Kirk Hinrich

Kirk James Hinrich is a professional basketball player from the United States of America and plays as a point guard. Born to Jim Hinrich, a high school level basketball coach, Kirk had the pleasure of being coached by his father since the third grade. Jim Hinrich remained Kirk’s coach through high school and saw Kirk get named as the 1999 Co-Iowa Mr. Basketball, his senior year in high school at the Sioux City West High School.

Hinrich was meant to join the Iowa State University however after the college decided to change their coach, Hinrich too decided to shift his loyalties to the University of Kansas. In his junior year, Hinrich became one of the more important players on the team as he led the team to the Final Four of the 2002 NCAA Tournament. Failing to make the finals, Hinrich pulled more specials out of the bag and in his senior year, led the University of Kansas to the finals of the 2003 NCAA Tournament against Carmelo Anthony-led Syracuse University.

In his first year in college, Hinrich won the Clyde Lovellette Most Improved Player award after racking up 123 assists. The following year, he had a 6.9 assists per game average, getting him the 8th place in the national standings while he led the Jayhawks in steals and had a record 50.5% shooting percentage from behind the arc. Hinrich was named to the AP All-Big 12 Second Team and was also named to the All-Third Team by the NCAA coaches.

In his junior year, Hinrich led his team in shooting from the line and from behind the arc. He had 5.0 assists per game on the way to being named to the All-Big 12 Second Team. Hinrich received the University of Kansas Ted Owens Defensive Player Award. In the senior year run to the finals, Hinrich was named as the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region Most Outstanding Player while ranking second on his team in terms of scoring. With 3.5 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game, Hinrich was one of the most important members of the team and was named to the AP All-American Third Team.

Although Hinrich graduated in 2003, his jersey was retired by the University of Kansas at a March, 2009 ceremony. At the 2003 NBA Draft, Hinrich was picked at 7th overall by the Chicago Bulls. He came into the NBA strongly and made himself the starting point guard for the Bulls and was named to the NBA 2004 All-Rookie First Team. He became the only rookie to record a triple-double in that season when he scored 11 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had 10 assists against the Golden State Warriors in February, 2004. Hinrich won the Bulls’ Player of the Year award and was named to the NBA’s “Got Milk?” team.

At the international level, Hinrich was named to the US National Basketball Team in July, 2006, after turning down the offer in February the same year, and was part of the team that went to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Hinrich, in a short career with the Bulls, has already amassed a number of records including being ranked second in the “all-time 3-point field goals made” category with 704. He is also second in the attempts at 3-pointers with 1695 while Hinrich ranks fourth, all-time, in the assists category (2659). His 6.4 average is the third highest in the Bulls’ all-time charts while his career steals, 560, are the sixth highest for the Bulls.