Bonzi Wells

Gawen DeAngelo "Bonzi" Wells (born September 28, 1976) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is currently an assistant coach at Georgia Tech and previously was head coach at LeMoyne-Owen.

There he was named the Mid-American Conference Freshman Player of the Year in the 1995–96 season, while helping the Cardinals to the NCAA Tournament.

He played college basketball at Ball State University and was drafted in the 1998 NBA draft.

In the NBA, Wells played for five teams from 1998 to 2008: the Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and New Orleans Hornets.

Wells attended Muncie Central High School and then went on to play at Ball State University, also in Muncie.

Wells broke Ron Harper's conference record of 2,377 career points on a one-handed dunk against Northern Illinois on February 21, 1998.

The dunk sent the sell-out crowd at University Arena into a frenzy.

A timeout was immediately called and Wells was awarded the game ball by Ball State president John Worthen.

Wells also led the Mid-American Conference in steals in 1998 with 73, averaging 3.55 steals in 29 games.

Wells led the conference in steals during all four years at Ball State and finished his career as the Mid-American Conference all-time career records in points (2,485) and steals (347).

While at Ball State he averaged 21.4 PPG, 3 SPG, and 7.3 RPG.

He was selected eleventh overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 1998 NBA draft, but he never played for the Pistons as his draft rights were traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for the Blazers' 1999 first round pick.

Six years later Ball State would retire his jersey number, 42, in recognition of his achievements.

As a swingman in Portland, Wells achieved career highs in scoring and improved somewhat on defense, and picked up what some would call a bad-boy image, while sharing the role of co-captain with Rasheed Wallace.

Bonzi, however, did have his share of on- and off-court incidents.

During his tenure with the Blazers, Bonzi was suspended for two games for publicly cursing at his coach after being taken out of a game.

Bonzi was also fined in a separate incident for making an obscene gesture to a fan in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

When asked by a media reporter about the incident, he said, "I black out sometimes."

Wells was suspended one game without pay and fined $10,000 for intentionally striking and verbally abusing an official in 2000.

Bonzi and teammate Erick Barkley in 2001 were cited for criminal trespass after they refused to follow the order of an officer to leave the scene of a fight near a downtown nightclub.

This only went to further the team's derisive nickname, The Jail Blazers.

Trail Blazers management made an oath to the City of Portland to have a team of upstanding Portlanders, and drastically restructured the team.

In an exchange that emphasized the urgency to release Wells, he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for reserve guard Wesley Person.

Bonzi's legacy in Portland was also positive.

On February 24, 2001, Wells recorded a then career high 7 steals in one game, while also scoring 21 points and recording 7 assists.

He set the franchise record for most points scored in a playoff game at 45 against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 2003 NBA Playoffs.

The co-captains would carry the sixth-seeded Trail Blazers to a decisive Game 7 versus the Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki led three-seeded Mavericks.

The Mavericks won the series, and thirteen games into the following season Wells was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for Wesley Person and a 2004 first-round pick.

The unorthodox coaching methods of Hubie Brown and his strict 10-man rotation limited Wells to just under 25 minutes per game for the Grizzlies.

This tactic helped them earn their first playoff appearance in franchise history.

After Brown suddenly quit as coach midway through the 2004–05 season, Mike Fratello took over as head coach.

It appeared Wells was finally going to be given a chance to pose a threat on the court.

This would not come to be, highlighted by the fact that Wells played a total of 27 minutes in the Grizzlies' second playoff appearance in 2005.

Citing undisclosed reasons, Fratello suspended him for Game 2 of the series against the powerhouse Phoenix Suns.

He returned in Game 3, only to play nine minutes.

Wells did not dress for the series-ending Game 4.

Prior to the start of the 2005–06 NBA season, Wells was acquired from the Grizzlies by the Kings in a trade for point guard Bobby Jackson and center Greg Ostertag.

He was also forced to change his jersey number from 6 to 42 upon arrival.

In Sacramento the number 6 has been retired in honor of the fans, as in they are the "sixth man" of the team.

In the early part of the season, Wells had been a rebounding force for the Kings, recording career-best numbers in rebounds, while also recording excellent assists and steals totals.