Priest Lauderdale

Priest Lauderdale, Sofia, Bulgaria, 30 May 2011
Personal information
Born	(1973-08-31) August 31, 1973 (age 50) Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American / Bulgarian
Listed height	7 ft 4 in (2.24 m)
Listed weight	330 lb (150 kg)
Career information
High school	Carver (Chicago, Illinois)
College	Central State (1993–1994)
NBA draft	1996: 1st round, 28th overall pick
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Playing career	1995–2016
Position	Center
Number	15, 30
Career history
1995–1996	Peristeri
1996–1997	Atlanta Hawks
1997–1998	Denver Nuggets
2000	Grand Rapids Hoops
2000	Fort Wayne Fury
2001	Connecticut Pride
2001	Gaiteros del Zulia
2002	Apollon Limassol
2002–2005	Lukoil Academic
2005–2006	Al-Ittihad Jeddah
2006	Saba Mehr Kazvin
2007	Al-Ittihad Jeddah
2007	Al Nasr
2008	Al-Hilal
2008	Shandong Lions
2008–2009	Mahram Tehran
2009–2010	Saba Mehr Qazvin
2010	Duhok
2010	Chernomorets
2011	Levski Sofia
2011	Bucaneros de La Guaira
2011	Chabeb-Zahle
2014–2016	Oxford City Hoops
Career highlights and awards
Greek League All-Star (1996 I) 3× Bulgarian League champion (2003–2005) 2× Bulgarian Cup winner (2003, 2004)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Priest Lauderdale (born August 31, 1973) is an American-Bulgarian ^{[1] [2]} former professional basketball player.

College career

Lauderdale attended high school at Carver Military Academy, in Chicago, Illinois. After high school, Lauderdale played college basketball at Central State University, in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he played with the Central State Marauders (1993–1994). Lauderdale also attended Kaskaskia College, in Centralia, Illinois, but he did not play competitive basketball while he was there.

Professional career

After college, Lauderdale, a 7'4" (2.24 m) tall, 330 lbs. (150 kgs), center, played professionally in the Greek Basket League. He played with Peristeri Athens, during the 1995–96 season. He also played in the Greek League All-Star Game that season.

Lauderdale was selected in the first round, with the 28th overall pick of the 1996 NBA draft, by the Atlanta Hawks. Lauderdale saw action in 35 NBA regular season games played with the Atlanta Hawks, in the 1996–97 season. He averaged 3.2 points, as well as 1.2 rebounds per contest, and he also played in three playoff games for Atlanta that season. He concluded his brief NBA career with the Denver Nuggets, in the 1997–98 season, in which he averaged 3.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, in 39 games played for the team. ^[3] Lauderdale also played with the Fort Wayne Fury, in the Continental Basketball Association, and with the Connecticut Pride, in the International Basketball League, during the 2000–01 season. ^[4]

Lauderdale played professionally with the Bulgarian Basketball League club Lukoil Academic, from 2002 to 2005. While he was a member of the club, he received Bulgarian citizenship. ^{[5] [6]}

During his pro club career, Lauderdale also played in numerous other countries besides Greece and Bulgaria, including: Venezuela, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, China, Iraq, Lebanon, and the United Kingdom.

Coaching career

Lauderdale has worked as a basketball coach at youth camps in Germany. ^[7]

See also

• List of tallest players in National Basketball Association history

References

External links

• NBA.com Player Profile
• EuroCup Profile
• FIBA Europe Profile
• College & NBA Stats @ Databasebasketball.com
• Basketball-Reference.com File
• Eurobasket.com Profile
• Coach Priest Lauderdale