Jeff Hornacek

Jeffrey John Hornacek (born May 3, 1963) is an American professional basketball coach and a former player who is a coaching consultant for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Hornacek redshirted at Iowa State University (ISU) in 1981; he was a team walk-on who played from 1982 to 1986.

The son of a high school basketball coach, he became an all-conference player in the Big Eight Conference, playing for coach Johnny Orr.

First, the Los Angeles Lakers packaged it in the deal to acquire Byron Scott from the San Diego Clippers before the 1983–84 season.

A week later, the Clippers sent the pick to the Detroit Pistons in a deal to acquire Ricky Pierce, and on that same day, the Pistons dealt the pick to the Suns for David Thirdkill.

He played shooting guard in the NBA from 1986 through 2000 and played collegiately at Iowa State University.

He attended Komarek Elementary School in North Riverside, Illinois, and Gurrie Middle School and Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Cook County, Illinois.

As a point guard he guided the Cyclones to the Sweet Sixteen of the 1986 NCAA tournament.

His shining moment came at the Metrodome in Minneapolis when, after first hitting a shot to tie the game and send it to overtime, Hornacek hit the game winning shot in overtime, a 26-foot jumper at the buzzer, to give ISU its first NCAA tournament victory since 1944, beating Miami University, March 14, 1986, 81–79.

Two days later, he led the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen, in a 72–69 upset of second seed Michigan.

Orr, who had previously left Michigan to coach at Iowa State, called it the greatest victory of his career.

Hornacek left ISU with a Big-8 record of 665 career assists and 1,313 career points.

He was the 22nd pick in the second round (46th overall) of the 1986 NBA draft, by the Phoenix Suns.

The 2nd round draft pick that was used to select him was traded three times before finally ending up with the Suns.

The Suns struggled in Hornacek's first two seasons, but after hiring Cotton Fitzsimmons as a coach and acquiring free agent Tom Chambers, the Suns went from 28 wins in 1987–88 to 55 in 1988–89.

Hornacek was a "third option" on offense after Chambers and Kevin Johnson.

This trio led the Suns to four straight NBA playoff appearances, including two Western Conference Finals.

He holds a career free throw percentage of 87.7, 16th highest in NBA history.

Hornacek won the NBA three-point competition twice, and along with Natalie Williams, star of the Utah Starzz, won the All-Star 2-Ball Challenge.

He was the fourth player in Cyclone basketball history to have his number retired when his No. 14 jersey was hung from the rafters of Hilton Coliseum in 1991.

In the 1991–92 season, he led the Suns in scoring average (20.1 points per game) and earned an All-Star appearance.

Hornacek won NBA Player of the Month honors in December 1991.

In 1992, Hornacek was traded (along with Andrew Lang and Tim Perry) to the Philadelphia 76ers for Charles Barkley.

With Hersey Hawkins, the Sixers' leading scorer, in the shooting guard position, Hornacek was assigned point guard responsibilities.

Although he had a career high 6.9 assists per game in his only complete season with the Sixers (1992–93 season), his stint as a point guard was not a success (26 wins, 56 losses).

Midway through the 1993–94 season (February 24) he was traded to the Utah Jazz (for Jeff Malone) where he could return to his natural shooting guard position alongside John Stockton.

Like in Phoenix, Hornacek was a complementary "third option" to Karl Malone and Stockton.

On November 23, 1994, he set a then-NBA record with eight consecutive three-pointers in a single game against the Seattle SuperSonics.

That same season, he also tied an NBA record 11 consecutive three-pointers, from December 30, 1994, through January 11, 1995.

Hornacek's No. 14 jersey was retired by the Utah Jazz, for whom he played from 1994 to 2000, and helped get them to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998.

Coach Jerry Sloan and Jazz announcer "Hot Rod" Hundley referred to Hornacek affectionately as "Horny".

All in all, Hornacek enjoyed a 14-year NBA playing career including 1,077 career games played.

He was an instrumental part of the Jazz's drive to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998, where the Jazz lost to the Chicago Bulls both times.

One of the best free throw shooters in the league, once making 67 in a row (November 12, 1999 – January 6, 2000), one of his most well-known mannerisms was stroking the side of his face three times before every free-throw attempt.

That was his way of saying hello to his three children, Tyler, Ryan and Abigaile, during the game.

After the 1999–2000 season, Hornacek retired from basketball to spend more time with his family.

He remained with the Jazz until knee problems forced his retirement in 2000.

It was revealed that he has no left meniscus due to wear and tear on his body, so bad that he could have needed knee reconstruction because it also is arthritic.

He previously was the head coach for both the Phoenix Suns (2013–2016) and the New York Knicks (2016–2018).

He was also an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets.