Wally Szczerbiak

Walter Robert "Wally" Szczerbiak Jr. (born March 5, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player and current color analyst for the New York Knicks on MSG Network.

He played 10 seasons for four teams in the National Basketball Association.

Szczerbiak played college basketball for Miami (of Ohio) University and is one of five of the university's basketball players whose jerseys have been retired.

Wally Szczerbiak was born in Madrid, Spain, to Marilyn and Walt Szczerbiak, a former ABA player who helped lead Real Madrid to three FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague) championships.

During his time with Real Madrid, the elder Szczerbiak set a Spanish League single-game scoring record with 65 points.

Wally Szczerbiak spent much of his childhood in Europe during his father's playing career, and he was taught to speak fluent Spanish and Italian.

When Walt Szczerbiak retired, he moved his family back to his native Long Island, New York.

Wally Szczerbiak played basketball at Cold Spring Harbor High School in Cold Spring Harbor, New York.

As a senior in the 1994–95 season, he averaged 36.6 points per game and 15.9 rebounds per game.

He was named the winner of the Richard Sangler Award as Nassau County's outstanding boys' basketball player.

Szczerbiak competed for the Long Island team in the 1994 Empire State Games.

Despite his outstanding high school statistics, the small size of Szczerbiak's school did not win him the attention of East Coast college coaches, and he went unrecruited.

During the fall of his high school senior year, Szczerbiak and his parents visited the Miami University campus in Oxford, Ohio.

The following Monday, despite Walt's wishes for his son to wait before making a decision, Szczerbiak called coach Herb Sendek and committed to play for Miami of Ohio.

In his first two seasons at Miami of Ohio, Szczerbiak averaged 8.0 and 12.8 points per game, respectively.

As a junior in 1997–98, he burst onto the scene as one of college basketball's leading scorers, averaging 24.4 points per game and earning first-team All-MAC honors despite missing several games with a broken right wrist.

In his senior season, Szczerbiak averaged 24.2 points per game and led the Redhawks to the Sweet 16 in the 1999 NCAA tournament as a #10 seed.

Szczerbiak scored a career-high 43 points in a first-round win over #7 seed Washington.

He followed that performance with 24 points in a second-round toppling of #2 seed Utah, leading the Redhawks to the Sweet 16.

Despite Szczerbiak's 23-point performance, the team lost to Kentucky, 58–43.

Miami finished the season with a record of 24–8.

Szczerbiak was named MAC Player of the Year, was honored as a first-team All-American by Basketball News and Sports Illustrated, and was selected as a second-team All-American by the Associated Press (AP).

Szczerbiak finished his college career as Miami of Ohio's second all-time leading scorer with 1,847 points.

He earned a degree in marketing.

The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Szczerbiak with the sixth overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft.

In 2001, Szczerbiak became the fifth Miami player to have his jersey retired (#32).

His best year as a professional was in 2002, when he was a coaches' selection to the Western Conference All-Star team.

He tied a Timberwolves franchise record of 44 points on April 13, 2003; the record has since been broken.

Szczerbiak came off the bench during the 2004–05 NBA season, but returned to a starting role in the 2005–06 season.

On January 26, 2006, Szczerbiak, along with Michael Olowokandi, Dwayne Jones and a conditional first-round draft pick, was traded to the Boston Celtics for Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks, Justin Reed, and two second-round draft picks.

Szczerbiak underwent surgery during the 2006 offseason to repair a knee injury.

In the 2006–07 season, Szczerbiak played well early on, including a 35-point performance against the Charlotte Bobcats early in the season.

However, he was soon plagued by several injuries to both ankles.

The injuries greatly affected his shooting and jumping ability, and he elected to have season-ending surgery.

On June 28, 2007 (the night of the 2007 NBA draft), the Celtics traded Szczerbiak to the Seattle SuperSonics along with Delonte West and Jeff Green (the 5th overall pick) for Ray Allen and Glen Davis (35th overall).

On February 21, 2008, Szczerbiak and Delonte West were traded by the SuperSonics to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-way deal that sent Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall from Cleveland to Seattle, Adrian Griffin from the Chicago Bulls to Seattle, Cedric Simmons, Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, and Shannon Brown, from Cleveland to Chicago, and Ben Wallace and Joe Smith from Chicago to Cleveland.

Szczerbiak played in 25 regular season games (one start) with the Cavaliers, averaging 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

He scored 18 points against Detroit on April 16, 2008.

In 2009, he was inducted into the Miami University Athletic Hall of Fame.

In 2013, Szczerbiak was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.