Walter Lee McCarty (born February 1, 1974) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
former
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
player who played for the NBA's
New York KnicksThe New York Knickerbockers, known familiarly as the Knicks, are a professional National Basketball Association team based in New York City, and the most valuable franchise in the league, valued at $608 million...
,
Boston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a professional basketball club based in Boston, Massachusetts, playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team is owned by Wycliffe Grousbeck and coached by Doc Rivers, with Danny Ainge as the President of...
,
Phoenix SunsThe Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Their home arena is the US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix at Copper Square.The Suns have been generally...
, and the
Los Angeles ClippersThe Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the National Basketball Association and are members of the NBA Western Conference's Pacific Division. The club's home games are played at the Staples Center, which they share with the Los...
.
Born in
Evansville, IndianaEvansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 121,582, and a metropolitan population of 342,815...
, the 6-foot, 10-inch (2.08 m) McCarty played
college basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III.-Division I:There are 347 schools in 32...
at the
University of KentuckyThe University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public, co-educational, university, and is also the state's land-grant university, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
where he was a part of the team that won the
NCAA championshipThe NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring featuring 65 college basketball teams. college basketball teams in the United States...
in 1996. In 1994, Walter's made three pointer completed Kentucky's 31 point comeback over LSU - the biggest 2nd half rally in NCAA history.
Walter Lee McCarty (born February 1, 1974) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
former
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
player who played for the NBA's
New York KnicksThe New York Knickerbockers, known familiarly as the Knicks, are a professional National Basketball Association team based in New York City, and the most valuable franchise in the league, valued at $608 million...
,
Boston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a professional basketball club based in Boston, Massachusetts, playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team is owned by Wycliffe Grousbeck and coached by Doc Rivers, with Danny Ainge as the President of...
,
Phoenix SunsThe Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Their home arena is the US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix at Copper Square.The Suns have been generally...
, and the
Los Angeles ClippersThe Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the National Basketball Association and are members of the NBA Western Conference's Pacific Division. The club's home games are played at the Staples Center, which they share with the Los...
.
Born in
Evansville, IndianaEvansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 121,582, and a metropolitan population of 342,815...
, the 6-foot, 10-inch (2.08 m) McCarty played
college basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III.-Division I:There are 347 schools in 32...
at the
University of KentuckyThe University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public, co-educational, university, and is also the state's land-grant university, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
where he was a part of the team that won the
NCAA championshipThe NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring featuring 65 college basketball teams. college basketball teams in the United States...
in 1996. In 1994, Walter's made three pointer completed Kentucky's 31 point comeback over LSU - the biggest 2nd half rally in NCAA history. He was selected by the Knicks with the 19th pick in the
1996 NBA DraftThe 1996 NBA Draft was the 54th draft in the National Basketball Association. It was held on June 26, 1996 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It is widely considered to be one of the deepest and most talented NBA drafts in history, with over one-third of the first round picks, as well as the undrafted...
.
McCarty played for the Knicks until October 1997, when he was traded to the Celtics. McCarty played in all 82 games that season, starting 64 of them. He also established career highs in virtually every category during this season. Over the next few years, he was one of Boston's top options off the bench, often making a key
defensiveIn many team sports, defense or defence is the action of preventing an opponent from scoring. The term may also refer to the tactics involved in defense, or a sub-team whose primary responsibility is defense...
play or three point shot. He became a fan favorite in Boston for his gutsy play, hustle, and penchant for making the big shot. He was also a favorite of former
Hall of FameThe Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honors exceptional basketball players, all-time great coaches, referees, executives, and other major contributors to the game.Named after basketball inventor Dr...
player and current announcer
Tommy HeinsohnThomas William "Tom" Heinsohn is a former professional basketball player, known for his time as a player on the Boston Celtics National Basketball Association team. He also coached the team from 1970 to 1978. He is the only person to have the distinction of being involved one way or another in...
, who often exclaimed "I love Walter!" after some of McCarty's plays.
In February 2005, McCarty was traded, along with an undisclosed amount of cash, to the Suns for a second round pick as a result of the Celtics' youth movement. Walter McCarty signed with the Clippers in the offseason of 2005.
In June 2007, McCarty accepted an assistant coach job at the
University of LouisvilleThe University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains...
under head men's basketball coach
Rick PitinoRick Pitino is an American basketball coach. Since 2001 he has been the head coach at the University of Louisville. He has also served as head coach at Boston University, Providence College and the University of Kentucky, leading that program to the NCAA championship in 1996...
, under whom he played at Kentucky and with the Celtics.
He appeared in the 1998 film
He Got GameHe Got Game is a 1998 sports-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee, and starring Denzel Washington and current Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen as a father and son trying to reconcile on the eve of the signing day for his son, the #1 prep player from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn,...
as the character "Mance". In 2003, McCarty released the CD "Moment for Love," an R&B/
soulSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
album to generally positive reviews. Walter sang the
National AnthemA national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
prior to All-Star Saturday Night on the eve of the
2006 NBA All-Star GameThe 2006 NBA All-Star Game was played on Sunday, February 19, 2006 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, home of the Houston Rockets. The game was the 55th annual All-Star game...
.
External links