Talkdep 21

WWW.TALKDEP.COM


John Amaechi

Early life

Amaechi was raised in Reddish, Stockport, England with his two younger sisters by his English mother, attending Stockport Grammar School. Amaechi moved to the U.S. to play high school basketball at St. John's Jesuit High School in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing college basketball at Vanderbilt but transferred to Penn State where he was a two-time First Team Academic All-American selection.

Playing career

The 6 ft 10 in, 270 lb (208 cm, 122 kg) center was signed undrafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1995. He played 28 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 1995-1996 season, then played for two years in Europe (France: Cholet, Limoges; Italy: Kinder Bologna; Greece: Panathinaikos; UK: Sheffield Sharks). In the season 1996-1997 he played for Panathinaikos BC. In September 1996 he won the Intercontinental Cup being the first scorer (alongside with Fragiskos Alvertis) of Panathinaikos BC with 59 points in the 3 games of the tournament (18,23,18 pts). In 1997-1998 he won the Euroleague with Kinder Bologna.
He returned to the USA signing with the Orlando Magic in 1999. With a solid 1999-2000 season, where he averaged 10.5 points in 21.1 minutes per contest, he gained fame for scoring the NBA's first points in the year 2000. Before speaking publicly about being gay, Amaechi may have been best known for turning down a $17 million contract offer from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000, opting to remain in Orlando for $600,000 per year. Amaechi went on to play for the Utah Jazz from 2001 to 2003.
He was traded to the Houston Rockets midway through his final NBA season in exchange for Glen Rice, and though he was an active player, he did not participate in any games for them.