Adonis Jordan

Adonis Adelecino Jordan (born August 21, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player. An All-Big Eight guard who played collegiately at the University of Kansas, Jordan was the starting point guard during the school's 1991 and 1993 Final Four appearances. Together with shooting guard teammate Rex Walters, the two established Kansas as having one of the top backcourts in the NCAA during the 1992–93 season. He was later drafted in the 1993 NBA draft but only appeared in only 10 career games in the league (six with the Denver Nuggets during the 1993–94 season and four with the Milwaukee Bucks during the lockout-shortened 1999 NBA season). He spent the bulk of his professional career playing overseas with various basketball clubs.

Early life Adonis Jordan was born as the fourth son to Josephine Jordan in Brooklyn, New York. His mother named her son after the Greek mythological character Adonis, a handsome young man who was fabled to be the love interest of the goddess Aphrodite. She worked as a secretary for an insurance company while her son spent his time playing pick-up street basketball on Brooklyn blacktop courts. He transferred to Cleveland High School in Reseda and joined future NBA veteran Lucious Harris as stars of the school's varsity basketball team. The New York native was a big factor on the Cleveland High Cavaliers' squad, playing big roles on offense (averaging 13.8 points a game) and defense (averaging 5.9 steals per game) during the 1987–88 season. At the start of his senior year, Jordan was considered by some to be one of the state's top point guards and was named among the nation's 50 top-rated high school seniors by basketball scout Bob Gibbons. He completed his final high school season averaging 24.3 points and 13.4 assists per game,

College career While at Cleveland High, Jordan was heavily recruited by collegiate basketball programs, including the University of Kansas. At the time, Kansas was suffering from NCAA sanctions that stemmed from recruiting violations under former coach Larry Brown. Though the scandal dissuaded other potential high school prospects from attending Kansas, Together they helped lead Kansas to a surprising record of 30–5 under second-year coach Roy Williams. With Pritchard's graduation, Jordan became the starting point guard for the 1990–91 season, leading the 27–8 Kansas Jayhawks to the Final Four during his sophomore year. Jordan averaged 12.5 points and recorded 151 assists that season while the team managed three upset victories in the 1991 NCAA Tournament against Indiana (Sweet Sixteen), the Southeast Regional number one seed Arkansas (Elite Eight) and Eastern Regional number one seed North Carolina (National Semifinals) before finishing as National Runner-up to Duke in the National Championship game.

I'll tell you why I chose Kansas...t was more of a family-type thing there than a business...In Kansas, the people there welcomed me with open arms. Even now, we go to the coach's house, watch TV, his wife cooks dinner. Some teams, once practice is over, everybody goes their own way. At Kansas we do things as a team. — Adonis Jordan Jordan's legacy with Kansas is also recognized in holding the Jayhawks' number six spot for most assists in the school's history He appeared in six games with Denver before being waived again but finished the season in the CBA with the Rochester Renegades and the Sioux Falls Skyforce. After playing one season in Israel, Jordan headed to Venezuela where he joined the Cocodrilos de Caracas of the Liga Profesional de Baloncesto. With five years of overseas experience, the globetrotter returned to the States and signed two 10-day contracts with the Milwaukee Bucks in early 1999. He donned a Bucks uniform in four games before ultimately being released in March. In 2010, Jordan returned to basketball with the Chelsea Gulls of the Big V, a Victorian basketball league. Later that year, he became a coach with the Nunawading Spectres.

Personal life Jordan appeared in the 1994 basketball film, Blue Chips as the starting point guard for a college team called Coast. After retiring from basketball, Jordan accepted an offer to coach the Topeka Tornado of the short-lived semi-pro All-American Professional Basketball League in 2005. Street & Smith's All-American Honorable Mention (1988) U.S. Olympic Festival: Men's Basketball West Team (1989) World University Games: United States Men's Basketball (1991) AP All-Big Eight Second Team (1990–91) AP All-Big Eight First Team (1991–92) 1998 KBL All Star