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John Long (basketball player)

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John Long
Long at the dedication of Dick Vitale Court at the University of Detroit Mercy's Calihan Hall in 2011.
Personal information
Born (1956-08-28) August 28, 1956 (age 68)
Romulus, Michigan
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High schoolRomulus (Romulus, Michigan)
CollegeDetroit Mercy (1974–1978)
NBA draft1978: 2nd round, 29th overall pick
Selected by the Detroit Pistons
Playing career1978–1997
PositionShooting guard / small forward
Number25, 34
Career history
1978–1986Detroit Pistons
1986–1989Indiana Pacers
1989Detroit Pistons
1990Atlanta Hawks
1990–1991Tours Joué Basket
1991Detroit Pistons
1994Sioux Falls Skyforce
1996–1997Toronto Raptors
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points12,131 (13.6 ppg)
Rebounds2,492 (2.8 rpg)
Steals912 (1.0 spg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

John Eddie Long (born August 28, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player.

Amateur career

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Long played high school basketball at Romulus High School, and signed to play for Dick Vitale at the University of Detroit. Long established himself quickly with a Detroit program that would produce an unprecedented run during his time with the Titans (1974–1978). Vitale added future NBA players such as Terry Duerod, Terry Tyler and Dennis Boyd and built a dominating independent program at the Jesuit university. Long played shooting guard for the team, averaging 23.3 ppg on a .525 shooting percentage as a senior.

UD advanced to the 1977 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament in his junior year, defeating Middle Tennessee in the first round before losing to Michigan in the Sweet 16 86–81 to end a stellar season, finishing #12 in the polls.[1]

The team was left out of the NCAA in Longs's senior year, 1977–78, playing in the 1978 NIT, despite a 25–4 record and a #18 ranking.[2][3][4] In four seasons at Detroit, Long scored 2,167 points, the first Titan to score more than 2000 points, and was inducted into the Detroit Mercy Titans Hall of Fame in 1993.[5]

Professional career

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After starring at the University of Detroit, the shooting guard was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the second round of the 1978 NBA draft. The move was largely influenced by Pistons Head Coach Dick Vitale, who coached Long at UD before going to the Pistons in 1978. He played eight seasons for the Pistons, and averaged a career-high 21.9 points per game in 1981–82. Long was the original backcourt partner to point guard Isiah Thomas before Joe Dumars was drafted. During his time with the Pistons, Long would also play alongside University of Detroit teammates Duerod, Boyd and Tyler. On December 13, 1983, Long scored 41 points, recorded eight assists, and grabbed six rebounds during a 186–184 triple overtime win over the Denver Nuggets.[6]

Long left Detroit to play for the Indiana Pacers in 1986, where he paired with Reggie Miller, and then returned to the Pistons in the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons season, helping the team win the NBA championship. He spent the next season with the Atlanta Hawks and then returned to Detroit in 1990-91, played in France, the Continental Basketball Association, and even played with a touring team for Magic Johnson. Not done, Long signed with the Toronto Raptors in 1996, played with the Raptors for one season, and then retired in 1997 with 12,131 career points. At the time, the 41-year-old Long was the second oldest player in the NBA behind Robert Parish, who was 43.

Personal life

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Two of John Long's nephews, Terry Mills and Grant Long, also played in the NBA. The nephews were teammates in Detroit during the 1996–1997 season. All three men played two seasons or more for the Detroit Pistons.[7] Long has worked as a radio analyst for the Pistons.

Long was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.[8]

NBA career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 †  Won an NBA championship

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1978–79 Detroit 82 – 30.5 .469 – .826 3.2 1.5 1.2 0.2 16.1
1979–80 Detroit 69 – 34.3 .505 .083 .825 4.9 3.0 1.9 0.4 19.4
1980–81 Detroit 59 – 29.7 .461 .182 .870 3.3 1.8 1.6 0.4 17.7
1981–82 Detroit 69 66 32.0 .492 .133 .865 3.7 2.1 0.9 0.4 21.9
1982–83 Detroit 70 30 21.2 .451 .286 .760 2.6 1.5 0.6 0.2 10.5
1983–84 Detroit 82 82 30.7 .472 .200 .884 3.5 2.5 1.1 0.2 16.3
1984–85 Detroit 66 55 27.6 .487 .333 .862 2.9 2.0 1.1 0.2 14.7
1985–86 Detroit 62 30 19.0 .482 .188 .856 1.6 1.3 0.7 0.2 10.0
1986–87 Indiana 80 68 28.3 .419 .284 .890 2.7 3.2 1.2 0.1 15.2
1987–88 Indiana 81 81 25.0 .474 .442 .907 2.8 2.1 1.0 0.1 12.8
1988–89 Indiana 44 1 17.4 .401 .400 .937 1.5 1.5 0.7 0.0 7.3
1988–89† Detroit 24 0 6.3 .475 – .846 0.5 0.6 0.0 0.1 2.0
1989–90 Atlanta 48 19 21.5 .453 .345 .836 1.7 1.8 0.9 0.1 8.4
1990–91 Detroit 25 0 10.2 .412 .333 .960 1.3 0.7 0.4 0.1 3.8
1996–97 Toronto 32 0 11.6 .393 .353 .893 1.3 0.7 0.3 0.1 4.0
Career 893 432 25.4 .467 .322 .862 2.8 1.9 1.0 0.2 13.6

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1984 Detroit 5 – 29.8 .364 .000 1.000 2.2 0.4 1.4 0.0 11.0
1985 Detroit 9 9 28.3 .457 .250 1.000 1.9 1.4 1.6 0.2 12.4
1986 Detroit 1 0 13.0 .400 – 1.000 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 7.0
1987 Indiana 4 4 27.3 .308 .167 .846 1.5 2.3 1.5 0.0 11.0
1989† Detroit 4 0 2.0 1.000 – 1.000 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.3
Career 23 13 23.2 .399 .182 .959 1.5 1.0 1.2 0.1 9.7

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "1976-77 Detroit Titans Roster and Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  2. ^ "1977-78 Detroit Titans Roster and Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  3. ^ Budner, Marty. "U-D to recognize '76-'77 Sweet 16 men's basketball team". Observer and Eccentric Newspapers and Hometown Weeklies.
  4. ^ Paul, Tony. "Detroit Mercy to honor 'special' '76-77 team, Duerod". The Detroit News.
  5. ^ "John Long (2001) - Detroit Mercy Titans Hall of Fame".
  6. ^ "Legendary Moments in NBA History: Pistons win NBA's highest-scoring game". NBA.com.
  7. ^ "Basketball Relatives". www.apbr.org.
  8. ^ "John Long".
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