Carl Landry

Carl Christopher Landry (born September 19, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player.

Landry attended Harold S. Vincent High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he won the Wisconsin Division I state championship in 2000 and 2001.

However, Landry did not have much individual success as a high school player as he was cut from his freshman team, barely made the Vincent High junior varsity team as a sophomore, and didn't see much playing time on varsity as a junior or senior.

Landry started his college career in 2002–03 at Vincennes University, a junior college located in Vincennes, Indiana where the likes of Shawn Marion and Bob McAdoo also played.

He averaged 14.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game as a freshman, but missed half the season due to a broken hand.

As a sophomore in 2003–04, he led the Trailblazers with averages of 19.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.

He was named a first-team Junior College All-American and the All-Region MVP.

The 6 ft, all-conference power forward played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers from 2004 to 2007.

He is the older brother of Marcus Landry.

Landry transferred to Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana for his junior year in 2004–05, where he led the conference with 18.2 ppg and led the Boilers with 7.1 rpg.

He shot 61.8 percent from the field and averaged 30.3 mpg while playing under head coach Gene Keady.

His best game of the season came against Michigan State when he scored a season-high 31 points while shooting 11-of-12 from the floor.

On the season, he scored in double figures 22 times and recorded six double-doubles.

He was named second-team All Big Ten by conference coaches and media despite missing the season's final three games due to an ACL injury in his right knee.

After recovering from the leg injury, Landry returned to play his senior season under first-year head coach, Matt Painter.

He recorded a career-high 35 points in the second game of the season against South Alabama before he re-injured his knee three games later against Evansville.

He was forced to sit out the rest of the season and earned a medical redshirt to be eligible for the 2006–07 season.

After missing three games his junior season and only playing in five his senior season, Landry's absence on the court, along with teammate, David Teague, left Purdue struggling with just 16 wins in the two seasons.

As a redshirt senior in 2006–07, Landry led the Boilermakers in both rebounds and points.

He began the season with three consecutive Big Ten Player of the Week honors, becoming the only player in Big Ten Conference history to do so.

Landry was also one of only two players in the league to rank in the top five for both points and rebounds.

Averaging 18.9 points per game, he ranked in the conference's top three with Alando Tucker of Wisconsin and Adam Haluska of Iowa.

On March 10, 2007, Landry scored 24 points and made 9-of-16 shots going against Ohio State's Greg Oden in the Big Ten tournament.

He led the Boilermakers to the 2007 NCAA tournament, where he recorded 18 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in his last game as a Boilermaker against the eventual champions, Florida, in the second round.

Scoring in double figures in 33 of 34 games his senior season, he was awarded first-team All-Big Ten honors.

Landry finished his career as a Boilermaker averaging 18.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in three seasons.

He currently holds the school's second highest career field goal percentage with 60.2 accuracy, only behind Steve Scheffler's NCAA record of 68.5 percent.

Bench Press

Carl Landry was also regarded as one of the strongest players in the NBA during his playing career.

While showcasing his talents at the NBA Draft Combine he was able to complete around 21 repetitions of the 185 pound bench press

[[File:Carl Landry.jpg|thumb|Carl Landry with the Houston Rockets

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On June 28, 2007, Landry was selected with the 31st overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics.

He was later traded to the Houston Rockets on draft night.

Landry sat out 33 of the first 36 regular season games of his rookie season before finally getting quality playing time late in the season, as he stepped up for the Rockets with a 63 FG%, while helping fill in for injured NBA All Star teammate, Yao Ming.

He became a key role player for the Rockets' 22 game winning streak, the third longest (second longest at the time) in NBA history.

He was subsequently named to the NBA All-Rookie second team.

On April 24, 2008, Landry lost a tooth in Game 3 of the 2008 NBA Playoffs against the Utah Jazz.

In that same game, he made a last second clutch game-winning block on Deron Williams to seal the much needed win for the Rockets, 94–92.

In 2012, he was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Hall of Fame, joining his Purdue coach (Gene Keady) as a NJCAA Hall of Fame member.