Clayton Shields (born March 28, 1976) is a retired American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He was named Western Athletic Conference co-Player of the Year at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

and played professionally in six countries. Shields, a 6'8

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

from

Baytown, Texas Baytown is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Harris County, Texas, Harris and Chambers County, Texas, Chambers counties. Located in the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, it lies on the nor ...

, played college basketball at New Mexico from 1994 to 1998. As a freshman, Shields cracked the starting lineup and averaged 10.5 points and 4.8

rebounds per game 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, making the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) all-newcomer team. Shields would start for his remaining three years, scoring 1,837 points (14.4 per game) and collecting 758 rebounds (5.9 per game) for his career. As a senior in 1997–98, Shields was named co-WAC player of the year with Texas Christian's

Lee Nailon Lee Nailon (born February 22, 1975) is an American professional basketball player who played six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the 2007 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP. In 2011, he was the top scorer in the ...

, after averaging 16.7 points and 6.8 rebounds and leading the Lobos to the 1998 NCAA Tournament. After graduating from New Mexico, Shields played professionally in Italy, Cyprus, Belgium, Portugal and Australia, as well as in the United States. He later returned to the state of New Mexico as the coach of the Gallup Talons.

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

's Gallup Talons. Since the end of his playing and coaching career, Shields has pursued a career in law enforcement, serving since 2010 as a criminal investigator in the District Attorney's office in

Dallas County, Texas Dallas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,613,539, and was estimated to be 2,656,028 in 2024, making it the List of counties in Texas, second-most populo ...

.Clayton Shields biography

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External links

* 1976 births Living people American Basketball Association (2000–present) coaches American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Portugal American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball players from Texas New Mexico Lobos men's basketball players Small forwards Sportspeople from Baytown, Texas {{1970s-US-basketball-bio-stub