Maurice Cheeks

Maurice Cheeks is a former National Basketball Association basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. He was born on September 8, 1956 in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Du Sable high school in Chicago and West Texas State University. The 76ers selected Cheeks in the 2nd round, 36th overall pick in the 1978 NBA Draft. Cheeks played 15 years in the NBA before retiring in 1993. He has coached both as an assistant and head coach in the NBA and is currently an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder.http://www.nba.com/coachfile/maurice_cheeks/index.html

Maurice Cheeks began his NBA career with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1978. He played all 82 games in his rookie season and averaged 8.4 points and 5.3 assists per game. Cheeks helped lead the 76ers to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980 when he averaged 11.4 points, 7 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Cheeks shot over 50 percent from the floor in his first nine seasons in the league and was always among the league leader in steals and assists. The highlight of his career came in 1983 when the 76ers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA Championship. Cheeks dunked in the final seconds of game four to close out the Lakers. Maurice Cheeks was a four time All-Star while with the 76ers and was named to the All Defensive First Team four consecutive years from 1983 through 1986. Cheeks had his best statistical season in 1985 - 1986 when he averaged 15.4 points, 9.2 assists, 2.5 steals per game and lead the league in minutes played per game.http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/cheekma01.html

Cheeks played his final four seasons of his career with four different teams. In 1989 - 1990 he played in 50 games for the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 10.9 points and 6 assists per game. Maurice Cheeks then played for the New York Knicks and appeared in 107 games through the end of the 1991 season. In 1991 - 1992, Cheeks was a backup for the Atlanta Hawks. He played in just 19 minutes per game, scored 4.6 points and 3.3 assists per game. His final season in the NBA was with the New Jersey Nets. In 35 games and 15 minutes per game, Cheeks averaged 3.6 points. He retired following the 1992 - 1993 season with 12,195 points, 7,392 assists and 2,310 steals.http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/cheekma01.html<ref>

Maurice Cheeks began his coaching career in 1994 as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers. He coached under John Lucas, Johnny Davis and Larry Brown through the 2000 - 2001 season. The 76ers made it to the NBA Finals in 2001. Cheeks became head coach of the Portland Trailblazers in 2001. He coached more than three seasons with them and compiled a 162-139 record, the fourth most wins by a coach in team history. The following season, Cheeks became head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. He lead the team to the playoffs following the 2007 - 2008 season.http://www.nba.com/coachfile/maurice_cheeks/index.html Cheeks was fired by the 76ers on December 13, 2008, after the team began the 2008-09 season with a 9-14 record.http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3766766 Maurice Cheeks is currently an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder.http://www.nba.com/coachfile/maurice_cheeks/index.html