Maurice Rodney "Mardy" Collins (born August 4, 1984) is an American former professional

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 completed his

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

career at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

, and was drafted by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

with the 29th pick of the first round of the

2006 NBA draft The 2006 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2006, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. c ...

. Collins played for the Knicks for two seasons and then played for the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

from 2008 to 2010. Since 2011, Collins has played in various international leagues.

High school career

Collins attended Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, as did NBA players Aaron McKie and

Rasheed Wallace Rasheed Abdul Wallace (born September 17, 1974) is an American basketball coach and former professional player. A native of Philadelphia, Wallace played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels before declaring for the draft in 1995. ...

College career

Scouts were impressed by Collins' defense and team play. He totaled 89 steals for his 2005–06 season at

, primarily by stepping into passing lanes. He also averaged 16.9 points per game, 4.7 rebounds per game, and 4.0 assists per game.

Professional career

New York Knicks

In 52 games played during the 2006–2007 season, Collins averaged 4.5 points per game, 2.0 rebounds per game, and 1.6 assists per game. However, in the final ten games of the season, when he played a substantially higher number of minutes than previously in the season, he averaged 14.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.9 steals. On December 16, 2006, during the fourth quarter of a game between the

and

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

, Collins committed a hard foul against Nuggets guard J. R. Smith. The ensuing confrontation resulted in a brawl, after which all ten players on the floor at the time were ejected. Collins received a six-game suspension. He played a career-high 51 minutes on April 7, 2007, against the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

, scoring 19 points in addition to 12 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals.

Los Angeles Clippers

On November 21, 2008, Collins and

Zach Randolph Zachary McKenley Randolph (born July 16, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Z-Bo", the 2-time NBA All-Star played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans men's basketball, Michigan State Spartans bef ...

were traded to the

for Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley.

Los Angeles D-Fenders

Collins became a member of the

Los Angeles D-Fenders The South Bay Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the NBA G League. Founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the first ...

on December 28, 2011.

International career

On January 17, 2011, Collins signed a one-year contract with the

Turkish League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

team Bornova Belediye. In November 2012, he joined the Israeli team Maccabi Ashdod In May 2013, he signed with Guaros de Lara of the Venezuelan League. On August 26, 2013, he signed with Sutor Montegranaro of the Italian League. On January 1, 2014, he signed a contract with the then reigning back-to-back

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

champions,

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

of the Greek League, until the end of the season. Over 14

games, in which he played as a bench player, he averaged 2.1 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. On September 26, 2014, he signed a contract with the Polish team Turów Zgorzelec, following the departure of Christian Eyenga from the team. For the 2015–16 season, Collins signed with Strasbourg IG. On July 27, 2016, Collins signed with PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban, for the 2016–17 season. On August 17, 2017, he re-signed with Lokomotiv for one more season.

The Basketball Tournament (TBT)

In the summer of 2017, Collins competed in

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-invitation, single-elimination tournament, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States, with the stakes being a cash prize (the most recent tournament in The Basketball Tournam ...

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

for the City of Gods. In their first-round matchup, Collins registered 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the City of Gods' 88–86 loss to Gael Nation, a team composed of Iona College basketball alum. Collins also competed in TBT during 2015. That summer, Collins played one game for TYGTAL and totaled 18 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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, 46 , , 8 , , 13.8 , , .326 , , .250 , , .605 , , 1.6 , , 1.9 , , .5 , , .2 , , 3.2 , - , align="left" rowspan=2, , align="left" ,

, 9 , , 0 , , 8.3 , , .348 , , .000 , , .444 , , .9 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , .0 , , 2.2 , - , align="left" , L.A. Clippers , 39 , , 14 , , 20.9 , , .433 , , .464 , , .649 , , 2.5 , , 2.6 , , .7 , , .3 , , 5.9 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , L.A. Clippers , 43 , , 0 , , 10.9 , , .367 , , .235 , , .619 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .0 , , 2.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 189 , , 31 , , 14.7 , , .380 , , .299 , , .599 , , 1.8 , , 1.7 , , .6 , , .1 , , 3.9

EuroLeague

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, 14 , , 0 , , 8.5 , , .324 , , .333 , , .750 , , 1.6 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.1 , , 1.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", Turów , 8 , , 6 , , 30.1 , , .418 , , .231 , , .524 , , 4.4 , , 3.9 , , 1.9 , , .3 , , 12.4 , , 12.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 22 , , 6 , , 16.3 , , .393 , , .250 , , .560 , , 2.6 , , 2.1 , , .9 , , .1 , , 5.8 , , 5.7