Carl Nicks (basketball)

Orlando Carl Nicks (born October 6, 1958) is a retired American NBA player. At 6'1" 175 lb, Nicks played guard during his career.

Basketball career

Nicks finished with NBA career averages of 6.8 ppg, 1.6 apg and 0.8 spg over those three seasons and currently holds the distinction of being the last Sycamore player drafted.

After being selected out of Indiana State University by the Denver Nuggets with the 23rd overall pick in the 1980 NBA Draft, Nicks played in three seasons with three different teams: Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, and Cleveland Cavaliers. He played periodically for the Nuggets before being traded to the Jazz, where he backed up Rickey Green. He was subsequently released by the Jazz early in the 1982 season and was signed as a Free Agent by the Cavaliers.

He spent played for the Toronto Tornados of the CBA during the 1983-84 season and then spent 5 seasons in the French professional league following his NBA career; playing for Saint-Étienne in 1984-85 and for ASPO Tours from 1987-89.

In his freshman season at Indiana State, Nicks only averaged 2.2 points in 24 games. Bob King, the Head Coach, recommended that Nicks leave the Sycamores and go to a junior college to refine his skills and work on his game, so that's what Carl did. He spent the 1977-78 season at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Florida where he averaged 22.4 points a game, though the next season he returned to Indiana State. When he returned he was a more mature and more confident player. It was the 1978-79 season that he started improving and that's where he earned his nickname; Mr. Intensity. That year he averaged 19.3 points but it was the 1980 season that he really came out and started scoring, averaging 26.7 points a game. Nicks started with Larry Bird in 1978-79 and helped lead Indiana State to the championship game in the NCAA tournament by averaging 19.3 ppg, 5 apg, 3.5 rpg and 1.8 spg on 46% shooting.

Nicks was twice named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference first team, in both 1979 and 1980. He was also named to the USA Select Team in 1979 for a tour of the People's Republic of China. After retiring as a player, he coached alongside Bill Hodges, his former Head Coach at Indiana State, at Mercer University and then settled in Indianapolis and beginning a career at Methodist Hospital. In 2005, he was hired as a college scout by the Indiana Pacers; in 2014, he was promoted to 'Manager - Player Relations' with the Indiana Pacers.^[1]

In 2007, Nicks was recognized by the Missouri Valley Conference as one of the Missouri Valley Conference's "50 Greatest" Players and was also inducted into the Indiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame (as an individual), having been inducted earlier as part of the 1979-80 Men's Basketball team.

Indiana State statistics

• 1976-77: 2.2 ppg
• 1978-79: 19.3 ppg
• 1979-80: 26.7 ppg
• Total: 16.8 ppg

References

External links

• Career stats at basketball-reference.com