Phil Ford (basketball)

Phil Jackson Ford Jr. (born February 9, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He graduated from Rocky Mount Senior High School in 1974, and had an All-American college career with the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Phil Ford
Ford at UNC in 1977
Personal information
Born (1956-02-09) February 9, 1956
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High schoolRocky Mount
(Rocky Mount, North Carolina)
CollegeNorth Carolina (1974–1978)
NBA draft1978 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the Kansas City Kings
Playing career1978–1985
PositionPoint guard
Number1, 12
Coaching career1988–2011
Career history
As player:
1978–1982Kansas City Kings
1982New Jersey Nets
1982–1983Milwaukee Bucks
1983–1985Houston Rockets
As coach:
1988–2000North Carolina (assistant)
2004–2005Detroit Pistons (assistant)
2005–2007New York Knicks (assistant)
2007–2011Charlotte Bobcats (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points5,594 (11.6 ppg)
Rebounds854 (1.8 rpg)
Assists3,083 (6.4 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2012
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
1976 MontrealTeam competition

North Carolina

Ford played four years of basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After his sophomore season, Ford started for the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in 1976. While a senior, he averaged 20.8 points a game during the 1977–78 season. In 1978, Ford finished his career at Carolina as the leading all-time leading scorer in school history with 2,290 points. Ford was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in May 1991. On December 18, 2008, Tyler Hansbrough surpassed Ford's total.

He also finished his career as the only player in Atlantic Coast Conference history to score over 2,000 points and register at least 600 assists (a record now shared with Travis Best of Georgia Tech and Greivis Vásquez of Maryland). A consensus All-American in 1976, 1977, and 1978, he was named college player of the year in 1978, when he won the Eastman, USBWA College Player of the Year and John R. Wooden Awards. In 2002 Ford was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team honoring the fifty best players in ACC history.

NBA career

The second pick in the first round of the draft, Ford was NBA Rookie of the Year with the Kansas City Kings in 1979. In 482 NBA games, Ford scored 5,594 points, an 11.6 average, and had 3,083 assists, an average of 6.4 per game. He retired from the NBA in 1985.

College Stats

College
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1974-75 North Carolina 31--.516-.7832.75.2--16.4
1975-76 North Carolina 29--.532-.7801.871.8018.6
1976–77 North Carolina 33--.534-.8531.96.61.7018.7
1977–78 North Carolina 30--.527-.8102.15.71.8.120.8
Career 123--.527-.8082.16.11.8.118.6

Coaching

In 1988 he returned to North Carolina as an assistant coach, and helped lead the Tar Heels to the 1993 national title. After Smith retired in 1997, Ford became the top assistant to his successor, Bill Guthridge.

Ford left the school following UNC's 1999-2000 Final Four season, along with the rest of Guthridge's staff, when Matt Doherty took over as head coach with his own coaching staff.[1]

Ford currently works for the Educational Foundation, the fund-raising arm of the University of North Carolina athletic department. He also briefly served as color commentator on UNC basketball broadcasts.[2]

Ford served as an assistant coach to Larry Brown for the Detroit Pistons (2004–2005). After a brief stint as an assistant coach to Isiah Thomas for the New York Knicks (2005–2007), Ford was retained in the same position by the Charlotte Bobcats' new head coach Larry Brown from June 2008 to 2010.[3]

References
  1. ESPN.com: NCB - Williams couldn't say no twice to alma mater
  2. "Time Out With the Score: 40 Years and Done for Durham". Carolina Alumni Review. Chapel Hill, NC. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. April 20, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  3. Bobcats' Brown hires 3 assistants; pursues Moe
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