Derek Ricardo Harper (born October 13, 1961 in Elberton, Georgia) is a former professional basketball player from the University of Illinois, who spent 16 seasons as a point guard in the National Basketball Association with the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers. October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Elberton is the largest city located in Elbert County, Georgia. ... Sara Giauro shoots a three-point shot, FIBA Europe Cup for Women Finals 2005. ... The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [[UIUC]], known as the U of I, is the flagship campus in the University of Illinois system. ... Point guard (PG), also called the “one guard” or “lead guard“, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. ... The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the USAs premier mens professional basketball league. ... The Dallas Mavericks (also known as the Mavs) are an NBA basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. ... The New York Knicks, short for Knickerbockers, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. ... The Orlando Magic is a professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. ... Lakers logo 1966-1991 Lakers alternate logo 2002- The Los Angeles Lakers are a professional basketball team, based in Los Angeles, California, who play in the National Basketball Association. ...

College

Harper played three seasons for the Fighting Illini and coach Lou Henson having his best season in 1982-1983, when he led the Fighting Illini in scoring with 15.4 points per game. Harper was named First-Team All-Big Ten and Second-Team All-American in 1983, and was Honorable Mention All-Big Ten in both 1981 and 1982. Harper averaged 4.7 assists per game for his collegiate career, and led the Big Ten in assists in the 1981-1982 season. The intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are known as the Fighting Illini. ... Lou Henson (born January 10, 1932 in Okay, Oklahoma, USA) is a former collegiate basketball coach. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Big Ten redirects here. ... An All-America team is a sports team composed of star players. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Big Ten redirects here. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Professional

Harper was drafted by the Mavericks with the 11th overall pick of the 1983 NBA Draft and spent most of his first ten seasons with them, averaging 15 points and 6.1 assists. In the 1984 playoffs, he made a critical error when he didn't know the game was tied and he dribbled out the clock sending the game to overtime against the Lakers. However, Harper would have his revenge when he would hit a clutch shot against the Lakers two years later in the 1986 playoffs. He was traded to the Knicks 28 games into the 1993-94 season as the Knicks were looking for a defensive point guard to replace Doc Rivers who went down with an injury that sidelined him for the whole season. This turned out to be a blessing for Harper because the Mavericks were on their way to a 13-69 win-loss campaign, while Harper was an integral part of a Knicks team that came within one game of winning the 1994 NBA Championship. 1983 NBA Draft - 28 June 1983 See also: List of NBA Drafts, NBA Draft ... Glenn Anton Doc Rivers (born October 13, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American former professional basketball player from Marquette University who played point guard in the National Basketball Association notably for the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs. ...

Harper played for the Knicks through the 1995-96 season, returned to Dallas the following season, and played one season each with the Magic and Lakers before retiring.

Harper played in 1199 regular season games in his career, ranking him twenty-first in NBA history (as of the 2004-5 NBA season). He retired having the eleventh most steals and the seventeenth most assists in NBA history, and is widely regarded with the dubious distinction as being one of the best players to never make it to the All-Star game.

Harper is now a game analyst for the Dallas Mavericks on their locally broadcasted games where he is famous for singing "JAAMM!" during post-game highlights showing a Mavericks dunk; and since fall 2005, he has been the weekend sports anchor at KTVT, the CBS owned and operated station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. KTVT (CBS11) is a CBS owned and operated television station (O&O) in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas designated market area. ... CBS is derived from an abbreviation of Columbia Broadcasting System, the former legal name of a company Westinghouse Electric Corporation acquired in 1995. ... In the television industry (especially in North America), an owned and operated station (frequently abbreviated as O&O) is a television station that is owned by the network with which it is associated. ... The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex encompasses the metropolitan divisions of Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington, within the U.S. state of Texas. ...

External links

• Career Statistics at basketball-reference.com
• Profile at cbs11tv.com