5. Stacey Augmon
1991 NBA Draft Round 1, Pick 9
Small forward; 6’8″, 213 lbs, UNLV
One of the key players for the 1990 NCAA Champion University of Nevada Las Vegas Runnin’ Rebels, the “Plastic Man” went on to have quite an impact for the Atlanta Hawks. He played 5 seasons for the team, starting in 355 of a possible 390 games. He was named to the all rookie first team after averaging 13.1 points per game.
Augmon was a key cog for the Hawks during a time when they were playing some outstanding basketball. During the 93- 94 season he posted rock solid averages of 14.8 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game helping the Hawks to a 57- 25 record and the top seed in the East. You may remember that was Danny Manning‘s first season with the Hawks and they lost in the second round of the playoffs.
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Stacy Augmon was an exciting player to watch throwing down an array of windmill and tomahawk jams to finish fast breaks. As a south paw, anytime he squared up for a midrange jumper, it was a thing of beauty. As he would even play a significant portion of his minutes as a shooting guard, he never did establish himself as a 3 point shooter, only making a total of 10 as a Hawk. He really was a great defender though, using his long wingspan and uncanny quickness to frustrate even the most talented of his opponent’s.
After leaving the Hawks in free agency to join the Detroit Pistons, Augmon saw a massive decrease in production. He did go on to contribute as an NBA player for an additional 10 years, but he would never put up a double digit scoring season again upon his departure from the Hawks. He did his best work in Atlanta, scoring over 7,000 points, shooting 48 percent, grabbing 1773 rebounds, dishing 892 assists, swiping 570 steals and swatting away 168 blocks.
Augmon is still married to his beautiful wife, of which they have seven children. He had a good career as a professional and is glorified among Hawk fans. He has spent the last 9 years in the coaching ranks, first as an assistant for the Denver Nuggets from 2007-2011, and most recently as an assistant coach for his alma mater, UNLV, from 2011- 2016.
Next: No. 4