Mookie Blaylock

College career

A push-and-pass point guard, Blaylock was rated among the best defensive stoppers in the game. The former Garland High School, Midland College (where he earned NJCAA All American honors in 1987), and University of Oklahoma star is most highly regarded for his quick hands and a ball hawking defensive style that produced more than 200 steals in a season five times and two NBA All-Defensive first-team selections. He was also a capable outside shooter, a fine passer who generally ranked among the league's assist leaders, and a durable instigator of the fast break. In 1988, he helped to lead the Sooners to the NCAA title game.

Professional career

Blaylock was selected by the New Jersey Nets with the 12th overall pick of the 1989 NBA draft and settled quickly into Nets' rotation. He was traded with Roy Hinson to the Atlanta Hawks prior to the 1992–93 season for Rumeal Robinson, where he flourished under newly signed coach Lenny Wilkens. He spent seven years with the Hawks, leading them in career three-point field goals (made and attempted) and career steals. He was also selected for the 1994 NBA All-Star Game. He was traded to the Golden State Warriors in a deal that brought Bimbo Coles, Duane Ferrell, and the 1999 10th overall draft pick, Jason Terry, to Atlanta, and finished off his career playing as a reserve for the Warriors.

NBA achievements

• Led the NBA in steals two consecutive seasons (1996–97 and 1997–98), joining Alvin Robertson, Magic Johnson, Allen Iverson, and Chris Paul as the only players to achieve that feat.
• Led the NBA in three-point attempts and finished second in three-pointers made in the 1996–97 season.
• Is the Atlanta Hawks' all-time franchise leader in steals (1,321).
• Set the Atlanta Hawks' single-season franchise records for three-pointers made (231) and attempted (623) in 1995–96.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | 50 || 17 || 25.3 || .371 || .225 || .778 || 2.8 || 4.2 || 1.6 || 0.3 || 10.1 |- | 72 || 70 || 35.9 || .416 || .154 || .790 || 3.5 || 6.1 || 2.3 || 0.6 || 14.1 |- | 72 || 67 || 35.4 || .432 || .222 || .712 || 3.7 || 6.8 || 2.4 || 0.6 || 13.8 |- | 80 || 78 || 35.3 || .429 || .375 || .728 || 3.5 || 8.4 || 2.5 || 0.3 || 13.4 |- | 81 || 81 || 36.0 || .411 || .334 || .730 || 5.2 || 9.7 || 2.6 || 0.5 || 13.8 |- | 80 || 80 || 38.4 || .425 || .359 || .729 || 4.9 || 7.7 || 2.5 || 0.3 || 17.2 |- | 81 || 81 || 35.7 || .405 || .371 || .747 || 4.1 || 5.9 || 2.6 || 0.2 || 15.7 |- | 78 || 78 || 39.2 || .432 || .366 || .753 || 5.3 || 5.9 ||style="background:#cfecec;"| 2.7* || 0.3 || 17.4 |- | 70 || 69 || 38.6 || .392 || .269 || .709 || 4.9 || 6.7 ||style="background:#cfecec;"| 2.6* || 0.3 || 13.2 |- | 48 || 48 || 36.7 || .379 || .307 || .758 || 4.7 || 5.8 || 2.1 || 0.2 || 13.3 |- | 73 || 72 || 33.7 || .391 || .336 || .705 || 3.7 || 6.7 || 2.0 || 0.3 || 11.3 |- | 69 || 59 || 34.1 || .396 || .324 || .697 || 3.9 || 6.7 || 2.4 || 0.3 || 11.0 |- | 35 || 0 || 17.1 || .342 || .357 || .500 || 1.5 || 3.3 || 0.7 || 0.1 || 3.4 |- class="sortbottom" | 889 || 800 || 34.9 || .409 || .336 || .736 || 4.1 || 6.7 || 2.3 || 0.3 || 13.5 |- class="sortbottom" | 1 || 0 || 16.0 || .400 || .500 || — || 1.0 || 2.0 || 2.0 || — || 5.0

Playoffs

|- |4||4||37.0||.309||.167||.750||4.0||7.8||3.8||0.5||9.5 |- |3||3||33.0||.360||.333||.833||4.3||4.3||1.0||1.3||9.0 |- |11||11||37.7||.340||.344||.833||5.0||8.9||2.2||0.5||13.0 |- |3||3||40.3||.367||.393||.636||4.3||5.7||1.3||0.0||18.0 |- |10||10||42.6||.421||.393||.667||4.3||6.4||2.2||0.8||17.1 |- |10||10||44.1||.396||.329||.667||7.0||6.5||2.1||0.2||16.4 |- |4||4||38.3||.415||.296||.583||5.0||8.3||2.3||0.3||14.8 |- |9||9||39.8||.326||.353||.467||4.0||4.0||2.0||0.2||12.6 |- class="sortbottom" | 54 || 54 || 40.0 || .370 || .350 || .683 || 4.9 || 6.6 || 2.1 || 0.4 || 14.2

In popular culture

As fans of the basketball player, the band members of Pearl Jam originally named their group "Mookie Blaylock", but they were forced to change the name. They settled on naming their debut album Ten after Blaylock's jersey number.

In Tom Robbins's 1994 novel Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, character Larry Diamond uses the name "Mookie Blaylock" as a pseudonym for hotel stays.

In the Homestar Runner cartoon "Kick-A-Ball", the Umpire tells the Announcer that Mookie Blaylock gave him the ball featured in the cartoon, a reference to a similar scene in an earlier cartoon about Mookie Wilson.

Personal life

In 2011, two of Blaylock's sons, twins Daron and Zack, committed to play football for the University of Kentucky. The sons are graduates of Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia. His youngest son, Dominick, is also a graduate of Walton High School, and plays football for Georgia Tech, having transferred after previously playing for the University of Georgia. Mookie Betts, an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was named after Blaylock. Blaylock resides in Zebulon, Georgia.

During the afternoon of May 31, 2013, Blaylock was involved in a head-on collision in Clayton County, Georgia. He was initially placed on life support, but his condition later improved. Although initially surviving the crash, a passenger in the other vehicle, Monica Murphy, a mother of five, died as a result of injuries from the collision. driving on a suspended license and failing to stay in his lane. Blaylock had an outstanding warrant in Spalding County, Georgia on charges of DUI and drug-related offenses at the time, but "investigators did not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash." However, Blaylock had a history of DUIs, at least seven of them.

On October 27, 2014, Blaylock pleaded guilty to killing Murphy. Facing seven to 10 years at trial, According to the plea, Blaylock served three years in prison and the fourth as a suspended sentence, followed by eight years of probation.

References

References

1. "Midland College NJCAA All Americans, 1987". Midland College.
2. Stout, Gene. (August 23, 2001). "Pearl Jam: 'Ten' plus ten". [[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]].
3. Slowikowski, Tim. (June 24, 2003). "From Mookie Blaylock to Pearl Jam: The Matt Cameron Interview". [[PopMatters]].
4. Simmons, Bill. (April 21, 2006). "State of NBA, Love & Trust". [[ESPN.com]].
5. Robbins, Tom. (1995). "[[Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas]]". [[Bantam Books]].
6. Carvell, Michael. (September 30, 2011). "Twin sons of ex-Atlanta Hawk Mookie Blaylock headed to Kentucky — for football". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
7. "Roster: Dominick Blaylock".
8. Manasso, John. (May 31, 2013). "Ex-NBA guard Mookie Blaylock critically injured in car crash". NewsCorp.
9. Stevens, Alexis. (May 31, 2013). "Former NBA star Mookie Blaylock critical, 1 killed after wreck". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
10. Hanlon, Greg. (March 4, 2015). "Mookie Blaylock's downward spiral and the family he dragged with him".
11. Glier, Ray. (June 2, 2013). "Mookie Blaylock faces at least 2 charges in fatal crash". USA Today.
12. Visser, Steve. (October 28, 2014). "Former Hawk Blaylock gets 15 years in fatal crash". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
13. (October 27, 2014). "Mookie Blaylock sentenced in fatality". ESPN.com.