Kiki Vandeweghe
Ernest Maurice Vandeweghe III ( born August 1, 1958 in Wiesbaden, Germany ) is a former American professional basketball player and coach.
In his college days Vandeweghe played from 1976 to 1980 for the UCLA Bruins. In his last year he led the team with 19.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game to the finals of the NCAA Championship. He then signed up for the NBA Draft in 1980.
There Vandeweghe was chosen the eleventh of the Dallas Mavericks. But he refused to play for the Mavericks, forcing the franchise to him on December 3, 1980 along with a first-round draft pick in exchange for Sam Vincent, and two first-round draft picks to the Denver Nuggets to transfer.
With the Nuggets, he played after a solid first season for the second year in the starting lineup. With an average of 21.5 points and 5.6 rebounds, he made his contribution in mind that Denver after a two year break again reached the playoffs. In the years 1983 and 1984 he received the only two invitations to the All-Star Game in his career. He came in the season 82/83 to 26.7 points per game and in the following season with 29.4 points on the best value of his entire career. On 13 December 1983, he was the most successful shooter with 51 points in the points richest game NBA history. The Nuggets lost the game after a triple extension with 184:186 against the Detroit Pistons.
On 7 June 1984 he moved in exchange for Wayne Cooper, Fat Lever, Calvin Natt, a first-round draft pick and a second-round draft pick to the Portland Trail Blazers. In Portland, he formed together with Clyde Drexler one of the most dangerous back courts in the NBA of the 80s. Vandeweghe scored 22.4 in the first year, 24.8 in the second and the third year 26.9 points per game. In the fourth year, he missed much of the season due to a back injury. As a result of the injury he lost his place in the starting line-up to Jerome Kersey.
On February 23, 1989, he exchanged for a first-round draft pick to the New York Knicks. For the Knicks, he became a role player. Due to the impact of his time in Portland suffered a back injury he missed in his New York City time, many games. In the 1990/91 season, he was again in 72 games on the grid and was able to build with 16.3 points per game come close to previous achievements. The following season, he got very little playing time. On 24 June 1992 he was fired from the Knicks.
On 11 October of the same year, he was obliged by the Los Angeles Clippers. For the Clippers, he completed 41 games before he ended his career. In 810 games of the regular season, he scored a total of 15.980 points, corresponding to an average of 19.7 points per game. In 13 years, his teams have qualified for the playoffs twelve times. A final participation remained Vandeweghe refused.
After his playing career he moved into management of the despised him as a player Dallas Mavericks. There he was involved in the commitment of Dirk Nowitzki. He then became general manager of the Denver Nuggets, which he left in 2006. A year later he took a job in the management of the New Jersey Nets. From 2009 to 2010 he coached the Nets. He followed the winless in the season Lawrence Frank and interim coach Tom Barrise could of the remaining 64 games but won only 12.