Steve Scheffler
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
September 3, 1967 Grand Rapids, Michigan | ||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 250 lb (113 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school |
Forest Hills Northern (Grand Rapids, Michigan) | ||||||||||||
| College | Purdue (1986–1990) | ||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1990 / Round: 2 / Pick: 39th overall | ||||||||||||
| Selected by the Charlotte Hornets | |||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1990–1999 | ||||||||||||
| Position | Center / Power forward | ||||||||||||
| Number | 55, 45, 50 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Charlotte Hornets | ||||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Quad City Thunder | ||||||||||||
| 1992 | Sacramento Kings | ||||||||||||
| 1992 | Denver Nuggets | ||||||||||||
| 1992–1997 | Seattle SuperSonics | ||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Quad City Thunder | ||||||||||||
| 1999 | Yakima Sun Kings | ||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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| Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||
| Points | 331 (1.9 ppg) | ||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 180 (1.0 rpg) | ||||||||||||
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||||||||||||
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Medals
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Stephen Robert "Steve" Scheffler (born September 3, 1967) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the NBA. He is left handed.
College career
Scheffler attended Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he played under head coach Gene Keady. During his Freshmen season, he got limited minutes coming off the bench, while appearing in 16 games and averaging 1.5 points and 1.5 rebounds a game. After his Freshmen season, Steve played in twice as many games during his Sophomore season. He dramatically improved his scoring and rebounding, with averages of 6.8 points and 4.2 rebounds a game, while boasting a .708 field goal percentage, which became a Big Ten single-season record. He helped lead the Boilermakers to a Big Ten Conference title, along with Seniors Todd Mitchell and Everette Stephens, a sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, making it to the Sweet Sixteen, and onto a 29-4 record after losing to a Mitch Richmond-led Kansas State team.
Scheffler's Junior season showed just as much improvement as his Sophomore season. Averaging 13 points and 6 rebounds a game, he also improved his free-throw percentage with a .776 accuracy, while holding a .667 field goal percentage. With key players gone from the prior season, Scheffler carried the Boilers to a 15-16 record in a highly competitive and stacked conference. He was named the team MVP and an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten. After the 1988-89 season, Steve was selected as a reserve Center on the Gold Medal U.S. Team in the World University Games in West Germany.
As a Senior at Purdue, Scheffler averaged 16.8 points and 6.1 rebounds a game, where he scored in double figures in 28 of the 30 games he appeared. After coming off his Junior season without a post season, he and Jimmy Oliver led the Boilers to an NCAA Second Round appearance, where they lost to Texas by one point as a #2 seed. He helped Purdue to a 22-8 record in his senior season. Making 71 of his last 78 free throws with a .805 percent accuracy in his career, Steve was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and a Third-Team All American his Senior year.
Throughout his four seasons at Purdue, Steve set the NCAA career field-goal percentage record at .685, which broke Ohio State's Jerry Lucas' record of .678, which was set in 1962. The 6'9", 250-pound Center/Forward became one of three Boilers to win the conference player of the year honors, along with Jim Rowinski in 1984 and Glenn Robinson in 1994. The "Incredible Hulk" currently holds Purdue's basketball squat max record at 458 pounds and is tied at first with Glenn Robinson and Kenny Williams with 309 pounds in the power clean. He had a vertical leap of 33".
Professional career
Steve Scheffler was selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2nd round (39th overall) of the 1990 NBA Draft. He played for the Hornets, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets and Seattle SuperSonics in 7 NBA seasons. Scheffler was a member of the Sonics when they reached the 1996 NBA Finals and played briefly in four of the six games against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls as a crowd favorite at KeyArena coming off the bench. Steve was embraced as a fan favorite in Seattle for his rare appearances and stellar efforts at scoring in late-game blowout situations.[2]
Scheffler had the ability to excel in Summer League games against young players and NBA journeymen, but then struggled getting his shot off against NBA regular season competition,[3] He finished his 7-year NBA career with averages of 1.9 points in 5.3 minutes per game, while shooting 55.8% from the floor. He appeared in 178 games with eight starts. He attained a high percentage mid-range jump shot during his tenure in the NBA.
Personal
Scheffler's older brother, Tom Scheffler, also played at Purdue and in the NBA. Tom played 39 games for the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1985-86 season.
References
- ↑ http://www.the411online.com/qcthunder/allcba2.html
- ↑ Sonics 35th anniversary
- ↑ Clippers' move good news for Bobcats' cause page accessed July 17, 2008