Kendall Gill Biography
Kendall Cedric Gill (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who now works as a television basketball *yst. Throughout his NBA career he was known as “Cold World” for his ice cold demeanor on the court.
Early life
Gill was born in Chicago and attended Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois. Graduating in 1986 as a senior, he led Rich Central to a second-place finish in the IHSA cl* AA state boys basketball tournament. Gill led his team in scoring with 54 points in the four games of the tournament finals, and was named to the six-player All-Tournament team.
After high school, Gill attended the University of Illinois. Playing four years for the Fighting Illini, he was a starter in his last three seasons. As a junior, Gill led the Fighting Illini to the 1989 Final Four before losing to Michigan on a last-second shot. Also among that fabled "Flyin' Illini" squadron were future NBA players Nick Anderson, Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle and Illini TV/radio broadcaster Stephen Bardo as well as four-year starter Lowell Hamilton. As a senior, Gill led the Big Ten in scoring and was named a first-team All-American (UPI). He left Illinois as the seventh-leading scorer in school history. Gill's Illini earned NCAA bids each year he played. He also won the NCAA Slam Dunk championship in the Final Four his senior season.
Gill was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.
NBA career
Gill was chosen in the 1990 NBA draft as the fifth overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets, and was named First Team All-Rookie for the 1990–91 season. During this same season, Gill participated in the NBA Slam-Dunk Compe*ion. He had a tough time as a rookie trying to fit into the Hornets rotation, alongside already established back-court teammates Muggsy Bogues and Rex Chapman.
After the 1991 addition of Larry Johnson and departure of Rex Chapman to the Washington Bullets, Gill had a breakthrough year in the 1991–92 season by averaging 20.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 *ists per game, while shooting 46.7% from the field.
In 1993 the Hornets reached the NBA postseason for the first time in franchise history. Gill was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics during the following off-season, along with the Hornets' 1994 first-round pick, for Eddie Johnson, Dana Barros, and the SuperSonics' 1994 first-round pick. The SuperSonics, who also added Detlef Schrempf that summer, had a team led by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. The SuperSonics had two first round eliminations by the Denver Nuggets in 1994 and the Los Angeles Lakers in 1995. Gill returned to Charlotte for the 1995–96 season after being traded there for Hersey Hawkins and David Wingate and in January 1996 the Hornets traded Gill and Khalid Reeves to the New Jersey Nets for Kenny Anderson, who became the team's starting point guard while Bogues sat out with a knee injury that limited him to just six games for the entire season. Gill's injury limited him to 11 games in the rest of the season.
From 1996 to 2001, Gill played for the Nets, scoring a career-high 41 points on January 14, 1997, helping the team reach the 1998 playoffs, and leading the league in steals in 1998–99. On April 3, 1999, Gill recorded 11 steals in a game against the Miami Heat, tying a single-game record set by Larry Kenon during the 1976–77 season. In this game, he also recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds for a rare points-rebounds-steals triple-double. Gill's final season in New Jersey, the 2000–01 season, was shortened by injury, allowing him to play in only 31 games during the season.
In his final four seasons in the NBA, Gill played the 2001–02 season with the Miami Heat, the 2002–03 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the 2003–04 season with the Chicago Bulls, before completing his career with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2004.
In his 15 seasons in the NBA, Gill played in 966 games for seven teams. He also appeared in 27 playoff games for four teams. He was a member of the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1991 and went on to compile 12,914 points, 2,945 *ists, and 4,002 rebounds during his career.
Personal life
Gill was raised in Matteson, Illinois. He is married to Wendy Gill, and has two boys, Phoenix and Kota.
Gill was a professional boxer who had his first bout on June 25, 2005 at the age of 37.
In 1994, Gill made an appearance as himself in a Nickelodeon TV show My Brother and Me. He appeared on the January 23, 2008 edition of Spike TV's Pros vs. Joes.
In 2004 his house was featured on MTV Cribs.
On May 15, 2010, Gill sang a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, as they took on the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Gill has provided *ysis during pregame and postgame shows on Comcast SportsNet Chicago for Chicago Bulls games. On March 22, 2013, Gill was suspended by Comcast SportsNet for the remainder of the 2012–13 season after a reported physical altercation with *yst Tim Doyle in the Comcast SportsNet newsroom. In September 2013, Gill indicated that he was not returning to the station. However, he was rehired by Comcast SportsNet in late 2015.
In 2017, Gill was signed as a free agent in the BIG3 basketball league by Power to take the place of Corey Maggette after he suffered an injury during the season.
Honors
High school
- 1986 – IHSA State Tournament All-Tournament Team
- 1992 – Inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches *ociation's Hall of Fame as a player
College
- 1989 – Kenny Battle Leadership Award Recipient
- 1989 – NCAA All-Regional Team
- 1989 – Honorable Mention All-Big Ten
- 1989 – Honorable Mention All American
- 1990 – Playboy Pre-Season All-American
- 1990 – Preseason Wooden Award Nominee
- 1990 – Illini Team Co-Captain
- 1990 – Illini MVP
- 1990 – 1st Team All-Big Ten
- 1990 – Consensus 2nd Team All American
- 1990 – University of Illinois Athlete of the Year
- 2004 – Elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team"
- 2008 – Honored as one of the 33 honored jerseys, which hang in the State Farm Center, to show regard for being one of the most decorated basketball players in the University of Illinois' history.
- 2018 – Inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame
NBA
- 1991 – NBA Slam Dunk Contest compe*or
- 1991 – NBA All-Rookie First Team
- 1999 – annual steals leader
- 2018 – Charlotte Hornets 30th Anniversary Team
NBA career statistics
NBA
Regular season
Playoffs
College
See also
- List of National Basketball *ociation career steals leaders
- List of National Basketball *ociation players with most steals in a game
References
External links
- Career statistics and player information from NBA.com:and:Basketball-Reference.com
- IHSA 1986 Cl* AA Boys Summary
- Boxing record for Kendall Gill from BoxRec (registration required)
- Gill joins Bulls Pre-Game Live
