Sam Vincent

From Hoopedia

James Samuel "Sam" Vincent (born May 18, 1963 in Lansing, Michigan) is a retired American professional basketball player. On May 25, 2007 Vincent was introduced as the new head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA.

A 6'2" point guard, Vincent attended Michigan State University, where he earned Sporting News All-America honors in 1985. After graduating from college, he was selected by the Boston Celtics with the twentieth pick of the 1985 NBA Draft. He played two seasons for the Celtics, winning an NBA Championship ring as a reserve in 1986, before joining the Seattle SuperSonics, who promptly traded him to the Chicago Bulls for Sedale Threatt. After one-and-a-half solid seasons with the Bulls, he was selected by the Orlando Magic in the 1989 NBA expansion draft, and he finished his NBA career with the Magic in 1992. He scored 3,106 points and tallied 1,543 assists during his seven-year tenure in the league.

Shortly after retiring, Vincent worked at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Walt Disney World. During the late 1990s, he coached basketball in South Africa, and he has also coached in Greece, Netherlands, Nigeria, and the NBDL. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, he led the Nigerian women's basketball team to a 68-64 victory over South Korea, which was Africa's first ever victory in an Olympic women's basketball contest.

He was coach of the Fort Worth Flyers in the 2005-2006 season. Shortly after coaching the Nigeria men's team to the second round of the 2006 FIBA World Championship (including a shocking upset of traditional power Serbia & Montenegro), he was hired as an assistant by the Dallas Mavericks.

Vincent won the State of Michigan "Mr. Basketball" award in 1981, the first year the award was ever given. He attended Lansing's, Lansing Eastern High School.