Shawn Respert

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Shawn Christopher Respert (born February 6, 1972 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6' 1" shooting guard, he attended Bishop Borgess High School, and he came to prominence while playing college basketball at Michigan State University where his jersey is now retired. He played professionally in the National Basketball Association for 4 seasons (1995-99). During that time, he played with the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns.

Respert was a standout at Michigan State. He and point guard Eric Snow combined to form one of the nation's most prolific backbourt tandems for head coach Jud Heathcote's Spartans. He was an unanimous first team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year with a 25.6 scoring average during his senior season.

Respert was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1st round, with the 8th overall pick, of the 1995 NBA Draft. In his NBA career, Respert played in 172 games and scored a total of 851 points.

Respert had stomach cancer but did not admit it until 2005. He never told anybody during his NBA career because he "did not want to make an excuse, even if it was cancer." [1].

Respert was the Director of Basketball Operations at Rice University. He is currently the Director of Player Development of NBA's minor league affiliation, the D league.

[edit] Trivia

Respert entered college as a member of the Big Ten Conference's prolific Class of 1995; a group that included Michigan's Fab Five, Wisconsin's Michael Finley and Minnesota's Voshon Lenard.