Andrew Gaze
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Andrew Gaze (born July 24 1965 in Melbourne, Australia) is Australia's best known basketball player, and possibly its best ever.
Son of Australian basketball stalwart Lindsay Gaze, Andrew played in the NBL at age 18, before playing a season of U.S. college basketball at Seton Hall, where he led his team to the 1989 NCAA finals, losing in overtime to Michigan. He trialled with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics, but was not given a contract.
He returned to Australia and continued a stellar career in the NBL, where his incredible shooting skills saw him the top scorer in the league for a total of 14 seasons. A poor athlete, Gaze combined a great three-point shot with an equally good pass. Playing under Lindsay at the Melbourne Tigers, Gaze led the team to two titles and were perpetual finalists.
Gaze also excelled at the international arena, playing in a total of five Olympic Games and leading them to a best performance of fourth in 1996. He was selected as flagbearer for the Australian team at the opening ceremony at the Sydney 2000 games. He is the scoring record holder in Olympic competition, and second-highest scorer of all time in World Championship play.
Gaze had another short stint in the NBA in 1998-99 with the San Antonio Spurs, but spent most of his time sitting on the bench and was injured for the latter part of the season. The Spurs won, and thus he received an NBA championship ring, but he played little part in obtaining it. He reportedly did not enjoy his time at San Antonio, and after it stated that he had no interest in trying out again for an NBA spot.
Whilst Gaze never had a steady NBA career, unlike Chicago Bulls centre Luc Longley, notwithstanding that he is still regarded by many Australians as their best-ever male basketballer (Lauren Jackson is arguably the best female player in the world). It is widely believed that he would have been a solid contributor in the NBA had he played there at his peak.
After the Sydney Olympics, Gaze retired from international competition, but continued to play in the NBL. On May 12, 2005, he announced his retirement after 20 years as a professional basketballer and 612 games in the NBL.
Andrew is married to Melinda. They have four children.
External References
- NineMSN Story on retirement (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=28178/)