Ronald Henry Lee (born November 2, 1952) 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 who played six seasons in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). 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 the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

, and epitomized the "Kamikaze Kids" under coach Dick Harter with his all-out, fearless hustle and relentless desire to win. Born in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Lee played four seasons for the Ducks between 1972 and 1976. The

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

made him the tenth selection in the NBA draft in 1976. Despite not playing football in high school and college, the NFL's

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

also made him a 12th round selection in the

1976 NFL draft The 1976 NFL draft was an annual player selection meeting held April 8–9, 1976, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The draft lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks making the first two ...

. In the NBA, Lee was named to the 1977

NBA All-Rookie Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for play ...

and led the NBA in steals the following season. Lee is still the all-time leading scorer for the University of Oregon with 2,085 points in his four seasons of play. He ranks second in career assists with 572, first in field goals (838), and fifth in

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

s made (409). He was first-team All-Pac-8 in all four seasons with the Ducks, and made numerous All-American lists during his final three seasons. Lee was inducted into the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

in 1998. After ending his NBA career, Lee played for 3 years in Italy.

Personal life

Ron is younger brother of Russ Lee, former All-American basketball player at

Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...

and sixth overall pick in the 1972 NBA draft. Ron has another brother who played basketball at Marshall named Eugene. A third brother, Gerald Lee Sr., played at Dowling College and then professionally in Finland (all-time leading scorer in Finland pro basketball). His nephew is the Finnish international player Gerald Lee.ODU sports
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Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 82 , , , , 22.5 , , .441 , , , , .676 , , 3.6 , , 3.2 , , 1.9 , , .4 , , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 82 , , , , 23.5 , , .439 , , , , .746 , , 3.1 , , 3.7 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 2.7* , , .2 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 43 , , , , 22.0 , , .452 , , , , .712 , , 2.6 , , 3.1 , , 1.6 , , .1 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 17 , , , , 23.4 , , .363 , , , , .649 , , 3.2 , , 4.3 , , 2.2 , , .1 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, 30 , , , , 12.1 , , .319 , , .000 , , .529 , , 1.1 , , 2.2 , , .5 , , .1 , , 2.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, 31 , , , , 25.9 , , .393 , , .393 , , .660 , , 2.9 , , 5.6 , , 2.7 , , .4 , , 7.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , , , 22.3 , , .350 , , .154 , , .724 , , 2.7 , , 4.4 , , 2.0 , , .4 , , 4.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 7 , , 18.1 , , .358 , , .305 , , .706 , , 1.9 , , 3.9 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 3.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 448 , , 7 , , 21.4 , , .416 , , .321 , , .705 , , 2.7 , , 3.8 , , 1.9 , , .3 , , 7.3

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !FT% !RPG !APG !SPG !BPG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 2 , , 20.5 , , .313 , , 1.000 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 6.0

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Ron 1952 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen Alviks BK players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Sweden American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Boston Detroit Pistons players New Orleans Jazz players Oregon Ducks men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Phoenix Suns draft picks Phoenix Suns players Point guards Utah Stars draft picks Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro players