Dwayne Schintzius
New Jersey Nets | |||||||||||||||
1995–1996 | Indiana Pacers | ||||||||||||||
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1996–1997 | Los Angeles Clippers | ||||||||||||||
1999 | Boston Celtics | ||||||||||||||
2001–2002 | Mobile Revelers | ||||||||||||||
2003 | Brevard Blue Ducks | ||||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||||
Points | 587 (2.7 ppg) | ||||||||||||||
Rebounds | 536 (2.5 rpg) | ||||||||||||||
Assists | 93 (0.4 apg) | ||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com | |||||||||||||||
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Dwayne Kenneth Schintzius (October 14, 1968 – April 15, 2012) was an American National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player. He was born in Brandon, Florida and attended the University of Florida, where he helped lead the Florida Gators men's basketball program to its first three NCAA tournament appearances as an all-conference center. Schintzius was selected in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft (24th overall) by the San Antonio Spurs, but chronic back problems reduced his effectiveness, and he played for six different NBA teams over ten seasons in the league, mainly as a reserve player.
Off the court, Schintzius was known for his distinctive mullet-style haircut that he called "the lobster", his sometimes abrasive behavior, and his performance as a Russian basketball player in the 1996 comedy film Eddie. In 2009, he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. After treatment and a brief remission, he died from complications of the disease in 2012.
Early years
Schintzius was born in
College career
Schintzius received athletic scholarship offers from many top college programs. Unlike most top Florida high school basketball prospects up to that point, he chose to stay in-state and attend the University of Florida, where he played for the Florida Gators men's basketball team from 1987 to 1990 under head coach Norm Sloan.[4] Schintzius started at center for the Gators beginning early in his freshman season.[4] By the end of his junior season (1988–89), he had led the Gators in scoring, rebounding, and free-throw percentage over at least one full season.[4] He also set the program's record for blocked shots, and at the end of his junior year, his season blocked shot totals ranked first, second, and third in school history.[4]
The Gators had never been invited to the
However, Schintzius' college career was marred by disciplinary problems.[5] He occasionally clashed with Coach Sloan, including one instance in which he refused to re-enter a game with a minute left during his sophomore season.[5] He also had minor incidents with opposing players, fans, and mascots, and with others off the court.[5][6]
During his junior season, Schintzius allegedly heard a rude remark from a sidewalk while riding in a car outside a Gainesville nightclub and stormed after the offender wielding a tennis racket.[5] Schintzius later apologized and was not charged with a crime, but the university's office of student affairs found him guilty of violating the student code of conduct and suspended him for four games.[5]
After returning from that suspension, fans in opposing arenas occasionally threw tennis balls onto the court, presumably taunting Schintzius for the incident. In January 1989, Florida traveled to
Sloan was forced to resign before Schintzius's senior season of 1989–90 and was replaced on an interim basis by former Tennessee coach Don DeVoe. Schintzius was not happy with this turn of events and skipped DeVoe's first practice with the team along with fellow star Livingston Chatman.[10] Soon after, he was suspended for alleged involvement in a fraternity house fight.[10] DeVoe told Schintzius that in order to rejoin the basketball team, he would have to improve his off-court behavior, maintain his playing weight (he weighed almost 300 pounds at one point), go to class consistently, and get rid of his distinct mullet-style haircut, known as the "lobster.".[5][10] In a statement released January 25, 1990, Schintzius claimed that he had done all these things, but was nonetheless quitting the team due to conflicts with his new coach.[10] The statement read, in part:
No one can argue that Coach Sloan and Coach Towe (
Captain Ahab. If you can play for Coach Sloan, you can play for almost anyone, almost anyone.[10]
Without Schintzius, the Gators lost sixteen of the seventeen games to end the season and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since the year before his arrival.[11]
Schintzius remains the only player in SEC history to amass more than 1,000 points, 800 rebounds, 250 assists and 250 blocks.[12] He still holds Florida's career record for blocked shots (272), and is ranks sixth among the program's all time scoring leaders with 1,624 points.[4][12]
Professional career
Despite his personal issues, Schintzius was regarded as a good NBA prospect due to his performance on the court. The
Schintzius' NBA career was severely hampered by injuries, particularly chronic back problems. He had several surgeries for a
He later came out of retirement to play in the minor leagues, and appeared in 35 games for the
Off the court
Schintzius played Ivan Radovadovitch, a fictional Georgian player for the New York Knicks, in the 1996 comedy movie Eddie, which starred Whoopi Goldberg as the team's female coach.[14] Several other actual NBA players were also featured as members of the Knicks and other real NBA teams in the film.[14] He later appeared in local commercials.[14]
At the trial of his former
Illness and death
In November 2009, Schintzius was diagnosed with a chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, a rare and often fatal form of the disease.[18] With a bone marrow donation from his brother Travis, he underwent bone marrow transplantation at the Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa on January 12, 2010.[18] The procedure was considered a success,[19][20] but Schintzius struggled through several difficult rounds of chemotherapy until being declared cancer-free in July 2010.[18]
In early 2012, Schintzius continued to suffer from complications, and a second bone marrow transplant was required.[21] On April 15, 2012, Schintzius died at the Moffit Cancer Center from respiratory failure; he was 43 years old.[22]
Career statistics
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990–91 | San Antonio | 42 | 7 | 9.5 | .439 | .000 | .550 | 2.9 | .4 | .0 | .7 | 3.8 |
1991–92 | Sacramento | 33 | 0 | 12.1 | .427 | .000 | .833 | 3.6 | .6 | .2 | .8 | 3.3 |
1992–93 | New Jersey | 5 | 0 | 7.0 | .286 | — | 1.000 | 1.6 | .4 | .4 | .4 | 1.4 |
1993–94 | New Jersey | 30 | 3 | 10.6 | .345 | — | .588 | 3.0 | .4 | .2 | .6 | 2.3 |
1994–95 | New Jersey | 43 | 11 | 7.4 | .380 | — | .545 | 1.9 | .3 | .1 | .4 | 2.0 |
1995–96 | Indiana | 33 | 5 | 9.0 | .445 | — | .619 | 2.4 | .4 | .3 | .4 | 3.4 |
1996–97 | L.A. Clippers | 15 | 0 | 7.7 | .361 | .500 | .875 | 1.5 | .3 | .1 | .6 | 2.3 |
1998–99 | Boston | 16 | 0 | 4.2 | .250 | — | .750 | 1.2 | .5 | .0 | .2 | .7 |
Career | 217 | 33 | 9.0 | .404 | .125 | .638 | 2.5 | .4 | .1 | .5 | 2.7 |
Playoffs
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | New Jersey | 5 | 0 | 21.2 | .448 | — | .500 | 5.0 | .8 | .2 | 1.2 | 5.8 |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Basketball-Reference.com, Players, Dwayne Schintzius. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ a b Bob Hill, "Schintzius Could Make a Big Difference Archived November 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine," Sun-Sentinel, p. 1C (November 20, 1986). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ a b Joey Knight, "Tampa Bay's All-Century Team: No. 61 Dwayne Schintzius Archived 2012-03-07 at the Wayback Machine," The Tampa Tribune (October 30, 1999). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h 2011–12 Florida Gators Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived May 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 74, 76–77, 79, 82, 84, 90, 132–133, 146, 151, 153–154, 157, 159–160, 162, 163, 164, 166 (2011). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f Curry Kirkpatrick "Much ado about a 'do: The long and short of it is that mangle-maned Dwayne Archived January 2, 2013, at archive.today," Sports Illustrated (January 16, 1989). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ King, Bill (January 26, 1990). "Schintzius's Career Always Interesting". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
- ^ a b c Mark Bechtel, "Fanatics at Work: Ten Most Intriguing Things Thrown on the Field," Sports Illustrated (May 4, 2006). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ Kevin Brockway, "Former Florida center Dwayne Schintzius dies at 43 Archived 2015-06-20 at the Wayback Machine," The Gainesville Sun (April 15, 2012). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ "Fans throw Vanderbilt for a loss". The Associated Press. January 26, 1989. Archived from the original on May 20, 2016. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e "Basketball; Schintzius Walks Out And Slams the Door," The New York Times (January 27, 1990). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ Hays Carlyon, "Gators great Dwayne Schintzius, 43, dies of leukemia," The Florida Times-Union (April 15, 2012). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ a b Antonya English and Alexandra Zayas, "Former Florida Gator, Brandon High basketball star Dwayne Schintzius dies at 43," Tampa Bay Times (April 15, 2012). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ a b Joey Johnston, "As baseball's trade deadline nears, anxiety rises," The Tampa Tribune (July 24, 2011). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Chris Harry, "All Grown up Dwayne Schintzius shows a softer side than he did 20 years ago when he stormed onto the basketball scene at the University of Florida Archived October 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine," South Florida Sun-Sentinel, p. C1 (March 14, 2007). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ Shaun Powell, "Former NBA big man Schintzius fights cancer, ghosts of past," NBA.com (October 19, 2012). Retrieved April 17, 2012.
- ^ "Los Angeles Clippers at Washington Bullets Box Score, January 10, 1997". Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ "Former Net renews claim that Williams shot own dog Archived 2007-04-02 at the Wayback Machine," CourtTV.com (May 5, 2004). Retrieved March 16, 2007.
- ^ a b c Joey Johnston, "Former NBA, UF center Schintzius grateful to be alive Archived 2010-08-26 at the Wayback Machine," The Tampa Tribune (July 13, 2010). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ Kurt Helin, "ProBasketballTalk: Dwayne Schintzius fighting for life," NBC Sports (February 19, 2010). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ Joey Johnston, "Ex-UF star, NBA player Dwayne Schintzius battling cancer," The Tampa Tribune (February 17, 2010). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ Joey Johnston, Bay area native, UF star Schintzius dead at 43," The Tampa Tribune (April 15, 2012). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ Michael DiRocco, "Dwayne Schintzius dead at age 43," ESPN (April 15, 2012). Retrieved April 16, 2012.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com