Larry Sanders (basketball)

Larry Sanders
Sanders with the Bucks
No. 8   Milwaukee Bucks
Forward/Center
Personal information
Date of birth November 21, 1988 (1988-11-21) (age 23)
Place of birth Fort Pierce, Florida
Nationality American
High school Port St. Lucie
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight 235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
College VCU
NBA Draft 2010 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15th overall
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Stats at NBA.com

Larry Sanders (born November 21, 1988) is an American basketball player drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA. He played power forward for the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams. As a junior Sanders averaged 14.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks. He then declared himself eligible for the 2010 NBA Draft and was selected 15th by the Milwaukee Bucks. He was born in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Contents

High school career

Sanders was not playing basketball in the ninth grade; the private school he attended did not offer sports. He was 6'1" when he transferred to Port St. Lucie High School. Kareem Rodriguez, the school's basketball coach, spotted Sanders, saw ability and talked him into playing. Sanders was 6'4" after the 10th grade, and 6'6" after the 11th grade. That is when Rodriguez alerted Tony Pujol, a VCU assistant and friend. Sanders sprouted to 6'9" in his high school senior year. Sanders liked the idea of learning under then VCU head coach Anthony Grant, who previously tutored prominent big men at the University of Florida as an assistant.[1] Sanders began drawing statewide attention when he helped lead Port St. Lucie to the Class 5A state semifinals his junior season. He averaged 18.9 points and 13 rebounds his senior season, leading Port St. Lucie (20–8) to the District 13-5A championship, and was named first team all-state.[2] He committed to the Rams just as some major schools began to show interest.

College career

For his first two seasons for VCU, Sanders played 2nd star to guard Eric Maynor. He excelled in that role, utilizing his size and athleticism to disrupt teams defensively. As a sophomore he helped the Rams into the 2009 NCAA Tournament against the UCLA Bruins, but lost 65–64 in the first round of the tournament.[3] Sanders went on to have a more prominent role in his junior season after Maynor was drafted into the NBA. As a junior Sanders averaged 14.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks, with 53% field-goal accuracy, all statistical team highs, on his way to earning the second of his consecutive CAA Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2008–09 and 2009–10.[4]

Larry Sanders announced in April 2010 after his junior year that he was departing VCU early to enter the NBA Draft.[5]

NBA career

Larry Sanders was chosen by the Milwaukee Bucks as the 15th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. On February 21, 2011, he was assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League.[6] He was recalled on February 28.

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
2010–11 Milwaukee 60 12 14.5 .433 .000 .560 3.0 .3 .4 1.2 4.3
Career 60 12 14.5 .433 .000 .560 3.0 .3 .4 1.2 4.3

References

Sanders Legal Issues

External links