Athletes - John Paxson

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	Athletes - John Paxson

John Paxson (born September 29 1960 in Dayton, Ohio) is a retired basketball player. He is currently the General Manager of the Chicago Bulls.

College

Paxson played during his college years at Notre Dame. In 1980-81, his sophomore year, Paxson led his team in assists with a career-high 138 that season. He earned his first All-America recognition as a junior in 1981-82, averaging 16.4 points and dishing out 99 assists. The following year, Paxson lead Notre Dame to a 19-10 record, averaging a career-high 17.7 ppg., tallying 112 assists en route to claiming his second All-America selection. He also helped guide the team to NCAA appearances in '80 and '81.

Paxson graduated from Notre Dame in 1983 with a degree in Business Administration and a 3.17 GPA. Bob Arnzen, Pat Garrity, and John Paxson are the only three basketball players in Notre Dame's history to earn Academic All-America accolades on more than one occasion.

He finished his four-year stint at Notre Dame with 1,366 points (19th in Notre Dame history), 411 assists (seventh), 133 steals (eight), 86 games started (13th), and .526 career field goal percentage (20th). He averaged 12.2 points per game.

NBA career

Paxson was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the 19th overall pick of the 1983 NBA Draft. In two seasons with the Spurs, he averaged 4.9 points per game and 2.9 assists. He then signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bulls, who teamed him in the backcourt with Michael Jordan. Paxson proved to be a valuable 3-point marksman and clutch shooter in the Bulls' first three championships.

Paxson is best known for his play during the 1993 NBA Finals. In Game 6 of those Finals, at the America West Arena in Phoenix, with the Bulls down by two and only three seconds left on the clock, Paxson sank a three point shot, giving the Bulls a 99-98 lead and their third consecutive world title.

In his NBA career, he started 369 games, and averaged 7.2 points and 3.6 assists per game.

Coaching

After retiring, Bulls coach Phil Jackson hired Paxson as an assistant coach for the 1995-96 season. The Bulls won the title that year fueled by Michael Jordan's return. He resigned shortly after the season to join Neil Funk on radio broadcasts. Paxson said "I knew full well the time commitment coaching takes. But after that year I missed my wife and kids so much. I realized that if I didn’t prioritize, I’d miss everything that they were doing."

When Jordan joined the Washington Wizards, he asked Paxson to consider the head coaching job, but he declined for the same reasons.

Management

In April 2003, Paxson left his broadcasting position to become Vice President of Basketball Relations for the Bulls after the retirement of longtime Bulls GM Jerry Krause. He was able to reshape the franchise with remarkable speed through the draft. Kirk Hinrich made the NBA All-Rookie Team in 2003-04, and the 2004-05 rookie class yielded four major contributors, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Chris Duhon and Andres Nocioni. After a long drought dating back to Jordan's departure, the Bulls returned to the playoffs in Paxson's second full season as GM.

Trivia

His father, Jim Paxson Senior, played for two years in the mid-1950s, for the Minneapolis Lakers and the Cincinnati Royals, and his brother Jim Paxson Junior
, formerly general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers, played 11 years with Portland and Boston.
In June 6, 2005, Paxson was inducted in the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame, along with other 5 celebrities.
Paxson and his wife, Carolyn, reside in Lake Bluff, Illinois. They are the parents of two sons, Ryan and Drew.
Current Bulls Guard Andres Nocioni currently wears John Paxson's number 5.

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