Mateen Cleaves

From Hoopedia

Mateen Cleaves (born September 7, 1977 in Flint, Michigan) is an American professional basketball player who most recently played for the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics. Cleaves is most remembered for his brilliant career at Michigan State. Cleaves' No. 12 jersey was officially retired at Michigan State University on February 3, 2007 before the Michigan State - Ohio State game.

"Mateen Cleaves took a chance on me and this program before we were established; he might be as responsible as any player in the nation for turning around a team and a program. Michigan State basketball would not be what it is today without him." coach Tom Izzo said.

Cleaves, a three-time MSU captain, led the Spartans to the 2000 national championship and was named MVP of the Final Four. He is the school's only three-time All-American. He was named Big Ten Player of the Year twice. He also leads MSU and the Big Ten in career assists with 816.

Cleaves became the eighth MSU player to have his number retired. The others are Scott Skiles (4), Steve Smith (21), Johnny Green (24), Shawn Respert (24), Jay Vincent (31), Greg Kelser (32) and Magic Johnson (33).

He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 2000 NBA Draft with the fourteenth pick. Pistons then-first year General Manager Joe Dumars was heavily criticized for taking Cleaves instead of his Michigan State teammate Morris Peterson, who has had some success with the Toronto Raptors. His rookie season in Detroit would turn out to be, by far, his most productive NBA season. Cleaves played in 78 games (starting eight), averaged 5.4 points and 2.7 assists as the Pistons went 32-50 (The team's last losing season).

Cleaves was traded to the Sacramento Kings shortly before the 2001–2002 season for Jon Barry and a first-round draft pick. After two seasons with the Kings, Cleaves signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics, but was cut only two weeks later. During the 2003–2004 season, he was signed to a 10-day contract by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was signed by the Sonics shortly before the 2004–2005 campaign and was cut on January 4, 2006. On January 28, he resigned with the Sonics for a 10-day contract and was released at the conclusion of the contract. In 2006, Cleaves signed several ten-day contracts with the Seattle SuperSonics. After briefly playing in Russia, he is currently playing for the Bakersfield Jam of the D-League.