Sam Cassell

Samuel James Cassell Sr. (born November 18, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach and former point guard who serves as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

In his senior year in 1992–93, he averaged 18.3 points, 4.9 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game and led the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in steals.

Cassell and teammate Bob Sura formed the highest scoring and rebounding backcourt in the nation with 38.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

Cassell's 1992–93 Seminoles team finished with a 25–10 record and advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to the University of Kentucky's Wildcats.

Drafted 24th overall in the 1993 NBA draft out of Florida State, Cassell played for eight different teams during his 15-year career.

Cassell was selected out of Florida State University with the 24th overall pick of the 1993 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets.

Playing mostly as a backup to Kenny Smith, Cassell developed a reputation as "clutch" and was usually on the court for the fourth quarter of close games.

In his first two seasons, he helped the Houston Rockets win back to back championships, in 1994 and 1995, and won a third with the Boston Celtics in 2008, his last season.

He was a key contributor during the Rockets playoff run his rookie year, notably dropping 22 points and seven assists in a Game 7 win against the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Semifinals, and scoring 7 points in the final 32 seconds of a 93–89 win in game 3 of the 1994 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.

The Rockets would win the championship in seven games.

Cassell saw an increase in his role during his second year, appearing in all 82 games that season.

He again helped the Rockets reach the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year.

In game 2 of the Finals against the Orlando Magic, Cassell scored 31 points.

The Rockets swept the Magic, giving Cassell his second championship in just two years in the league.

In his third season, the two-time defending champion Rockets were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the Seattle SuperSonics.

Cassell's minutes, scoring and usage rates all increased in his third season, but he missed 21 games with injuries.

Rockets management feared their window of winning another championship with Olajuwon, Drexler and Smith was closing, and looked to trade for another star-caliber player.

After the 1995–96 season, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns, along with Robert Horry, Chucky Brown, and Mark Bryant, in exchange for former league MVP Charles Barkley.

Cassell, who was in the final year of his rookie contract, frequently clashed with head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons; Fitzsimmons subsequently resigned following an 0–8 start.

On December 12, 1996, Cassell led the 5–14 Suns into Utah and defeated the Jazz who at the time were on a 15-game winning streak.

Cassell scored 21 points in the 95–87 road win.

Under new head coach Danny Ainge, the Suns saw marked improvement with Cassell leading the team with 14.8 points per game.

On December 27, 1996, just 22 games into the season, he was traded along with Michael Finley, A.C. Green, and a second-round draft pick to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Jason Kidd, Tony Dumas, and Loren Meyer.

Though Cassell had begun to develop chemistry with the Suns and Coach Ainge, team management felt they could not pass up the opportunity to trade for Kidd.

Midway through the 1996–97 season, after appearing in 16 games for the Mavericks, he was traded with Chris Gatling, Jim Jackson, George McCloud, and Eric Montross to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Shawn Bradley, Ed O'Bannon, Robert Pack, and Khalid Reeves on February 17, 1997.

The Nets would be the third team that Cassell played for just that season.

During his time with the Nets, Cassell lived in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Following the season, though he considered an offer to return to Houston, Cassell elected to re-sign with the Nets on a six-year contract.

Forming one of the league's most potent backcourts with Kerry Kittles, Cassell averaged 19.6 points, 8 assists and 1.6 steals in 34 minutes per game for the Nets that year, and helped lead them to the playoffs for their first time in four years.

However, they were swept by Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the first round.

Led by coach John Calipari, who pushed the team to trade for then re-sign Cassell, the Nets were favorites in the Eastern conference entering the lockout-shortened 1998–99 season.

However, Cassell sustained an injury in the first game of the season and the Nets started 3–15.

He also helped the Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves reach the Conference Finals of the playoffs in 2001 and 2004 respectively, the latter's first-ever in franchise history, and helped the Los Angeles Clippers to their first-ever playoff series victory in 2006.

Known for his mid-range jumpshot, Cassell often made clutch baskets late in the fourth quarter to help his team win games.

After graduating from Paul Lawrence Dunbar Community High School in East Baltimore, Maryland, Cassell spent a year at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Maine, under coach Max Good.

From MCI, Cassell was successfully recruited to attend DePaul University.

He was declared academically ineligible based on National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Proposition 48 standards, and ended up starting his college career at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas, where he was known as a big scorer.

He moved on to Florida State University in Tallahassee for his junior and senior years.

He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and All-NBA Team once, both in the 2003–04 season.

On February 14, 2008, in a game against Wake Forest, Cassell's jersey was retired by Florida State.