players to have his jersey retired, in a ceremony held in 2011.

Prior to the 1999–2000 season, Portland acquired veteran all-star Scottie Pippen, and coach Mike Dunleavy decided to use Grant as a reserve behind rising all-star Rasheed Wallace, who would go on to have a career year during the season as the Trail Blazers won 59 games and the second seed in the Western Conference.

Portland opened the playoffs with a 3–1 first-round win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, with Grant and Wallace both being used as defensive options against Kevin Garnett.

Grant was used in a similar fashion against Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz in the second round, with Portland advancing in five games.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Trail Blazers faced the Los Angeles Lakers led by Pippen's former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson and the duo of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

The teams split the first two games before the Lakers took games 3 and 4 to take a 3–1 series lead, but Portland responded with a win on the road in game 5 and a home win in the sixth game to set up a seventh game with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.

Despite taking a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter, the Lakers rallied and won the game, eliminating Portland.

Grant made an appearance (albeit as an in game model) in a memorable Sega Dreamcast commercial in 1999 where he was seen talking to Sonic the Hedgehog character Tails.

After the two-tailed fox said to Grant, "Brian, you're going to get roofed.", Grant replied with, "Shut up, quadruped."

Grant averaged 5.4 points and 5.8 rebounds throughout the 2000 playoff run.

After two years as the starting PF and one year as the Blazers' number one big man off the bench, Grant once again opted out of his deal to become a free agent, hoping to land a starting job elsewhere.

In the summer of 2000 Grant signed a 7-year $86 million deal with the Miami Heat, despite coming off season averages of 7.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg.

The deal raised eyebrows, but Heat President and GM Pat Riley insisted that Grant was the missing piece to the Heat's championship puzzle, along with other recently acquired players Eddie Jones and Anthony Mason.

Weeks before the start of the season Miami's all-star center Alonzo Mourning was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease forcing Riley to play Grant at center despite usually playing at the power forward position.