If a girl with nothing to do looked up a map showing which states produced the most players to make it to the National Basketball Association, Arkansas is not in the hottest-colored top tier, but it is not far behind with 49 according to Basketball-Reference.com. With this in mind, the obvious next thing to do would be to focus on players who played at least 10 years in the league and see how an all-Arkansas team shapes up.
Sixteen players born in Arkansas have played 10 or more seasons in the NBA. Only Mike Conley, Jr., of Fayetteville was born in the north part of the state, and five players came from very small towns. Little Rock can claim four, and Pine Bluff and McGehee three apiece. We have Hall of Famers and All-Stars all over the place, so it’s time to meet the players.
Point guards
Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton was born in Little Rock in 1922. Beginning in the late 1940s, he honed his ball-handling skills with the Harlem Globetrotters, and during the off-season he played first base in the Negro baseball leagues. In 1950, he was the first African-American player drafted by an NBA team. He played for five teams from 1945-1961 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2014. Because of his work in the community, the Associated Black Charities of New York named one of their service awards after him.
Archie Clark from Conway joined the military after high school, and a college coach saw him playing basketball at an Air Force base. Clark was offered a scholarship to the University of Minnesota. He was All-Big Ten in 1966 and a standout at the crossover dribble, which earned him his nickname “Shake and Bake.” As a pro, he was an All-Star twice and named to the All-NBA second team in 1972. In the early ‘90s, he and four other former players founded the National Basketball Retired Players Association.
Lafayette “Fat” Lever was born in Pine Bluff, and starred at Arizona State beside Byron Scott. He played for 11 seasons in the NBA, and while with the Denver Nuggets was regarded as one of the best all-round point guards in the league. He still holds the Nuggets career record for steals and is second in assists. For a 6’3” player, he was a prolific rebounder. He earned All-Star status twice and All-NBA second team once. He finished his career with more triple-doubles than Michael Jordan.
Fayetteville’s Mike Conley, Jr., is in his 12th season in the NBA. As a star freshman guard for Ohio State in the 2006-07 season, he almost won the national championship. He has been a point guard for the Memphis Grizzlies since the 2007-08 season. He has averaged 5.7 assists and 14.3 points per game in his career so far, and won awards for his defensive prowess and sportsmanship. Conley has never been ejected from a game and holds the record for most games played without receiving a technical foul.
Shooting guards
Sidney Moncrief of Little Rock came to the University of Arkansas in 1975, and his leadership and enthusiasm helped put life back into the basketball program. The Razorbacks made the Final Four in 1978. Some folks credit Moncrief with much of the success that followed at the UofA. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, almost all with the Milwaukee Bucks. He was an All-Star five times, and won the first two Defensive Player of the Year awards ever given. Michael Jordan once said, “When you play against Moncrief, you’re in for a night of all-around basketball. He’ll hound you everywhere you go.” Moncrief still holds the record for the most free throws made by a Buck.
Sharpshooter Glen Rice was born in Jacksonville, just outside Little Rock. At 6’8”, Rice could also play small forward, but regardless of what position he played, Rice shot the lights out. He became University of Michigan’s all-time leading scorer and led the Wolverines to the 1989 NCAA championship. He scored 184 points in the tournament, a record that still stands, and still owns several offensive records at Michigan. He made 1,559 three-pointers in his 15-year NBA career, played in three All-Star games, and only once between 1991-92 and 1998-99 did Rice not average more than 20 points per game. In the 1996-97 season, he made 47 percent of his three-point attempts. The league average for made threes over the past 20 years ranges between 34-36 percent. Rice won both an NCAA and an NBA championship.
Derek Fisher is from Little Rock and played college ball at University of Arkansas-Little Rock. He holds the record for the most NBA playoff games played, and as a Los Angeles Laker hit one of the most famous game-ending shots in NBA history. He received an out-of-bounds throw with .4 seconds on the clock and somehow nailed the game winner against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals, and that was not the only last-second clutch shot Fisher made. His toughness and clutch play earned him the respect throughout the league. Fisher pledged $700,000 to UALR toward construction of an auxiliary gymnasium and mentoring program for student athletes. He has also been a color commentator for the Los Angeles Sparks of the WBNA and a participant on “Dancing with the Stars.”
Little Rock’s Joe Johnson just can’t get enough basketball. He began at the University of Arkansas in the 1999-2000, and was selected to the Southeastern Conference all-freshman and all-tournament teams. He was selected #10 in the 2001 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. For the Atlanta Hawks, he averaged more than 20 points for five straight seasons. He has been an all-star seven times, and is still playing for the Houston Rockets after 17 years in the league. The seven-time all-star has played for seven NBA teams. He once had a streak of 919 consecutive games making a field goal. He is currently #10 on the list of three pointers made and is within reach of Jason Kidd at #9.
Small forward
Arkansas has Scottie Pippen on its team. He and Michael Jordan are the only players to win an NBA title and an Olympic gold medal the same year. Pippen is from Hamburg, a small town in the south part of the state. He was the youngest and tallest of 12 siblings. He was recruited as a 6’1” walk-on to University of Central Arkansas, and four years later left as a 6’8” fifth overall pick in the 1987 NBA draft. Alongside Michael Jordan, he won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. Pippen was selected to the all-defensive team eight consecutive years, was chosen as one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players, plus he was part of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. In a 1991 playoff game against the Detroit Pistons, he recorded five steals and five blocks, and Hakeem Olajuwon is the only other player to accomplish that feat.
Power forward
Paul Silas is from Prescott, near Hope, toward the southwest corner of the state. He found his way to Creighton University in 1961 where he set the record for the most rebounds in a three-season span. During 16 years in the NBA, Silas scored 11,782 points and collected 12,357 rebounds. He played four years with the St. Louis Hawks from 1964-68, and later with four other teams. He played in two all-star games and won two championships with the Celtics and one with Seattle. Silas made a name for himself with defense and snatching rebounds. He also coached for more than 20 years.
Power forward/center
There were eight children in the Jones family of McGehee, Ark., back in the ‘60s, the shortest of which was a sister who was 6’3”. Six Jones brothers played for Albany State University Rams in Georgia, and for 18 seasons in a row, one of them occupied the center position for the Rams. Caldwell Jones was most notable of the siblings. He set a record for the American Basketball Association with 12 blocked shots in one game. He landed in the NBA with Julius Erving’s Philadelphia 76ers, and did the dirty work under the boards. “I think of myself as an offensive lineman,” he commented. Scoring was not his focus, yet he amassed 10,688 points in his career by hanging around under the backboards.
Charles Jones was Caldwell’s younger brother, and he logged 15 years in the NBA starting in 1983. He also played in Europe and in the U.S. minor leagues. He averaged 4.5 rebounds per game during his career. Besides Caldwell, his bothers Wil and Major also played in the NBA.
Michael Cage, another rebounding machine, came from West Memphis. He was known as “Windexman” for his work cleaning the glass. He racked up accolades at San Diego State including all-time leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. In 1988 with the Los Angeles Clippers, he led the league with 13 rebounds per game. At one point, Cage held the record for most three-point attempts without a make at 0-25.
And then there is Corliss Williamson from Russellville. He was a three-time all-state selection in high school and Gatorade National Player of the Year in 1991. Williamson was part of the Razorback team that reached the Sweet 16 in the 1993 NCAA tournament. The following year, he was Most Outstanding Player in the tournament as the Razorbacks won the NCAA championship. Williamson was first-team all-SEC three consecutive years, and was SEC Player of the Year for 1993-94 and 1994-95. He spent his first years in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings10, and later won the Sixth Man of the Year for the Pistons for the 2003-04 season. His low post skills and in-between size allowed him to be faster than typical power forwards and stronger than small forwards.
True centers
Joe Barry Carroll and Andrew Lang are the two true centers. Carroll, from Pine Bluff, was the tenth of 13 children in his family. He was the #1 overall pick by the Golden State Warriors in 1980 after his college years at Purdue where he established a long list of school records. In 1980, he scored 35 points in the consolation game at the Final Four, and once he scored 52 points in a game for the Golden State Warriors against the Utah Jazz. For four seasons, he averaged more than 20 points per game, and ended his career with 12,455 points and 5,404 rebounds for a healthy average of 17.7 points per game. Early on in his basketball career, Carroll became interested in service to his communities, so he created Broadview Foundation to support different initiatives including college scholarships, after-school programs, elder care, and many others meeting very specific unmet needs for folks in the lower socio-economic status in the Atlanta area. In 2014, Arkansan Carroll received the Hank Aaron Champion for Justice award for his efforts.
Lang, also from Pine Bluff, was a bull in the China shop underneath the backboards for the Razorbacks from 1984-1988. The Phoenix Suns drafted him in the 1988 draft. He quickly earned a reputation as a shot blocker. He labored 12 years for six teams before retiring as the 55th leading rebounder in league history.
The starting lineup
This Arkansas group would comprise a stellar, competitive team! Sharpshooters, rebounders and Scottie Pippen! There is strength at every position. So to get things going, here’s the suggested starting lineup: Pippen, Carroll, Conley, Williamson and for shooting guard, pick one. Arkansas cannot go wrong picking between Fisher, Johnson, Moncrief or Rice. Or Lever could start at point guard, and the machine would not miss a beat. Or Clifton, a Hall of Famer.
Late in the first quarter, you start sending in subs, and for this team we lose little value when we substitute. What if Moncrief starts and he sits for Johnson or Rice? Or Fisher, who nailed some of the most exciting last-second playoff shots ever? But Glen Rice, pure shooter, money in the bank from the corner, or Johnson who is in the top ten all-time for three-pointers made… Arkansas might never lose.
Cage, Williamson and the Jones brothers carved out lengthy careers with rebounding and under-the-basket defense, and a heady coach would figure out how often to switch one of them for another to great effect and there ought not be a letdown when they substitute.
Elite ball-handlers, sharpshooters, rebounders… any of us would look smart coaching that bunch. This team of Arkansas-born ballers would stack up pretty well at both ends of the court against any state, and these are only players who put in ten or more years in the NBA. Razorback star Ron Brewer played eight NBA seasons, and Bobby Portis and Malik Monk are just getting started. And that kid down the street always dribbling and rattling the backboard after school… it could happen.