Marcus Fizer

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Marcus Fizer
Position Power forward
Height 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight 262 lb (119 kg)
League Israel
Team Maccabi Tel Aviv
Born August 10, 1978 (1978-08-10) (age 29)
Detroit, Michigan
Nationality American
High school Arcadia (Louisiana)
College Iowa State
Draft 4th overall, 2000
Chicago Bulls
Pro career 2000–present
Former teams Chicago Bulls (2000–2004)
Milwaukee Bucks (2004–2005)
Austin Toros
New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (2006)
Polaris World Murcia (2006–2007)
Awards NBA All-Rookie Second Team (2001)
NBDL Most Valuable Player (2006)

Darnell Marcus Lamar Fizer (born August 10, 1978 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American professional basketball player. Signed on a two-year deal ($900,000 a year) with the European power house Maccabi Tel Aviv On June 20th, 2007.

Contents

[edit] High School Career

Fizer played his high school basketball at Arcadia High School in Arcadia, Louisiana. As a senior, Fizer was selected to play in the McDonald's All-American Game.[1]

[edit] College Career

Cyclone Head Coach Tim Floyd became aware of Fizer's potential while at a previous coaching stop in Louisiana and was able to use that connection to interest Fizer in playing his collegiate basketball at Iowa State University. In the process, Fizer became the first McDonald's All-American to wear the Cyclone uniform[2].

Tim Floyd left Iowa State to coach the Chicago Bulls of the NBA after Fizer's freshman year and was replaced by Larry Eustachy. While playing for both Floyd and Eustachy, Fizer accumulated many Big XII and national accolades including: All Big XII honorable mention (freshman), National first-team All-Freshman, first team All-Big XII (sophomore and junior), Big XII Player of the Year (junior), Big XII Tournament Most Outstanding Player (junior), and consensus first-team All-America (junior).[1] Additionally, he lead the Big XII in scoring his sophomore and junior seasons.[1] Following a Big XII regular season title[3], Big XII tournament title[3], and Elite Eight NCAA Tournament finish[3], his junior year, Fizer elected to declare for the NBA Draft.[1].

[edit] Professional Career

Fizer was selected with the fourth pick of the 2000 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls[2]. coached by Tim Floyd, the coach that recruited him to Iowa State. Many analysts suspected that the Bulls had drafted Fizer merely to trade him for another player, since the Bulls already had Elton Brand at the power forward position. However, no such trade ever took place, and Fizer spent the next four years struggling to find a niche with the Bulls. He never averaged more than 12.3 points per game. In 2004 he was made available to the Charlotte Bobcats in their expansion draft. Not making their final roster, he signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Bucks. After one disappointing season in Milwaukee, he failed to sign a free agent deal with another team. In November 2005, he signed with the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League. On March 8, 2006, Fizer signed a 10-day contract with the Seattle SuperSonics, but did not play any games for them. On March 31, 2006, he was named the NBA Development League MVP for the 2005-2006 season. The same day, he was signed to a 10-day contract with the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets.

He appeared in 289 career NBA games, making 35 starts and averaging 9.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 1.2 apg, shooting .435 from the floor and .691 from the free throw line in 20.9 mpg. Has averaged 22.0 ppg and 10.6 rpg per 48 minutes in four NBA seasons. Scored 20+ points 17 times, with 10+ rebounds on 22 occasions in his four-year NBA career. He played for the gold medal-winning United States team at the 2001 Goodwill games in Brisbane, Australia while averaging 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds, shooting .550 from the floor. In the summer of 2006 he signed a one-year contract with Polaris World Murcia of the Spanish league ACB. Then he played with Capitanes de Arecibo, in the Puerto Rico professional Basketball league (BSN).[4]

[edit] Trivia

Fizer was one of the most heavily tattooed players in the NBA. As of March 2006, he has 31 tattoos.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Marcus Fizer. CNNSI.com (2001). Retrieved on 2008-06-04.
  2. ^ a b Brown, Rick. "Fizer picked fourth by Bulls", DesMoinesRegister.com, 2000-10-21. Retrieved on 2008-06-04. 
  3. ^ a b c Big 12 Men's Basketball Record Book. Big XII Conference, 8-13. 
  4. ^ CAPITANES DE ARECIBO roster, LatinBasket.com
  5. ^ Allen, Percy. Tattoos tell story of former first-round pick Marcus Fizer, Seattle Times, March 10, 2006

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Matt Carroll
NBA Development League
Most Valuable Player

2005–2006
Succeeded by
Randy Livingston