Tree Rollins

Wayne Monte "Tree" Rollins (born June 16, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player who played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, and Orlando Magic.

Tree Rollins

Rollins in 2012
Personal information
Born	(1955-06-16) June 16, 1955 (age 69) Winter Haven, Florida, U.S.
Listed height	7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school	Crisp County (Cordele, Georgia)
College	Clemson (1973–1977)
NBA draft	1977: 1st round, 14th overall pick
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Playing career	1977–1995
Position	Center
Number	30, 15
Coaching career	1993–2015
Career history
As player:
1977–1988	Atlanta Hawks
1988–1990	Cleveland Cavaliers
1990–1991	Detroit Pistons
1991–1993	Houston Rockets
1994–1995	Orlando Magic
As coach:
1993–1999	Orlando Magic (assistant)
1999–2000	Washington Wizards (assistant)
2000–2002	Indiana Pacers (assistant)
2002–2003	Greenville Groove
2006–2007	Washington Mystics (assistant)
2007–2008	Washington Mystics
2013–2015	Chicago Sky (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Defensive First Team (1984) NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1983) NBA blocks leader (1983) Third-team All-American – AP (1977) 3× Second-team All-ACC (1975–1977) No. 30 retired by Clemson Tigers
Career NBA statistics
Points	6,249 (5.4 ppg)
Rebounds	6,750 (5.8 rpg)
Blocks	2,542 (2.2 bpg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Representing  United States Men's basketball Pan American Games 1975 Mexico City Team competition

Career

Rollins at Clemson.

The 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m), 275 pounds (125 kg) Clemson University graduate played center, and gained high esteem for his defense, particularly his rebounding and shot-blocking ability. On February 21, 1979, while playing for the Atlanta Hawks, Rollins blocked a career high 12 shots in a 106-83 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.^[1] In all, he finished in the top three in blocked shots six times, including leading the league during the 1982–83 NBA season, during which he would finish second in NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award voting.^[2] At the time of his retirement in 1995, he was fourth all-time in career blocked shots, behind only Hakeem Olajuwon, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mark Eaton, with a total of 2,542. He currently holds the ninth highest total of career blocked shots, having been passed on the list by Dikembe Mutombo, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Tim Duncan, and Shaquille O'Neal. During his playing career, Rollins was given the nickname "The Intimidator".^[3]

In 1983, as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, playing in Game 3 of the first round, he got into a fight with Danny Ainge of the Boston Celtics. In retaliation for allegedly being called a "sissy", Rollins elbowed Ainge in the face. Ainge subsequently tackled Rollins to the ground and the two began to wrestle. Rollins then bit Ainge's middle finger so badly that it required a couple of stitches. After the fight, Ainge was ejected and Rollins was not. However, the Celtics went on to win the series 2–1.^[4][5][6] The incident inspired opposing fans to occasionally hold up signs referring to the incident with sayings like "If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em" during some of his subsequent games.

In the late 1980s, still with the Hawks, Rollins was asked how he felt about the team playing an exhibition game in the Soviet Union. Rollins replied that he had already been to the Soviet Union, "and I don't need to go back."^[7]

Rollins was a player-coach with the Orlando Magic, serving as an assistant coach from 1993 to 1999 and backup center during the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons.^[8] He was an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers and the second (and last) coach of the now-defunct Greenville Groove of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL).^[9] He went 22-28 while the Groove dissolved after the season ended.

Rollins joined the WNBA's Washington Mystics in 2006 as an assistant coach. On June 1, 2007, he was named interim head coach following Richie Adubato's resignation early in the season.^[3] Rollins led the Mystics to a 17–14 record.^[3] On July 19, 2008, following lopsided losses to the New York Liberty and Detroit Shock, which put the Mystics at 8–14 on the season and 2.5 games out of playoff position, he was relieved of his duties. The Mystics' aggregate record under Rollins over the two seasons was 25–28, second best in Mystics history. He was replaced on an interim basis by one of his assistants, Jessie Kenlaw.^[10] In 2013, Rollins became an assistant coach with the WNBA's Chicago Sky.^[11]

One small distinction for Rollins was that he was the last player to wear canvas Converse All Stars (leather ones were worn in 1982 by Micheal Ray Richardson) in the NBA when in the 1979–80 season he laced up modified Chuck Taylors which had the Circle Star patch removed on the inside ankle. Instead these had star chevrons sewed to the sides of the canvas similar to the Converse All Star II that had been sold earlier.^[12]

Achievements

• First athlete in any sport at Clemson to have jersey number retired
• Only Clemson basketball player to average double-double in four straight seasons
• NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 1982–83 season^[13]
• NBA All-Defensive First Team, 1983–84 season^[13]

NBA career statistics

Legend

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
*	Led the league

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1977–78	Atlanta	80	—	22.4	.487	—	.703	6.9	1.0	.7	2.7	7.6
1978–79	Atlanta	81	—	23.5	.535	—	.631	7.3	.6	.6	3.1	8.4
1979–80	Atlanta	82	—	25.9	.558	—	.714	9.4	.9	.7	3.0	8.9
1980–81	Atlanta	40	—	26.1	.552	.000	.807	7.2	.9	.7	2.9	7.0
1981–82	Atlanta	79	39	25.5	.584	—	.612	7.7	.7	.4	2.8	6.1
1982–83	Atlanta	80	80	30.9	.510	.000	.726	9.3	.9	.6	4.3*	7.8
1983–84	Atlanta	77	76	30.5	.518	—	.621	7.7	.8	.5	3.6	8.6
1984–85	Atlanta	70	60	25.0	.549	—	.720	6.3	.7	.5	2.4	6.3
1985–86	Atlanta	74	61	24.1	.499	.000	.767	6.2	.6	.5	2.3	5.6
1986–87	Atlanta	75	58	23.5	.546	—	.724	6.5	.3	.6	1.9	5.4
1987–88	Atlanta	76	59	23.2	.512	—	.875	6.0	.3	.4	1.7	4.4
1988–89	Cleveland	60	2	9.7	.449	.000	.632	2.3	.3	.2	.6	2.3
1989–90	Cleveland	48	19	14.0	.456	.000	.688	3.2	.5	.3	1.1	2.6
1990–91	Detroit	37	0	5.5	.424	—	.571	1.1	.1	.1	.5	1.0
1991–92	Houston	59	5	11.8	.535	—	.867	2.9	.3	.2	1.1	2.0
1992–93	Houston	42	0	5.9	.268	.000	.750	1.4	.2	.1	.4	.7
1993–94	Orlando	45	1	8.5	.547	—	.600	2.1	.2	.2	.8	1.7
1994–95	Orlando	51	3	9.4	.476	—	.677	1.9	.2	.1	.7	1.2
Career		1,156	463	20.8	.522	.000	.700	5.8	.6	.4	2.2	5.4

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1978	Atlanta	2	—	25.5	.583	—	.250	4.5	.5	.5	2.0	8.0
1979	Atlanta	9	—	23.6	.412	—	.692	7.9	.6	.3	2.7	5.7
1980	Atlanta	5	—	26.8	.581	—	.600	7.6	.6	.4	2.8	8.4
1982	Atlanta	2	—	32.5	.333	—	.750	4.0	1.0	.0	3.0	3.5
1983	Atlanta	3	—	39.3	.481	—	.333	10.0	1.0	.3	3.3	9.7
1984	Atlanta	5	—	30.4	.400	—	.625	6.8	.2	.4	2.0	5.0
1986	Atlanta	9	9	27.6	.553	—	.636	8.7	.3	.2	1.7	6.6
1987	Atlanta	9	9	24.6	.536	—	.714	5.9	.3	.3	1.8	4.4
1988	Atlanta	12	12	27.8	.556	—	.867	5.9	.5	.8	1.6	4.4
1989	Cleveland	5	0	14.8	.750	—	.600	3.2	.2	.6	1.4	3.0
1990	Cleveland	3	0	12.7	.333	—	.750	2.7	.3	.7	.3	2.7
1991	Detroit	6	0	5.3	1.000	—	—	.5	.0	.2	.2	.7
1993	Houston	6	0	2.7	.000	.000	—	.7	.0	.3	.0	.0
1994	Orlando	3	0	9.7	.400	—	—	1.0	.0	.3	.3	1.3
1995	Orlando	14	0	5.8	.600	—	.250	.4	.0	.0	.4	.5
Career		93	30	19.4	.505	.000	.624	4.6	.3	.4	1.4	3.9

See also

• List of NBA career blocks leaders
• List of NBA career personal fouls leaders
• List of NBA single-game blocks leaders

References

1. "Rollins Career High 12 Blocks Against Trail Blazers". Statmuse.
2. "1982-83 NBA Awards Voting". Basketball Reference.
3. "Strong Roots Make Tree Rollins Excited About the Mystics in 2008". WNBA.com. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
4. Diaz, Angel (April 21, 2017). "The Greatest Brawls in NBA Playoffs History". Complex. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
5. Watanabe, Ben (April 24, 2012). "'Tree Bites Man' Entered Basketball Lexicon 29 Years Ago Tuesday When Tree Rollins Bit Danny Ainge". NESN.com. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
6. Rosenberg, I.J. (April 15, 2016). "Rollins remembers biting Danny Ainge's finger". AJC.com. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
7. "Washburn says no to Soviet jaunt". news.google.com. Wilmington Morning Star. April 15, 1988. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
8. Rollins signs on for the season, web: The Naples Daily News, 1994, retrieved March 13, 2023
9. "Tree Rollins Named Greenville Head Coach". NBA.com. July 11, 2002. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
10. "Mystics' assistant Kenlaw takes over as coach for fired Rollins". ESPN.com. July 19, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
11. Hersh, Philip (April 30, 2013). "Tree Rollins named Sky assistant". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
12. Bengtson, Russ (May 28, 2013). "50 Things You Didn't Know About Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars". Complex. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
13. "NBA Postseason Awards - All-Defensive Teams". NBA.com. Retrieved May 16, 2019.

External links

• Coach profile @ NBA.com
• Rollins replaced as Mystics Head coach by Jessie Kenlaw