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Sidney Wicks

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For the Congregational minister and public speaking trainer, see Sidney F. Wicks.

Sidney Wicks
Wicks being double-teamed in a 1971 game
Personal information
Born (1949-09-19) September 19, 1949 (age 75)
Contra Costa County, California, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High schoolAlexander Hamilton
(Los Angeles, California)
College
NBA draft1971: 1st round, 2nd overall pick
Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers
Playing career1971–1982
PositionPower forward
Number21, 12
Career history
1971–1976Portland Trail Blazers
1976–1978Boston Celtics
1978–1981San Diego Clippers
1981–1982Reyer Venezia Mestre
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points12,803 (16.8 ppg)
Rebounds6,620 (8.7 rpg)
Assists2,437 (3.2 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2010

Sidney Wicks (born September 19, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A native of California, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. Wicks was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1971 NBA draft with the second overall pick. He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year and was a four-time NBA All-Star with the Trail Blazers. He also played professionally for the Boston Celtics and San Diego Clippers, finishing his career after one season in Italy.

Early life

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Wicks was born on September 19, 1949, in Contra Costa County, California.[1] He attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. Because of non-qualifying grades in high school, Wicks attended Santa Monica College for a year before he could attend his preferred university, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Wicks later received Academic All-America honors at UCLA in 1971.[2] He earned a degree in sociology from the school.[3]

A 6'8" power forward/center, Wicks was a phenom at UCLA, playing on three straight NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships from 1969 to 1971. He was the Bruins' star player on the latter two championship teams. Wicks was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1970, the Helms National Co-Player of the Year (1970), and the USBWA and Sporting News Player of the Year (1971), and was a consensus All-American in 1970 and 1971. On February 1, 1996, his jersey #35 was retired in a halftime ceremony at UCLA's home court, Pauley Pavilion. Wicks was a 1985 inductee into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was selected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.[4]

Professional career

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The Portland Trail Blazers selected Wicks with the second pick of the 1971 NBA draft after paying the Cleveland Cavaliers $250,000 not to select him.[3] The Dallas Chaparrals chose him in the 1971 ABA draft. After averaging 24.5 points and 11.5 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, Wicks was named NBA Rookie of the Year.[5] He also played in the NBA All-Star Game.[6]

Wicks in 1972

Wicks played for the Trail Blazers from 1971 to 1976,[7] earning a total of four All-Star selections (1972–1975).[8] He held the Blazers' franchise record for rebounds in a game with 27 until being surpassed by Enes Kanter Freedom.[9] Wicks averaged 22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds a game in his five years with the team.[3]

In October 1976, the rights to Wicks were sold to the Boston Celtics; Portland went on to win an NBA championship the next season. Wicks played for the Celtics from 1976 to 1978.[3] Wicks then went to the San Diego Clippers and played there until 1981. Overall, Wicks averaged 16.8 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game over ten seasons and 760 games in the NBA.[10] His scoring average dropped every year after his rookie season. Following his NBA career, Wicks played one season in Italy.[3]

Post-NBA career

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Following his playing career, Wicks lived for a year in Italy before returning to the United States.[3] He served as an assistant coach at UCLA during Walt Hazzard's four years as head coach.[11] Following coaching, he entered the real estate field, living in Atlanta, Florida, and Los Angeles.[3]

Personal life

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Wicks was married from 1973 to 1979. He has one daughter, Sibahn Epps.[3]

At 9 a.m. on May 5, 1989, in Mira Mesa, San Diego, California, Wicks was seriously injured in a car accident. A loaded cement truck failed to stop at a red light and struck the driver's side of Wicks's vehicle.[12] Wicks had his ruptured spleen removed at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California. He also had facial lacerations and minor head injuries. A passenger in Wicks' car suffered a mild concussion and facial injuries. The cement truck driver was not injured.[13][14]

As of 2006, Wicks lived in North Carolina and Los Angeles.[3]

NBA career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1971–72 Portland 82 — 39.6 .427 — .710 11.5 4.3 — — 24.5
1972–73 Portland 80 — 39.4 .452 — .723 10.9 5.5 — — 23.8
1973–74 Portland 75 — 38.0 .459 — .762 9.1 4.3 1.2 .8 22.5
1974–75 Portland 82 — 38.6 .497 — .706 10.7 3.5 1.3 1.0 21.7
1975–76 Portland 79 — 38.5 .483 — .674 9.0 3.1 1.0 .7 19.1
1976–77 Boston 82 — 32.2 .458 — .668 10.0 2.1 .8 .7 15.1
1977–78 Boston 81 — 29.8 .467 — .660 8.3 2.1 .8 .6 13.4
1978–79 San Diego 79 — 25.6 .462 — .650 5.1 1.6 .9 .5 9.8
1979–80 San Diego 71 — 30.2 .423 .000 .546 5.8 3.0 1.1 .7 7.1
1980–81 San Diego 49 — 22.1 .437 .000 .507 4.6 2.3 .8 .8 6.7
Career 760 — 33.9 .459 .000 .685 8.7 3.2 1.0 .7 16.8
All-Star 4 1 20.3 .450 — .722 8.3 1.0 — — 12.3

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1977 Boston 9 — 29.0 .519 — .732 9.2 1.8 1.4 .3 13.1
Career 9 — 29.0 .519 — .732 9.2 1.8 1.4 .3 13.1

References

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  1. ^ "Sidney Wicks was born on September 19, 1949 in Contra Costa County, California". californiabirthindex.org. California Birth Index. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "UCLA All -Time Academic All-Americans - UCLA Athletics - UCLA Official Athletic Site". UCLA.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Eggers, Kerry (February 17, 2006). "Wicks keeps NBA life in past". The Portland Tribune. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
  4. ^ "Sidney Wicks". CollegeBasketballExperience.com. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  5. ^ "NBA: The 25 worst players to ever win Rookie of the Year". HoopsHabit.com. May 15, 2021.
  6. ^ "Sidney Wicks 1972 All-Star Game Stats". www.nba.com.
  7. ^ Quick, Jason (March 20, 2010). "Trail Blazers Top 40: No. 14 Sidney Wicks". OregonLive.com.
  8. ^ "Sidney Wicks: All-Star Game Log". nba.com.
  9. ^ Eggers, Kerry (March 25, 2008). "Star on home court". The Portland Tribune. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
  10. ^ "Sidney Wicks Stats". Basketball-Reference.com.
  11. ^ JERRY CROWE, "In time of great change, Sidney Wicks helped UCLA stay the same", Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2009
  12. ^ "Archives". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  13. ^ LePage, Andrew (May 6, 1989). "Wicks Is Seriously Injured When Truck Hits His Car". Los Angeles Times. p. SD_B1.
  14. ^ Smith, Sam (May 6, 1989). "NBA Notes". Chicago Tribune. p. A7.
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