Who wore number 36 in NBA?

Ask anybody who has played basketball before, and one of the exciting parts of playing the game is having your jersey number and name plastered on your back. We have seen so many great players in NBA history, each coming with a number attached to their name. While some of them are very obvious, there are some other players who are the greatest players to don a specific number that we may have not known before.

Rasheed Wallace

Rasheed Abdul Wallace is a former professional basketball player, also as American men’s basketball coach for the Memphis Tigers. A native of Philadelphia, Wallace played college basketball at the University of North Carolina before declaring for the draft in 1995, where he’d play 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Originally selected by the Washington Bullets (now known as the Washington Wizards) as the fourth pick in the 1995 NBA draft, Wallace was named to the All-Rookie second team following his first season. He was then traded to the Portland Trail Blazers after the season. With Portland he was a key member of the Trail Blazers team that made it to the Western Conference Finals in 1999 and 2000, and was an NBA All-Star in 2000 and 2001. Wallace averaged a career best 19.4 points per game in 2002 for the Trail Blazers.

During the 2003–04 season Portland traded him to the Atlanta Hawks where he played one game before he was traded to the Detroit Pistons. With the Pistons, Wallace won the NBA championship in 2004, and reached the NBA Finals in the following season before losing to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games. Individually, Wallace was an NBA All-Star in 2006 and 2008. After the 2008–09 season, Wallace left the Pistons as a free agent and signed with the Boston Celtics, where he played until retiring in 2010. He returned to sign a one-year deal to play for the New York Knicks in 2012. On April 17, 2013, Wallace announced his second retirement.

In the 2000–01 season, Wallace received 41 technical fouls over a span of 80 games, about one technical foul for every two games.

Marcus Smart

Marcus Osmond Smart is an American professional basketball player known for playing with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma State Cowboys before being drafted with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft.

Smart is widely considered to be one of the best defenders in the entire NBA, regardless of position, due to his fierce nature, strength, and hands.

Although not a high percentage shooter, Smart is aggressive on offense and defense, and as one of the longest tenured Celtics he is widely recognized as the heart and soul of the team. He’s known for guarding opposing players taller than him, using physicality to make them uncomfortable, often causing turnovers or missed shots. Over his years in the league, his three-point shooting has improved to the point where he became a league-average three-point threat. His former teammate, Kemba Walker, describes the energy he brings to the game: “It’s exciting. It’s energizing. He just gets everybody going. Gets us going, gets the crowd going. Like I said, we just kinda feed off him. He just does so many great things. And propels our defense each and every night”.

Kevon Looney

Kevon Grant Looney is an American professional basketball player known for playing with the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a freshman playing college basketball with the UCLA Bruins, he earned second-team all-conference honors in the Pac-12 in 2014–15. After the season, he decided to forgo his college eligibility and enter the 2015 NBA draft, and was selected in the first round by Golden State with the 30th overall pick. He won consecutive NBA championships with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

Growing up in Wisconsin, Looney was named the top high school player in the state as a senior in 2014. He also received national recognition as a five-star prospect and earned All-American honors. In his only season at UCLA, he led all freshmen in the nation in double-doubles, recording double figures in both points and rebounds in 15 games. One of the top players in the Pac-12, he was also named to their all-freshman team. As a rookie with Golden State, Looney’s playing time was limited after undergoing surgery on both his hips. The next season, a strained left hip sidelined him for most of the playoffs during their championship run. Finally healthy in 2017–18, he became a regular in the Warriors’ rotation as an undersized center, helping them win a second straight championship.

The 6-foot-9-inch (2.06 m) Looney is most suited to playing power forward. Possessing a 7-foot-4-inch (2.24 m) wingspan, he is also a capable, small-ball center who is able to guard all five positions. His length allows him to switch assignments and defend guards. He moves fairly well on the perimeter, and is not easily lured by pump fakes. He can also defend the rim.

Looney had limited mobility after his hip surgeries. Lacking explosion, he worked on faking opponents and getting his defender off balance. After he became healthier and lost weight, he became more athletic and proficient at catching lob passes. During the summer 2018 off-season, he worked on finishing the lobs without having to land first.

Omri Casspi

Omri Moshe Casspi is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He mainly played at the small forward position, but could play also at the power forward position.

Casspi was drafted 23rd overall in the 2009 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings, making him the first Israeli to be selected in the first round of an NBA draft. With his Kings debut in 2009, Casspi became the first Israeli to play in an NBA game. As a rookie, Casspi was chosen to participate in the NBA All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge. The Cleveland Cavaliers traded for him in June 2011, and he signed with the Houston Rockets in July 2013. In July 2014, Casspi was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans as part of a three-team trade, but was later waived. He then returned to Sacramento prior to the 2014–15 season. In February 2017, he was traded to the Pelicans alongside DeMarcus Cousins, and signed with the Warriors during the offseason. Waived after an April injury, he signed with Memphis in July 2018.

Ralph Hamilton

Ralph Albert Hamilton was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Fort Wayne Pistons and Indianapolis Jets of the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America (BAA), precursors to the modern day National Basketball Association (NBA). Hamilton was traded by the Pistons to the Jets in December 1948.

Hamilton, a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, played collegiately at Indiana University in Bloomington. He played for the Hoosiers in 1941–42 and 1942–43 (his sophomore and junior years, respectively) but then served in the United States Army for three years during the end of World War II. When he came back as a 25-year-old senior in 1946–47, he served as team captain and led them in scoring, was named First Team All-Big Ten Conference and was dubbed a consensus First Team All-American. He also scored nearly 1,000 points during his staggered college career.

Lloyd Neal

Lloyd Neal is an American former professional basketball player born in Talbotton, Georgia.

A 6’7″ center/forward from Tennessee State University, Neal spent his entire professional career (1972–1979) with the National Basketball Association’s Portland Trail Blazers. Though undersized for his position, he endeared himself to fans with his hard work and tenacity, and he averaged a double-double (13.4 points, 11.8 rebounds) during the 1972–73 NBA season. After his career was cut short by a knee injury in 1979, the Blazers retired his #36 jersey. He finished college in 1980 and moved on to a long career with the Internal Revenue Service in Portland, where he’s worked since 1985.