George Lynch (basketball)
George Lynch | |
|---|---|
| Born | George DeWitt Lynch III September 3, 1970 Roanoke, Virginia, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Professional basketball player, coach, studio analyst |
| Years active | 1993–2005 (player), 2006–present (coach and analyst) |
| Known for | NBA career, coaching at Clark Atlanta University, Charlotte Hornets studio analyst |
George DeWitt Lynch III (born September 3, 1970) is a retired American professional basketball athlete who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1993 through 2005.
Early life
Born prematurely by two months, Lynch spent more than a month in an incubator after birth. He grew up in Roanoke, Virginia and played basketball at Patrick Henry High under the guidance of coach Woody Deans, where he was part of the squad that won the 1988 Virginia State Championship. To improve his chances of college recruitment, he transferred to Flint Hill School, a prep institution near Washington, D.C., for his final year of high school.
College
Lynch completed four collegiate seasons at North Carolina, playing under coach Dean Smith, and was recognized for his defensive contributions. He posted averages of 12.5 points and close to eight rebounds per game, ranking second in UNC history for steals per game with 1.7.
During his sophomore campaign, Lynch helped his team advance to the NCAA Final Four. As captain in his senior year, he steered North Carolina to the 1993 NCAA championship and received All-Final Four Tournament accolades.
Professional career
Chosen as the 12th overall pick in the 1993 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers, Lynch was the final Laker to don jersey number 34 before being traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1996 to create salary cap space for Shaquille O'Neal. In 1999, he joined the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent.
Playing alongside teammates such as Theo Ratliff, Allen Iverson, and under coach Larry Brown, Lynch was instrumental in developing one of the NBA’s strongest defenses, which culminated in an appearance in the 2001 NBA Finals with Philadelphia.
After three seasons with the 76ers, Lynch was traded to the Charlotte Hornets in a multi-player exchange in 2001 and concluded his career following the 2004–05 season.
Regular season
|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 71 || 46 || 24.8 || .508 || .000 || .596 || 5.8 || 1.4 || 1.4 || .4 || 9.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 56 || 15 || 17.0 || .468 || .143 || .721 || 3.3 || 1.1 || .9 || .2 || 6.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 76 || 6 || 13.3 || .430 || .308 || .663 || 2.8 || .7 || .6 || .1 || 3.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Vancouver | 41 || 27 || 25.8 || .471 || .258 || .619 || 6.4 || 1.9 || 1.5 || .4 || 8.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Vancouver | style="background:#cfecec;"| 82* || 0 || 18.2 || .481 || .300 || .703 || 4.4 || 1.5 || .8 || .5 || 7.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 43 || 43 || 30.6 || .421 || .391 || .631 || 6.5 || 1.8 || 2.0 || .5||8.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia |75||75||32.2|| .461|| .417|| .617|| 7.8||1.8||1.6|| .5|| 9.6 |-
| style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Philadelphia | 82|| 80|| 32.3|| .445|| .263|| .719||7.2||1.7||1.2|| .4||8.4 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Charlotte |45||18||19.8|| .369|| .167|| .625||4.1||1.2|| .9|| .3||3.8 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | New Orleans |81||32||18.5|| .409|| .354|| .554||4.4||1.3|| .8|| .2||4.5 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | New Orleans |78||51||21.8|| .397|| .309|| .667||4.0||1.5|| .6|| .2||4.8 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | New Orleans |44||27||21.2|| .360|| .297|| .739||4.0|| 2.0|| .7|| .3||3.7
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career |774||420||22.8|| .446|| .306|| .652||5.0||1.4||1.1|| .3||6.6
|-
Playoff Performance
| Team | Games | Starts | Minutes per Game | Field Goal % | Three-Point % | Free Throw % | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L.A. Lakers | 10 | 0 | 13.6 | .469 | .200 | .650 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 4.4 |
| L.A. Lakers | 2 | 0 | 7.5 | .500 | .000 | — | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Philadelphia | 8 | 6 | 31.1 | .446 | .333 | .706 | 6.6 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 9.0 |
| Philadelphia | 10 | 10 | 29.3 | .338 | .143 | .778 | 7.1 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 5.9 |
| Philadelphia | 10 | 8 | 22.2 | .480 | .000 | .643 | 5.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 5.7 |
| Charlotte | 9 | 7 | 31.8 | .492 | .333 | .692 | 8.4 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 7.7 |
| New Orleans | 6 | 3 | 27.2 | .429 | .278 | .250 | 6.2 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 7.0 |
| New Orleans | 7 | 7 | 21.1 | .439 | .250 | .625 | 5.3 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 8.3 |
| Career Totals | 62 !41 !24.4 ! .439 ! .250 ! .670 !5.8 !1.4 !1.1 !0.4 !6.5 | ||||||||||
Career after playing
Following his retirement from professional basketball, Lynch established Flight Nine Basketball, a non-profit youth initiative based in Dallas, which he led until the year 2010.
In December of 2006, Lynch took on the role of administrative assistant and graduate manager for the Southern Methodist University men's basketball team under head coach Matt Doherty, where he contributed his NBA insights to enhance team management and operations. Between 2010 and 2012, he was employed at the University of California, Irvine, serving as a strength and conditioning coach as well as assistant athletics director focusing on community relations before returning to SMU in 2012 to work under Larry Brown, a fellow alumnus of the University of North Carolina.
April of 2018 marked Lynch's appointment as head coach at Clark Atlanta University, a position he held until his contract concluded in 2020 without renewal.
Transitioning into broadcasting, Lynch joined the Charlotte Hornets' television broadcast team as a studio analyst in October of 2022, where he applies his extensive NBA background to provide expert commentary and analysis.