Scott Skiles
Born: March 5, 1964
Position: Point Guard
Height: 6-1 (1.85 m)
In the NBA:
His Game:
If you're short, slow and not a great defender you can never
play in the NBA, right?
Wrong! If you look at Scott Skiles, you can never guess he's
a basketball player. Yet, he has played in the NBA and in a very
high level too. His remarkable organising and passing skills,
his accurate shot both as a free-throw and three-point shooter and, above all, his strong will and competitive character have offered him a place in the NBA stardom.
His Career:
Picked in the 22th overall place of the 1986 draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, he played only 13 games in the 1986-'87 season
due to back injury. Milwaukee traded him to the Indiana Pacers, where he played the following 2 seasons, until 1989. He was the team's backup point guard, averaging 5.9 ppg and 4.4 assists/g in just 18 minutes/g.
In 1989 Skiles was selected in the expansion draft by the Orlando Magic. During the 1989-'90 season he improved a bit in everything: 7.7 ppg, 4.8 apg in almost 21 mpg. Still he was a backup point guard, starting in 32 of the 70 games he played in.
The next year though was a whole lot different. He was not only Orlando's starting point guard but also one of the best in the league! He was now scoring 17.2 ppg and dishing 8.4 apg in 34 mpg. He was also 6th in the league in free throw percentage, shooting an incredible 90%. During the following two seasons Skiles' game remained in a high level, scoring in double-figures and being one of the top players in assists (in 1992-'93 he was third, with 9.4 apg).
During the 1993-'94 season, Skiles got replaced in Magic's starting line-up by Anfernee Hardaway. His numbers have fallen but were still good (9.9 ppg and 6.1 apg). In the summer of 1994, Skiles got traded to the Washington Bullets. The team was losing but Skiles had a good season averaging 13 points and 7.3 assists.
The next year he signed with Philadelphia but played only 10 games due to injury.
Honors:
He won the "NBA 's Most Improved player" award in 1991.
Highlights:
Skiles will be remembered as a player mostly for 2 things. The first one is a record he set on 30/12/1990 in a game against Denver. On that day, he dished 30 (!) assists to his teammates and this record is still unbeatten. The second thing is one of the most famous quotes ever, about basketball. When Orlando fans
"booed" him after a game, he answered: "Basketball is like Religion. Many attend but few understand."
Statistics:
| YEAR |
Team |
Games |
Pts |
FT % |
FG % |
3PM |
3-pt % |
Reb. |
Trn |
Ast |
St |
Blk |
Min. |
Star? |
| 1987 |
Milwaukee |
13 |
3.8 |
.833 |
.290 |
3 |
.214 |
2.0 |
1.6 |
3.5 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
15.8 |
No |
| 1988 |
Indiana |
51 |
4.4 |
.833 |
.411 |
6 |
.300 |
1.3 |
1.5 |
3.5 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
14.9 |
No |
| 1989 |
Indiana |
80 |
6.8 |
.903 |
.448 |
20 |
.267 |
1.9 |
2.2 |
4.9 |
0.8 |
0.0 |
19.6 |
No |
| 1990 |
Orlando |
70 |
7.7 |
.874 |
.409 |
52 |
.394 |
2.3 |
1.3 |
4.8 |
0.5 |
0.1 |
20.9 |
No |
| 1991 |
Orlando |
79 |
17.2 |
.902 |
.445 |
93 |
.408 |
3.4 |
3.2 |
8.4 |
1.1 |
0.1 |
34.4 |
YES |
| 1992 |
Orlando |
75 |
14.1 |
.895 |
.414 |
91 |
.364 |
2.7 |
3.1 |
7.3 |
1.0 |
0.1 |
31.7 |
YES |
| 1993 |
Orlando |
78 |
15.4 |
.892 |
.467 |
80 |
.340 |
3.7 |
3.4 |
9.4 |
1.1 |
0.0 |
39.6 |
YES |
| 1994 |
Orlando |
82 |
9.9 |
.878 |
.429 |
68 |
.412 |
2.3 |
2.4 |
6.1 |
0.6 |
0.0 |
28.1 |
No |
| 1995 |
Washington |
62 |
13.0 |
.886 |
.445 |
96 |
.421 |
2.6 |
2.8 |
7.3 |
1.1 |
0.1 |
33.5 |
YES |
| 1996 |
Philadelphia |
10 |
6.3 |
.800 |
.351 |
15 |
.441 |
1.6 |
1.6 |
3.8 |
0.7 |
0.0 |
23.6 |
No |
| Career |
Career |
600 |
11.1 |
.889 |
.435 |
524 |
.379 |
2.5 |
2.5 |
6.5 |
0.8 |
0.0 |
28.0 |
YES |
In Europe:
As a player:
Skiles crossed the Atlantic in 1996 and came to Greece to play for PAOK, a team of Thessaloniki. The 1996-'97 season was unusual if not weird both for the team and the player.
Skiles had some great games but in general he was disappointing as "a big star from the NBA". This was mainly the result of the fights between Skiles and the french coach Michel Gomez and/or the fact that Skiles was not completely healthy from the serious injuries he had in the past. The team had good players but the results were not as good as expected.
As a coach!
This situation last until the middle of the season. Then, suddenly, Gomez got fired and Skiles took over as a head coach! For a couple of games he was both a player and a coach, before concentrating in his new tasks. This unexpectable decision brought even more unexpectable results. Despite the absence of the team's big star, Predrag Stojakovic, PAOK finished the season in a spectacular way, eliminating Panathinaikos in the play-offs' semifinals and advancing in the Championship's finals, where they lost to Olympiakos. Skiles had changed the team's philosophy and game style and brought incredible results, considering the players left in the team.
Skiles' stats in the Greek Championship:
17 games, averaging: 13.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists and 77% freethrows, 44% field goals, 39% 3pointers.