Michael Dickerson

He played basketball at Decatur High School (Federal Way, Washington) in his sophomore season followed by Federal Way High School in his junior and senior years. Although never substantiated, rumors persisted that his coach had rented an apartment within Federal Way High School's boundaries, and allowed him to live there in order to play for that school's team. He went to college at the University of Arizona, where he won the 1997 national championship on a team with Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, and Miles Simon. Dickerson was Arizona's leading scorer in the 1996-97 championship season (18.9 points per game) and averaged another team-high 18.0 points per game in 1997-98. In 2011, he was inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor.[2]

He was selected as the 14th overall pick by the Rockets in the 1998 NBA draft and played for them during the lockout-shortened 1999 NBA season, in which Dickerson led the league in games played (50), was sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.433), and was named to the All-Rookie 2nd Team. He was reluctantly traded in 1999[1][3] to the Vancouver Grizzlies for Vancouver's draft pick, Steve Francis, who had demanded a trade because he did not want to play for Vancouver.

Dickerson played all 82 games for the Grizzlies in 1999–2000, averaging 18.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.41 steals per game. His scoring average fell to 16.3 points per game the following season. After the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, he played in just four and six games[4] over the next two seasons due to injuries. Dickerson was released by the Grizzlies on October 27, 2003[4] and prematurely retired due to severe hamstring and groin injuries from which he was unable to fully recover.[3] Dickerson was one of the many players in the history of the team that publicly expressed they enjoyed their time in Vancouver.[5]

Dickerson was invited to training camp by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but was waived on October 8, 2008.[6] He holds career NBA averages of 15.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in 212 contests.[3][4] During his retirement he traveled to India and Tibet.[7]

In 2009, Dickerson returned to basketball for one year as a member of Faymasa Palencia, playing in the second league of the Spanish basketball league system.[8] He appeared in four games for Palencia, averaging 11.8 points per outing.[9] At the end of the season, he retired once more.