1. James Mitchell Cleamons was born on September 13,1949 and is an American former professional basketball player and was a coach in the NBA and at the college and high school levels.
27 Facts About Jim Cleamons
1. 2.
Jim Cleamons was an assistant coach on nine National Basketball Association championship teams.
3.
Jim Cleamons was born on September 13,1949, in Lincolnton, North Carolina.
4.
Jim Cleamons grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Linden-McKinley High School in 1967.
5.
Jim Cleamons played on an Ohio state championship basketball team at Linden-McKinley.
6.
Jim Cleamons attended Ohio State University in Columbus, earning a degree in education.
7.
Jim Cleamons played on its basketball team as a swingman.
8.
Jim Cleamons played forward as a sophomore and junior, and point guard his senior year.
9.
Jim Cleamons averaged 18.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game over three years.
10.
Jim Cleamons was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 13th pick of the 1971 NBA draft.
11.
Jim Cleamons had a nine-year NBA career for four teams.
12.
In 1976, Jim Cleamons was selected to the NBA All-Defense 2nd team.
13.
Jim Cleamons was a key young player on a team that included a focus on "dogged defense".
14.
Jim Cleamons played one more season in Cleveland, and signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks in October 1977, with the Cavaliers receiving the 32-year old Walt Frazier as compensation.
15.
Jim Cleamons played two full seasons with the Knicks, and early in his third season, he was traded to the Bullets for a 1981 third round draft pick.
16.
Jim Cleamons was the first Knick to make a three-point field goal in the regular season.
17.
Jim Cleamons averaged 26.9 minutes per game in 57 games for the Bullets, in what was his final NBA season as a player.
18.
Jim Cleamons had been a teammate of Phil Jackson when they played together with the Knicks.
19.
Jim Cleamons would be Jackon's assistant on nine NBA championship teams with the Bulls and Lakers, coaching both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
20.
Jim Cleamons worked as an assistant coach for the Bulls from 1989 to 1996.
21.
Jim Cleamons was the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks for slightly over one year, from 1996 to 1997.
22.
Jim Cleamons then was the head coach of the Chicago Condors of the American Basketball league, a short-lived women's professional basketball league in the mid Nineties.
23.
In 2011, Jim Cleamons became a coach in the Chinese Basketball Association.
24.
In 2014, Jackson hired Jim Cleamons to join the New York Knicks coaching staff under Derek Fisher.
25.
In 2017, Jim Cleamons accepted a position as an assistant coach for the Yeshiva University of Los Angeles high school boys basketball team.
26.
In late 2019 and early 2020, Jim Cleamons served as an NBA basketball ambassador in Africa and Australia.
27.
Jim Cleamons coached the Ohio team in the 2022 HCBU College Basketball All Star Game.