Alex English
Born: January 5, 1954
Position: Small Forward
Height: 6-7 (2.02 m)
Jerseys worn: #2
In the NBA:
His Game:
Alex English was a forward who dominated the whole 80's decade in the NBA, always scoring in bunches but never being in the center of the media attention. "I'm not so flashy, not so boisterous", English once said. But his achievements speak for themselves.
His Career:
He was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2nd round of the 1976 draft (Nr.23 overall). He played for Milwaukee 2 years but he was constantly underutilized. In his second year he was playing only 19 minutes and scoring 9.6 ppg. He played for the Indiana Pacers during the 1978-'79 season and he averaged 16 points and (a career-best) 8.1 rebounds.
In the middle of the 1979-'80 season, English was traded from Indiana to the Denver Nuggets. Denver's game was based on running and offense and English fitted perfectly: during the next 9 seasons, he was always scoring more than 23 points per game!
But he was more than a great scorer with good accuracy from the field and in the free-throws. He was also an all-around player who could rebound, pass the ball, steal and block. His career-high averages in Denver include: 29.8 points (1986),
8 rebounds (1980), 5.3 assists (1982), 1.4 steals and 1.5 blocks (1983).
In 1989-'90 his scoring fell to 17.9 ppg. He played for the Dallas Maverics during the 1990-'91 season, scoring 9.7 points off the bench, in his final year in the NBA.
Honors
English has achieved pretty much everything in his career except winning an NBA title. He played in 8 consecutive All-Star games (1982-1989), he became the first player ever to score more than 2000 points in 8 consecutive seasons, led Denver in scoring 7 times and won a scoring title in 1983. When he left the league, he was NBA's 7th all-time scorer (25,613 points) and ranked first in the Denver Nuggets' history in points (21,645), assists (3,679), games (837) and minutes (29,893). His jersey (#2) has been retired by the Denver Nuggets and he is a member of the Hall Of Fame.
Statistics:
| YEAR |
Team |
Games |
Pts |
FT % |
FG % |
3PM |
3-pt % |
Reb. |
Trn |
Ast |
St |
Blk |
Min. |
Star? |
| 1977 |
Milwaukee |
60 |
5.2 |
.767 |
.477 |
0 |
.000 |
2.8 |
- |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
10.8 |
No |
| 1978 |
Milwaukee |
82 |
9.6 |
.727 |
.542 |
0 |
.000 |
4.8 |
1.7 |
1.6 |
0.5 |
0.7 |
18.9 |
No |
| 1979 |
Indiana |
81 |
16.0 |
.752 |
.511 |
0 |
.000 |
8.1 |
2.4 |
3.3 |
0.9 |
1.0 |
33.3 |
YES |
| 1980 |
Indiana / Denver |
78 |
16.9 |
.789 |
.497 |
2 |
.333 |
7.8 |
2.7 |
2.9 |
0.9 |
0.8 |
30.8 |
YES |
| 1981 |
Denver |
81 |
23.8 |
.850 |
.494 |
3 |
.600 |
8.0 |
3.0 |
3.6 |
1.3 |
1.2 |
38.2 |
YES |
| 1982 |
Denver |
82 |
25.4 |
.840 |
.551 |
0 |
.000 |
6.8 |
3.2 |
5.3 |
1.1 |
1.5 |
36.8 |
YES |
| 1983 |
Denver |
82 |
28.4 |
.829 |
.516 |
2 |
.167 |
7.3 |
3.2 |
4.8 |
1.4 |
1.5 |
36.4 |
YES |
| 1984 |
Denver |
82 |
26.4 |
.824 |
.529 |
1 |
.143 |
5.7 |
2.7 |
5.0 |
1.0 |
1.2 |
35.0 |
YES |
| 1985 |
Denver |
81 |
27.9 |
.829 |
.518 |
1 |
.200 |
5.7 |
3.1 |
4.2 |
1.2 |
0.6 |
36.1 |
YES |
| 1986 |
Denver |
81 |
29.8 |
.862 |
.504 |
1 |
.200 |
5.0 |
3.1 |
4.0 |
0.9 |
0.4 |
37.3 |
YES |
| 1987 |
Denver |
82 |
28.6 |
.844 |
.503 |
4 |
.267 |
4.2 |
2.6 |
5.1 |
0.9 |
0.3 |
37.6 |
YES |
| 1988 |
Denver |
80 |
25.0 |
.828 |
.495 |
0 |
.000 |
4.7 |
2.3 |
4.7 |
0.9 |
0.3 |
35.2 |
YES |
| 1989 |
Denver |
82 |
26.5 |
.858 |
.491 |
2 |
.250 |
4.0 |
2.4 |
4.7 |
0.8 |
0.1 |
36.5 |
YES |
| 1990 |
Denver |
80 |
17.9 |
.880 |
.491 |
2 |
.500 |
3.6 |
1.2 |
2.8 |
0.6 |
0.3 |
27.6 |
YES |
| 1991 |
Dallas |
79 |
9.7 |
.850 |
.439 |
0 |
.000 |
3.2 |
1.3 |
1.3 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
22.1 |
No |
| Career |
Career |
1193 |
21.5 |
.832 |
.507 |
18 |
.217 |
5.5 |
2.4 |
3.6 |
0.9 |
0.7 |
31.9 |
YES |
In Europe:
In 1991-'92, English played 18 games for Italian team Depi Napoli, averaging 13.9 points.