Tayshaun Prince

Tayshaun Prince
No. 22    Detroit Pistons
Forward
Personal information
Date of birth February 28, 1980 (1980-02-28) (age 30)
Place of birth Compton, California
Nationality American
High school Dominguez High School
Compton, California
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College Kentucky
NBA Draft 2002 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23
Selected by the Detroit Pistons
Pro career 2002–present
Career highlights and awards
Tayshaun Prince at NBA.com

Tayshaun Durell Prince (born February 28, 1980, in Compton, California) is a left-handed American basketball player for the Detroit Pistons in the National Basketball Association. Prince is a small forward, listed at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) and 215 lb (98 kg; 15.4 st). A graduate of Dominguez High School and the University of Kentucky, Prince was drafted in the first round (23rd overall) by the Detroit Pistons in the 2002 NBA Draft. Prince wears the jersey #22 as a result of his draft position, signifying the 22 teams that passed on drafting him. His college #21 was previously retired by the Pistons in honor of guard Dave Bing.

Contents

College career

Prince played four seasons (1998 to 2002) for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, averaging 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds[1] as the Wildcats posted a 97–39 record[2] and advanced to the NCAA Tournament each year. Prince won SEC Player of the Year in his junior season (2000–2001)[3] - also leading the SEC in free throw percentage (84.3%)[4] - and was named to the Associated Press All-SEC Teams in both his junior and senior years.[5] Kentucky won the SEC Tournament in 1999 and 2001, and Prince was awarded the 2001 tournament's Most Valuable Player award.[5]

Notable individual performances included a 31 point, 11 rebound, 4 assist, 4 steal effort in a 79–59 victory over North Carolina. In scoring Kentucky's first fifteen points, Prince made five consecutive three-point shots. Kentucky shooting guard Keith Bogans compared Prince's performance to "the Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan blistering Portland in the 1992 NBA Finals."[6] In an 87–82 victory over Tulsa during the 2002 NCAA Tournament, Prince scored a career-high 41 points (along with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks) to lead Kentucky to the Sweet 16.[7]

NBA career

Rookie year

In his rookie season under head coach Rick Carlisle, Prince was not a member of the team's playing rotation and appeared in just 42 of 82 regular-season games. However, in the first round of the 2003 NBA Playoffs, Detroit trailed the Orlando Magic three games to one, forcing Carlisle to experiment with a different rotation. Prince was inserted into the lineup and received heavy minutes. He then went on to make an NBA record by being the only player in league history to score more points in the playoffs than in the regular season (137 in the season, 141 in the playoffs). The Pistons rallied to win the series, and Prince had a breakout performance during the decisive seventh game, scoring 20 points in 24 minutes.[8] In the second round against the Philadelphia 76ers, Prince continued to see action and made several memorable plays, including a turnaround hook shot during the final seconds of the second game, forcing an overtime period that the Pistons went on to win.[8]

2003/04 season

Prince playing against the New York Knicks

After the Pistons were swept by the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference finals, Carlisle was fired and former Sixers coach Larry Brown took over as head coach. Under Brown, Prince became the Pistons' starting small forward and increased his scoring average to 10.3 points per game, up from 3.3 as a rookie.[8] In that 2003/04 season, Prince was also selected to play for the Sophomores (second-year players) in the NBA Rookie Challenge.

"The Block"

In the second game of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, Prince made a memorable defensive play.[8] In the final minute of the game, Pacer star shooting guard Reggie Miller took an outlet pass after an Indiana steal and sprinted up the right sideline for a seemingly uncontested basket that would have tied the score. Prince pursued from the left sideline. Miller, presumably thinking that Prince could not catch him, attempted a layup. At the last possible moment, Prince soared in from the other side of the basket and swatted the ball away; the ball landed in bounds and was scooped up by Pistons teammate Richard Hamilton, effectively ending the game. The Pistons went on to win the series and, eventually, the NBA championship. The block has been replayed numerous times on ESPN and sports programs on other networks. When the Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one in the NBA Finals, Prince's tough defense on Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was credited as a key factor in the Pistons' victory, holding Bryant to only 11 points in an 88-68 win in Game Three of the 2004 NBA Finals.

2004/05 season

Prince continued to show improvement in the 2004/05 season, setting career highs in scoring (14.7 points per game), rebounding (5.3 per game), assists (3.0) and blocks (0.9).[8] He was selected for the NBA's All-Defensive Second Team[8] and was a candidate for the NBA Most Improved Player Award, where he came in third[8] behind winner Bobby Simmons of the Los Angeles Clippers and Primož Brezec of the Charlotte Bobcats. Although he and the Pistons made it back to the NBA Finals in 2005, they lost to the San Antonio Spurs in a close 4–3 series.

Prince's superb play was rewarded by the Pistons with a 5-year contract extension worth $49 million on October 31, 2005.[9]

2005/06 season

In the 2005/06 season, Prince played in all 82 regular season games, averaging 14.1 points and 4.2 rebounds a game.[10] In the playoffs, the Pistons were eliminated by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

2006/07 season

In the 2006/07 season, Prince returned similar statistics to his 2004/05 campaign: 14.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game.[10] In the Playoffs the Pistons were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games.

2007/08 season

In the 2007/08 season, Prince played and started in all 82 regular season games, averaging 13.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game.[11] In the playoffs, Prince averaged 13.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists, but the Pistons were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Boston Celtics in game six. [11]

2008/09 season

Prince started the season off strong while averaging nearly 16 points and averaging 7 rebounds a game.[12] As the season started to progress Prince's production started to slump and by the end of the season he averaged 14.2 points and 5.8 rebounds.[11] Although his PPG average dropped, he averaged a career high in RPG. Prince's effort helped push the Pistons to the playoffs as they gained the 8th seed with 39 wins.[13] Although the Pistons made the playoffs, they were seeded against the top seed Cleveland Cavaliers.[14] The Cavaliers swept the Pistons in four games, and Prince's production from the season dropped drastically, as he averaged only 3.8 points and 3.5 rebounds.[15]

International career

On August 20, 2007, Prince was selected to be a part of Team USA that competed at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, a qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics.[16] With his defensive poise, he contributed in the USA's unbeaten record at the tournament held in Las Vegas and earn a spot at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

On June 23, 2008, Prince was selected for the Olympic squad along with eleven others in the hope of fulfilling the ambition of winning their first gold medal since the 2000 Summer Olympics.[17] Team USA went on to do exactly that, going unbeaten in the tournament with Prince coming off the bench and defeating 2006 World Champion Spain in the final, living up to their "Redeem Team" moniker.[18]

Honors/achievements

Medal record
Competitor for  United States
Olympic Games
Gold 2008 Beijing Team competition

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2002/03 Detroit 42 5 10.4 .449 .426 .647 1.1 .6 .2 .3 3.3
2003/04 Detroit 82 80 32.9 .467 .363 .766 4.8 2.3 .8 .8 10.3
2004/05 Detroit 82 82 37.1 .487 .341 .807 5.3 3.0 .7 .9 14.7
2005/06 Detroit 82 82 35.3 .455 .350 .765 4.2 2.3 .8 .5 14.1
2006/07 Detroit 82 82 36.6 .460 .386 .768 5.2 2.8 .6 .7 14.3
2007/08 Detroit 82 82 32.9 .448 .363 .768 4.9 3.3 .5 .4 13.2
2008/09 Detroit 82 82 37.3 .450 .397 .778 5.8 3.1 .5 .6 14.2
2009/10 Detroit 49 49 34.0 .486 .370 .714 5.1 3.3 .7 .4 13.5
Career 583 544 33.4 .463 .370 .771 4.7 2.7 .6 .6 12.7

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2002/03 Detroit 15 3 25.5 .426 .292 .763 3.8 1.5 .5 .9 9.4
2003/04 Detroit 23 23 34.6 .410 .265 .745 6.0 2.3 1.1 1.4 9.9
2004/05 Detroit 25 25 40.9 .433 .367 .800 6.3 3.3 1.0 .4 13.4
2005/06 Detroit 18 18 41.4 .459 .457 .829 5.7 3.0 .7 .8 16.4
2006/07 Detroit 16 16 41.6 .415 .409 .759 6.4 3.8 .9 .3 14.1
2007/08 Detroit 17 17 39.5 .481 .320 .794 5.5 3.2 .8 .5 13.8
2008/09 Detroit 4 4 32.3 .259 .200 .000 3.5 1.3 .2 .0 3.8
Career 118 106 37.4 .435 .350 .785 5.6 2.8 .9 .7 12.5

External links

References

  1. ↑ Tayshaun Prince Past Stats, Playoff Stats, Statistics, History, and Awards, Databasebasketball.com. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  2. ↑ Layout 1
  3. ↑ CNNSI.com - College Basketball - Men - Kentucky's Prince, Rebels' Barnes take SEC honors - Monday March 05, 2001 07:58 PM
  4. ↑ http://www.secsports.com/doc_lib/bkc_through_the_years.pdf
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.ukathletics.com/doc_lib/mbb_history_awards.pdf
  6. ↑ Scout.com: Prince reigns as Cats crush Carolina
  7. ↑ Scout.com: Prince reigns as Kentucky tops Tulsa
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Tayshaun Prince Info Page - Bio, NBA.com. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  9. ↑ Tony Mejia, "Prince the Pistons' All-Star non-All-Star", CBS sports, 15 February 2006.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Tayshaun Prince Info Page - Career Stats and Totals, NBA.com. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 NBA.com : Tayshaun Prince Info Page
  12. ↑ NBA.com : Tayshaun Prince Bio Page
  13. ↑ NBA.com - 2009-2010 Conference Regular Season Standings
  14. ↑ NBA.com: PLAYOFFS 2009
  15. ↑ NBA.com : Tayshaun Prince Info Page
  16. ↑ USA Men's Team Announced For FIBA Americas Championship
  17. ↑ USA Basketball Announces 12-Member 2008 Men's Senior National Team
  18. ↑ US hoops back on top, beats Spain for gold medal
  19. ↑ Hood of Horror (2006) - Full cast and crew
Detroit Pistons current roster

1 McGrady | 3 Stuckey | 5 Daye | 6 Wallace | 7 Gordon | 9 Wilcox | 10 Monroe | 12 Bynum | 22 Prince | 23 White | 31 Villanueva | 32 Hamilton | 33 Jerebko | 35 Summers | 54 Maxiell

Head coach: Kuester | Assistant coaches: Walker | Sullivan | Pope | Hill