Raef Andrew LaFrentz is a professional American Basketball player who plays as a power forward and also as a center at times. LaFrentz went to the MFL Mar-Mac High School where his father was the assistant coach in the high school team. However, LaFrentz didn’t require any favoritism to be a part of the team. His wonderful performances got him into the All-USA first team in 1994 (USA Today) as well as in the McDonald’s All American team.
In his freshman year in high school, LaFrentz was picked for the 1994 US Olympic Festival North Team where he played brilliantly to score at 11.8 points per game with 6.8 rebounds per game. Basketball wasn’t the only sport where LaFrentz excelled – Swimming was also his forte and he was crowned conference champion in high school.
However, it was basketball that got him into the University of Kansas where he played with Paul Pierce, another current NBA player. Starting all games in his four years at college, LaFrentz was named to the All American team in his Junior and Senior years and became only the third player, after Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal in the 1990s, to be named to Associated Press All American first team twice.
| Team |
Portland Trail Blazers
|
| Position | Power Forward |
| Born | 29 May 1976 |
| Nationality |
United States
|
| Team History | |
|
Portland
|
2007 - present |
Boston
|
2003 - 2006 |
Dallas
|
2002 - 2003 |
Denver
|
1998 - 2002 |
Through his college career, LaFrentz graduated with 15.8 points per game to his name and 9.1 rebounds. He was shooting at 55.5 % from the floor while his 2,066 points put him in second spot of all-time high scorers in the history of the school. He was second in rebounds as well, with 1,186 to his name. In both stats, he was behind Danny Manning. During his tenure, the University of Kansas registered a 123-17 win-loss percentage and his fourth year’s team won more games than any other fourth year team at the school. Named as the 1998 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, LaFrentz was also named to the All-Big 12 Conference First Team by the media and coaches.
LaFrentz ended his career as the first Kansas player to record a double-double in almost 27 years with a 19.8 points per game and 11.4 rebounds per game record.
It came as no surprise when LaFrentz was picked third overall in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. He played just 12 games in his rookie season and was averaging 13.8 points per game with 7.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. He missed most of the games due to injury but came back to start all but one of his 81 appearances in the second season. At 12.4 points per game and 7.9 rebounds, LaFrentz had certainly announced his arrival and in 2000-01, he played 78 games at 12.9 points per game. In 2002, LaFrentz was traded out to the Dallas Mavericks in a 7-man trade and ended the season at second in terms of blocked shots, in the entire NBA. He also became the first player ever to record at least 200 blocked shots and 150 three-pointers in the entire season.
LaFrentz was called up to play for Team USA at the 2002 FIBA World Championships following which he played his final season with the Mavericks. Along with Chris Mills & Jiri Welsch, LaFrentz was traded out to the Boston Celtics. For three seasons at the Celtics, LaFrentz continued his stellar performances before being traded out to the Portland Trailblazers in 2006.
