Mike Helms (born December 29, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. He played

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 ...

for

Oakland University Oakland University (OU or Oakland) is a public university, public research university in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1957 through a donation of Matilda Dodge Wilson and husband ...

where he was named the Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year in 2002–03 and was a three-time first-team Mid-Continent honoree.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2004 NBA draft The 2004 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2004, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was broadcast live on ESPN at 7:00 pm ( EDT). In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur colle ...

, Helms had a short stint with Argentino de Junín of the

Liga Nacional de Básquet Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

before joining the

Michigan Mayhem The Michigan Mayhem were a minor league professional basketball team based in Muskegon, Michigan, that competed in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). In the CBA's 2004–2005 season, the Mayhem finished third in the league's Eastern Conf ...

of the CBA who selected him as the 18th pick in that year's CBA Draft. After scoring 15 points in his debut for Michigan on November 19, Helms suffered a long-term injury the following game on November 20 and was ruled out for a month and a half, only to be re-activated by the club on January 6, 2005. He played a further 16 games for Michigan to round out the season, before joining the Nebraska Cranes of the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

in May 2005. He managed just two games for Nebraska before leaving. Helms went on to sign with the

Hunter Pirates The Hunter Pirates are a defunct Australian professional men's basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). It was based in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales. Team history The franchise began as the Canberra Can ...

for the

2005–06 NBL season The 2005–06 NBL season was the 28th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 11 teams contested the league. Regular season The 2005–06 regular season took place over 23 rounds between 2 September 2005 to 5 February ...

. He had a great season as he earned All-Star honors and was third in the league for scoring with 21.9 points per game. After the license of the franchise was sold, he moved to the new

Singapore Slingers The Singapore Slingers are a Singaporean professional basketball team that last competed in the ASEAN Basketball League. The Slingers were known as the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers between 2009 and 2014, due to sponsorship ties with JobSt ...

for the 2006–07 season. Following the conclusion of the NBL season in February 2007, he signed with the

Gießen 46ers The GIESSEN 46ers (formerly GIESSEN 46ers) is a professional basketball club based in Gießen, Germany, that plays in the ProA. Their home arena is Sporthalle Gießen-Ost, with a capacity of 4,003 people. History The biggest achievements in clu ...

for the rest of the 2006–07

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

season. He returned to the Slingers for the 2007–08 season. He also has a daughter Miley Helms, his parents Les Helms (deceased) and Kathie Helms, his sister Robyn Helms, and his niece Lyndsay Helms In November 2008, Helms signed with

Ironi Ramat Gan Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan (, formerly Ironi Ramat Gan) is a professional basketball club based in Ramat Gan in the Tel Aviv District. The team currently plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. It plays ...

of Israel for the 2008–09 season. In April 2010, Helms signed with the

Southland Sharks The Southland Sharks are a New Zealand professional men's basketball team based in Invercargill. The Sharks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Stadium Southland. For sponsorship reasons, they are know ...

for the rest of the

2010 New Zealand NBL season The 2010 NBL season was the 29th season of the National Basketball League. Foundation member and nine-time NBL champions the Auckland Stars withdrew from the league in 2010, while the Otago Nuggets returned after a one-year absence and the So ...

. In October 2010, Helms joined Toros de Nuevo Laredo of the

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional The National Professional Basketball League ( or LNBP), officially known as the Liga Grupo Caliente, Caliente LNBP for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball sports league, league in Mexico. The league was founded in 2000 with 1 ...

but managed just 11 games after making his final appearance for the club on November 28, 2011. On October 1, 2012, Helms was selected with the fifth overall pick by the

Saint John Mill Rats The Saint John Riptide were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Saint John, New Brunswick, that had home games at Harbour Station. They were a member of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada) in the Atlantic Division ...

in 2012

NBL Canada The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada; ) was a Canadian professional men's minor league basketball organization. The NBL Canada was founded in 2011, when three existing Premier Basketball League teams joined with four new franch ...

draft.Summerside Storms 2012 NBL Canada Draft
/ref> He was later traded to the

Windsor Express The Windsor Express are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, competing in the Basketball Super League. The Express play their home games at the WFCU Centre. History On June 28, 2012, the NBL announced that ...

and went to average 17 points per game for the club in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

Eurobasket.com profileNBL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helms, Mike 1982 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American expatriate basketball people in New Zealand American men's basketball players Argentino de Junín basketball players Basketball players from Detroit Giessen 46ers players Hunter Pirates players Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Michigan Mayhem players Oakland Golden Grizzlies men's basketball players Southland Sharks players Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School alumni Toros de Nuevo Laredo players Windsor Express players Point guards