Editor’s note: In the days leading up to the June 25 NBA draft, reporter Zack Rosenblatt will take a trip down memory lane, dig into the Star archives, and look at some of Arizona’s former NBA draftees, the path that took them to the pros, and what they’ve done since then.
Michael Dickerson is an unfortunate case study in what could have been.
If not for injuries, Dickerson’s impact in the NBA may have been much greater.
He was an adept scorer, something he showed particularly in his final two years at Arizona, and that quickly translated to the pros.
Then injuries derailed him, and his professional basketball career ended soon after it started.
“I proved that I can play,” Dickerson told the Commercial Appeal in 2009. “I always think about how good I might have been if I never got injured.”
People are also reading…
Nonetheless, it’s hard to still not call Dickerson’s basketball career a successful one.
Here’s a look back at Dickerson’s path to the NBA draft.
At Arizona: Dickerson committed to Arizona in November of 1993, picking the Wildcats over Washington State, and joining a class that included Miles Simon, Donnell Harris, Kelvin Eafon and junior college transfer Ben Davis.
“He has long arms and is very explosive,” Lute Olson told the Star. “He has the best first step of anybody I saw this summer. From the three-point line I saw him take one dribble and slam it. And he’s a gym rat. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a player more like that than he is.”
His first two years in Tucson weren’t exactly filled with playing time — as a freshman, he scored 138 points in 29 games, and started just twice in the final 19 games of his sophomore season, in which he averaged 11.9 points per game.
As a junior and senior, the 6-foot-5-inch guard was a breakout. He tallied a team-high 18.9 points per game in the 1997 NCAA championship-winning season, and another 18.0 in 1998.
As a senior, overshadowed by teammates Simon and Mike Bibby, he was left off a final list of John Wooden Award candidates.
“I’m not even in the top 30,” Dickerson told the Star. “Whoa. Imagine that. Someone, somewhere thinks there are 30 college basketball players better than Michael Dickerson.”
For how talented he was as a scorer, Dickerson still sometimes struggled in big moments. In a 1998 Elite Eight loss to Utah, he shot 2 for 12 with six points; and in the Final Four against UNC in 1997, he was 1 of 10 with five points.
That, at least before the pre-draft process, became a question mark as he prepared for the NBA draft.
The draft: Despite those postseason struggles, Dickerson was still viewed as a one of the top shooting guards in the draft and a likely middle first-round pick.
Dickerson reportedly impressed in workouts for the Houston Rockets (who had three first-round picks) and the Sacramento Kings, and also worked out for the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, Charlotte Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers and his hometown Seattle Supersonics. On draft day, the Rockets were looking to find a replacement for the recently retired Clyde Drexler, a Hall of Fame wing, and decided Dickerson was the guy, selecting the UA shooting guard at No. 14 in the first round.
Soon after the draft, Dickerson signed an endorsement deal with Converse.
From the archives: “(Drexler) was a Hall of Famer and I don’t expect to fill his shoes. I can’t do that.’ But I’m just going to go in and do what the coaches want me to do. If they want me to get the ball inside to Hakeem (Olajuwon), I’ll do that. If they want me to shoot, I’ll do that. But I can’t replace Drexler.” — Dickerson to the Star after the draft
As a pro: After just one season in Houston — in which he averaged a solid 10.9 points per game — Dickerson was shipped to the Vancouver Grizzlies in a blockbuster three-team, eight-player trade.
In Vancouver, Dickerson joined his UA teammate,Bibby, who was picked at No. 2 in the 1998 draft by the Grizzlies.
Dickerson’s first season in Vancouver was a resounding success, as he played — and started — in every game, finishing second on the team with 18.2 points per game. In 2000-01, he scored 16.3 per game in 70 games played. This led to the Grizzlies signing Dickerson to a six-year, $43 million contract before the next season.
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t come close to playing out that deal.
Just four games into the season, Dickerson suffered a stress fracture in his groin area, forcing him to miss the rest of the year. The next season, after just two games, he was again lost for most of the year due to complications from the same stress fracture. After three months of rehab, Dickerson returned for four more games before straining an abdominal muscle and developing a sports hernia. So in 2003, Dickerson announced his retirement, with $29 million still left on his contract.
He attempted a comeback with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2008, to no avail, and played in Spain for one year before retiring from basketball for good.