Alonzo Mourning
Teams
Charlotte Hornets - 1992-95
Miami Heat - 1995-02, 2005-08
New Jersey Nets - 2003-04
Playoffs
Appearances - 11 (1993,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2005,2006,2007)
Conference Finals - 3 (1997,2005,2006)
NBA Finals - 1 (2006)
Championships - 1 (2006)
Awards and Honors
All-NBA First Team - 1 (1999,2000)
All-NBA Second Team - 1 (1993,1999,2000)
Defensive Player of the Year - 2 (1999,2000)
Hall of Fame - 2014
*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)
All-Time Ranks
Blocks Per Game - #6
Total Blocks - #12
Field Goal Percentage - #56
League Leads
Blocks Per Game (#1-1999,2000, #3-2002,2006, #4-1993,1994,1997, #5-1995,1996)
Total Blocks (#1-1999,2000, #4-1993,1997, #5-1995,2002)
Field Goal Percentage (#3-1998,2000, #4-1999)
Alonzo Mourning was a 3-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year at Georgetown, only losing the award to teammate Dikembe Mutombo as a junior, and he averaged 5 blocks per game in both his freshman and senior seasons, which led to him being drafted #2 overall by the Charlotte Hornets in 1992, just after Shaquille O'Neal.
Mourning was already among the best players in the league as a rookie. He averaged 21 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per game, which was #4 in the league. In most seasons, he would have easily won the Rookie of the Year, but Shaq was also a rookie, and he was even better. Still, Mourning and Larry Johnson led the Hornets to the second round of the playoffs.
He played 2 more years with the Hornets, but the team wasn't able to see any more postseason success, and the relationship between Johnson and Mourning soured, leading to Mourning being traded in 1995 to the Miami Heat, where he would really make his mark. He averaged a career-high 23.2 points per game in his first year in Miami, but the team was swept in the first round by the record-setting 72-win Bulls team.
The following year, Mourning, along with Tim Hardaway, led the Heat to 61 wins, a franchise record at the time, and they also led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they again ran into the Bulls and fell in 5 games.
After missing the beginning of the next season due to knee surgery, Mourning slowly worked his way back to full strength, and he really hit his stride in the next two seasons, when he led the league in blocked shots twice in a row, averaging 3.9 and 3.7 per game, and was given the Defensive Player of the Year award both times as a result. He also averaged over 20 points and 9 rebounds per game in those seasons, showing that he was a star on both ends of the court.
Right after that season is when his health problems started. He missed most of the next season battling kidney disease, then returned for one more full season with Miami, but he was obviously not at the same level he had been at before. He missed his entire final season with the Heat for the same reason, then signed as a free agent with the New Jersey Nets in the offseason.
His time with the Nets did not go well. After just 12 games, he retired from the league because of his ongoing kidney issues, but after he was able to get a kidney transplant from his cousin, he began training and was able to make a comeback the next season. The Nets still didn't give him much of a role, and after making public complaints, he was traded to the Raptors, who immediately cut him due to his health issues.
He was able to return to the Heat late in the season on a smaller contract, and served as Shaq's backup for the remainder of his career, while also starting any time that Shaq was out, which was often. In 2006, while playing only 20 minutes per game, he was able to finish #3 in the league in blocks per game again, and even blocked 5 shots in the Heat's championship-clinching Game 6 against Dallas that year.
Mourning averaged at least 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game in each of his first 8 seasons, and was just coming off of his best year when his health betrayed him. There's no telling how great he could have been, but his great early seasons, combined with his second career as a solid role player, make him one of the greatest to ever play the game.
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