 VanDeWeghe in 2016 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1958-08-01)August 1, 1958 (age 66) Wiesbaden,West Germany |
| Nationality | American / Canadian |
| Listed height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |
| Listed weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Palisades (Los Angeles, California) |
| College | UCLA (1976–1980) |
| NBA draft | 1980: 1st round, 11th overall pick |
| Selected by theDallas Mavericks | |
| Playing career | 1980–1993 |
| Position | Small forward |
| Number | 55 |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1980–1984 | Denver Nuggets |
| 1984–1989 | Portland Trail Blazers |
| 1989–1992 | New York Knicks |
| 1992–1993 | Los Angeles Clippers |
| As coach: | |
| 1999–2001 | Dallas Mavericks (assistant) |
| 2009–2010 | New Jersey Nets |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 15,980 (19.7 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 2,785 (3.4 rpg) |
| Assists | 1,668 (2.1 apg) |
Stats at NBA.com  | |
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |
Ernest Maurice "Kiki"VanDeWeghe III (born August 1, 1958) is a German-born American-Canadian former professionalbasketball player, coach and executive who is an advisor for theNational Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he was a two-timeNBA All-Star.
VanDeWeghe was born inWiesbaden,West Germany, the son of former NBA playerErnie Vandeweghe andColleen Kay Hutchins, the winner of the 1952Miss America pageant.
VanDeWeghe moved back to the U.S. as a child and eventually wound up playingcollege basketball for theUCLA Bruins, where he earnedall-conference honors in the Pac-10 (now known as thePac-12). He led the Bruins to the 1980 NCAA championship game, where they would lose to Louisville. He became an excellent scorer and outside shooter in the NBA, averaging 20 points for seven consecutive seasons. He was particularly known for his use of thestepback, a move he was so proficient at that it was often referred to as the "Kiki Move" toward the end of his career.[1] VanDeWeghe's teams qualified for theNBA playoffs in 12 of his 13 seasons in the league, although none of his teams ever won theNBA championship. VanDeWeghe was later the general manager of theDenver Nuggets and theNew Jersey Nets, and a head coach of the Nets. He was the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations for eight years (2013–2021).
For the bulk of his career, VanDeWeghe spelled his surname "Vandeweghe" (with only the V capitalized), a spelling used by his parents before their deaths, and still used by his niece who has a prominenttennis career. In 2013, he announced he was changing the spelling of his name to "VanDeWeghe", in honor of his recently departed paternal grandfather and namesake.[2]
VanDeWeghe played four seasons at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, culminating in a senior season in which expectations for theBruins were lower than in previous seasons. The team was coming off a season in which they lost three starters,David Greenwood,Roy Hamilton, andBrad Holland to the NBA as first-round draft picks. Also, the Bruins had a new coach,Larry Brown, who was coaching a collegiate team for the first time. Replacing this talent were some mainly unknown freshman, namely "Rocket"Rod Foster,Michael Holton, andDarren Daye, along with sophomoreMike Sanders. VanDeWeghe andJames Wilkes were the lone seniors. The team was sluggish at the first, but gelled toward the end and finished the regular season 17–9. The Bruins, dubbed "Kiki and the Kids", were the 48th and final team selected to participate in the1979–80 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. With VanDeWeghe leading the way, the Bruins made it all the way to the final, upsetting #1DePaul andMark Aguirre on the way. In the final, the Bruins lost to theUniversity of Louisville led byDarrell Griffith.
VanDeWeghe was drafted 11th overall in the1980 NBA draft by theDallas Mavericks, but refused to play for Dallas and demanded a trade (for virtually the remainder of his career, he was subjected to boos whenever he played inDallas). He got his wish, and was traded to the Nuggets on December 3 of that same year. As a member of the Nuggets, VanDeWeghe was twice selected to the NBAWestern ConferenceAll-Star team, in 1983 and 1984. He was second in scoring in 1983, averaging 26.7 points, and 3rd in 1984 with a career-high 29.4 points.
During the 1983–84 Nuggets season, VanDeWeghe scored 50 or more points in two NBA record-setting games. The first, on December 13, 1983, in which he had a career-high 51 points, is also thehighest combined scoring game in NBA history, a 186–184 triple-overtime loss to theDetroit Pistons.[3] In the second, a 163–155 win over theSan Antonio Spurs on January 11, 1984 (at the time, the highest combined scoring NBAregulation game of all time), he had an even 50.[4]
In the summer of 1984, VanDeWeghe was traded to thePortland Trail Blazers in exchange forCalvin Natt,Wayne Cooper,Fat Lever, and two draft picks. He had several productive seasons in Portland, where he averaged nearly 25 points a game paired withClyde Drexler to form a dynamic scoring duo. In the1986 NBA Playoffs, VanDeWeghe averaged a postseason career high 28 points a game in a first round loss to his former team, the Nuggets.[5][6] On March 5, 1987, VanDeWeghe scored 48 points, his highest single game total as a Trail Blazer, in a 127–122 loss to theSeattle SuperSonics.[7] However, during the 1987–88 season, VanDeWeghe suffered a back injury and lost his starting job toJerome Kersey. He was traded the next year to theNew York Knicks (where his father played his entire career), with whom he played for several years. He then played half a season with theLos Angeles Clippers before retiring from the league after the 1992–93 season.
VanDeWeghe initially had a front-office role with theDallas Mavericks, where he was instrumental in the development ofDirk Nowitzki. During his time in Dallas, VanDeWeghe also briefly served as an assistant head coach. On August 9, 2001, VanDeWeghe was named to the Nuggets' general manager position and oversaw a return by the Nuggets to the NBA playoffs. Major moves by VanDeWeghe included the drafting ofCarmelo Anthony in 2003, the trade forMarcus Camby in 2002 and the hiring ofGeorge Karl as head coach in 2005. However, some other moves by VanDeWeghe backfired outright or failed to produce the desired returns, such as the drafting ofdraft bustNikoloz Tskitishvili in 2002 and thesign-and-trade deal with theNew Jersey Nets to acquireKenyon Martin at the end of the2003–04 season. Shortly following a first-round playoff elimination at the hands of the Clippers in the 2006 playoffs, the Nuggets announced that VanDeWeghe's contract would not be renewed.
He spent 2006–07 as an NBA analyst forESPN, appearing on the channel'sSportsCenter andNBA Shootaround programs, among others. However, on December 31, 2007, the Nets announced that VanDeWeghe would join the team as a special assistant to team president and general managerRod Thorn. VanDeWeghe replaced Ed Stefanski, who left the Nets to join thePhiladelphia 76ers earlier in the month. Stefanski replaced Billy King as the 76ers' general manager.
On December 1, 2009, VanDeWeghe agreed to assume duties as interim head coach of the Nets while continuing to be general manager of the team (although assistant coachTom Barrise served as head coach for their December 2 game). VanDeWeghe replacedLawrence Frank as head coach after the Nets started the 2009–10 season with 16 consecutive losses. VanDeWeghe hiredDel Harris as an assistant, who was to be his "virtual co-coach",[8] though he resigned midway through the season on February 2, 2010.[9] Harris resigned after he learned that a possible side deal that he had made with VanDeWeghe to become head coach had failed.[10]
After Nets ownership changed hands,Mikhail Prokhorov announced that VanDeWeghe would not return the following season.
VanDeWeghe joined the leadership team of the NBA in 2013, serving as the executive vice president of basketball operations for eight years through 2021, when he transitioned into an advisory role to both NBA commissionerAdam Silver and president of league operations Byron Spruell.[11][12]
VanDeWeghe is the nephew of NBA player and four-time All-StarMel Hutchins. He has a niece,Coco Vandeweghe, who is a former professional tennis player. VanDeWeghe and his wife Peggy have one son, Ernest Maurice Reece VanDeWeghe IV, born in 2002.
His nephew,Hugh VanDeWeghe, playsNCAA Division I basketball for theCalifornia Golden Bears.
| 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 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980–81 | Denver | 51 | – | 27.0 | .426 | .000 | .818 | 5.3 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 11.5 |
| 1981–82 | Denver | 82 | 78 | 33.8 | .560 | .077 | .857 | 5.6 | 3.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 21.5 |
| 1982–83 | Denver | 82 | 79 | 35.5 | .547 | .294 | .875 | 5.3 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 26.7 |
| 1983–84 | Denver | 78 | 71 | 35.1 | .558 | .367 | .852 | 4.8 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 29.4 |
| 1984–85 | Portland | 72 | 69 | 34.8 | .534 | .333 | .896 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 22.4 |
| 1985–86 | Portland | 79 | 76 | 35.3 | .540 | .125 | .869 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 24.8 |
| 1986–87 | Portland | 79 | 79 | 38.3 | .523 | .481* | .886 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 26.9 |
| 1987–88 | Portland | 37 | 7 | 28.1 | .508 | .379 | .878 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 20.2 |
| 1988–89 | Portland | 18 | 1 | 24.0 | .475 | .421 | .879 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 13.9 |
| 1988–89 | New York | 27 | 0 | 18.6 | .464 | .300 | .911 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 9.2 |
| 1989–90 | New York | 22 | 13 | 25.6 | .442 | .526 | .917 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 11.7 |
| 1990–91 | New York | 75 | 72 | 32.3 | .494 | .362 | .899 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 16.3 |
| 1991–92 | New York | 67 | 0 | 14.3 | .491 | .394 | .802 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 7.0 |
| 1992–93 | L.A. Clippers | 41 | 3 | 12.0 | .453 | .324 | .879 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 6.2 |
| Career | 810 | 548 | 30.3 | .525 | .368 | .872 | 3.4 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 19.7 | |
| All-Star | 2 | 0 | 20.0 | .588 | – | .500 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 10.5 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Denver | 3 | – | 36.3 | .581 | – | 1.000 | 6.0 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 22.7 |
| 1983 | Denver | 8 | – | 39.6 | .544 | .000 | .800 | 6.5 | 4.0 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 26.8 |
| 1984 | Denver | 5 | – | 36.0 | .510 | .400 | .964 | 4.6 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 25.4 |
| 1985 | Portland | 9 | 9 | 34.6 | .538 | .143 | .939 | 3.0 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 22.4 |
| 1986 | Portland | 4 | 4 | 37.3 | .580 | .000 | 1.000 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 28.0 |
| 1987 | Portland | 4 | 4 | 43.5 | .535 | .250 | .846 | 3.3 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 24.8 |
| 1988 | Portland | 4 | 0 | 18.0 | .275 | .000 | 1.000 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 7.8 |
| 1989 | New York | 9 | 0 | 17.7 | .510 | .375 | .952 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 8.1 |
| 1990 | New York | 10 | 10 | 23.6 | .419 | .462 | .800 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 7.6 |
| 1991 | New York | 3 | 3 | 33.0 | .406 | .600 | .880 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 17.0 |
| 1992 | New York | 8 | 0 | 9.4 | .542 | .800 | .857 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 4.5 |
| 1993 | L.A. Clippers | 1 | 0 | 9.0 | .333 | – | – | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 |
| Career | 68 | 30 | 27.8 | .510 | .345 | .907 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 16.1 | |
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 2009–10 | 64 | 12 | 52 | .188 | 5th inAtlantic | — | — | — | — | Missed playoffs |
| Career | 64 | 12 | 52 | .188 | — | — | — | — | |||
and Basketball Reference
