Clyde Drexler

He was a ten-time NBA All-Star and named to the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams.

Clyde Austin Drexler (born June 22, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player and the commissioner of the Big3 3-on-3 basketball league.

Nicknamed "Clyde the Glide", he played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), spending a majority of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers before finishing with the Houston Rockets.

While Drexler only led in scoring in the final two games, the Blazers were bolstered by players such as Terry Porter and Jerome Kersey to a six-game series victory, with Drexler and Porter each scoring 23 in the 112-109 victory that gave Portland its first conference championship since 1977.

In the Finals, they played the Detroit Pistons.

Drexler led the Blazers with 21 points in Game 1, but they lost 105-99.

In Game 2, Drexler scored 33 points and contributed the go-ahead points in overtime by hitting two free throws with 2.1 seconds to beat Detroit 106-105.

It was the only win in the series for the Blazers, who lost narrowly in Game 4 by three and lost the final game after Detroit went on a 9-0 run.

He began receiving attention from college coaches following a 34-point, 27-rebound performance against Sharpstown High School during a 1979 Christmas tournament.

After graduating in 1980, he was recruited by New Mexico State University, Texas Tech University, and the University of Houston, the latter after childhood friend Michael Young told an assistant to head coach Guy Lewis that Drexler was the best player he had faced in high school.

Houston was able to recruit them both due to Drexler's friendship with Young and his desire to stay home.

Drexler majored in finance and worked at a bank during the summer.

Houston made the first of Drexler's two straight Final Four appearances in 1982, where they lost to eventual champions North Carolina.

He averaged 15.2 points and 10.5 rebounds (second in the Southwest Conference) per game as a small forward as Houston finished 25–8.

The 1982–83 campaign saw Houston return to the Final Four ranked No. 1. They were matched up against No. 2 Louisville and the "Doctors of Dunk" in the semifinals, which Houston won 94–81 following a brilliant dunking display by both sides, including a double-pump slam by Drexler that Sports Illustrated writer Curry Kirkpatrick called "your basic play of the century".

He finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

In the championship game against North Carolina State, Drexler failed to make an impact after picking up four fouls before halftime, and scored only four points on one-of-five shooting and two free throws in NC State's upset victory.

Drexler declared for the NBA draft as a junior, leaving Houston with career averages of 14.4 points, 3.3 assists and 9.9 rebounds in three seasons.

In addition to being named the Southwestern Conference Player of the Year and a first-team All American his final season, he remains the only player in school history with combined totals of at least 1,000 career points, 900 rebounds and 300 assists; he is also Houston's all-time steals leader with 268.

In the 1983 NBA draft, Drexler was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 14th overall pick.

He averaged 7.7 points in 17.2 minutes per game in his rookie season.

These all improved with more playing time in his second season, to 17.2 points, 6 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game.

In his third season Drexler made his first All-Star team, averaging 18.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 8 assists and 2.6 steals.

On January 6, 1989, Drexler scored a career-high 50 points during a double-overtime win over the Sacramento Kings.

In the 1989–1990 season, Drexler led the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1990 NBA Finals, averaging 23.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists during the season.

The Blazers (ranked 3rd in the Western Conference) made it to the Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns.

During the 1990–1991 season, Drexler led Portland to a franchise-best 63–19 record.

He played in every game for the first time in four seasons and averaged 21.5 points per game while having 6.7 rebounds and six assists on average.

Heavily favored to win the West, the Los Angeles Lakers upset the Trail Blazers by winning the Western Conference Finals.

In the 1991–92 season he made the All-NBA First Team and finished second to Michael Jordan in MVP voting, having averaged 25 points per game to go with 6.6 rebounds and 6.7 assists while playing slightly over 35 minutes a game; the Blazers finished 57-25, best in the Western Conference.

Drexler won an NBA championship with Houston in 1995, and earned a gold medal on the 1992 United States Olympic team known as "The Dream Team".

Lewis recalled in 2003 that he initially received hate mail from Houston supporters and alumni for recruiting Drexler, as they felt that he was not good enough to play for the school.

Drexler and Young, along with Larry Micheaux and new recruit Hakeem Olajuwon (known then as Akeem), comprised the "Phi Slama Jama" basketball fraternity that gained national attention for its acrobatic, above-the-rim play.

New players were "initiated" into the fraternity by having to stand underneath the basket as Drexler drove in from halfcourt and threw down a tomahawk slam over them.

He was inducted twice into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2004 for his individual career and in 2010 as a member of the "Dream Team".

Drexler is widely considered one of the greatest basketball players and greatest shooting guards of all time.

Drexler was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and lived in the South Park area in Houston, Texas.

He attended Ross Sterling High School in Houston, where he was a classmate of tennis player Zina Garrison.

As a sophomore, he made the varsity baseball team, and tried out for the basketball team but failed to make the cut.

Drexler played as a 6ft 6in center as a senior.