The 3-point contest, at least for me is one of the best parts of the NBA All-Star Weekend.
I really enjoy watching great shooters do their job, compete against each other and
at the end of the day, make those long-distance shots.
When you think of the 3-point contest, you think of Steph Curry, Reggie Miller, Larry
Bird.
But there is one other guy who holds a bunch of records.
In 2015, Steph Curry made 13 consecutive shots.
The guy I will talk about today made 19.
Larry Bird, in his best 3-point contest, made 18 out of 25 shots in a round.
This guy made 21.
Hey guys.
Purple Prince is back, and today I want to tell you about quite possibly the greatest
3-point contest participant that nobody knows about - Craig Hodges.
Craig Hodges was a 6 foot 2, 190-pound guard from Park Forest, Illinois.
Hodges spent his college days in Long Beach State.
There, in 4 seasons, he proved he was a pretty good shooter as for his college career Hodges
averaged 12.8 points and 3.8 assists on 48.7% shooting.
Since Long Beach State wasn’t class A college and Hodges himself wasn’t this deadly scorer,
he was a late pick in the 1982 NBA Draft.
Picked with the 48th pick by the San Diego Clippers Hodges couldn’t really rely on
having big playing opportunities, but he proved himself and had some good playing time in
his rookie season.
During his rookie year, Hodges played in 76 games, started 48 of those and in 26.6 minutes
averaged 9.9 points on 45.2% shooting.
Oddly enough he shot just 22.2% from the 3-point line.
He spent one more year in San Diego before moving to Milwaukee Bucks.
There he started to find his 3-point stroke.
After hitting just 22.1% of his three-pointers for the San Diego Clippers, Hodges raised
his long-distance percentage to 34.8% in his first season with Milwaukee.
His second season with Milwaukee though was when he really blossomed.
Hodges led the league in 3-point percentage by hitting 45.1% of his long-distance shots.
And 1986, was when his 3pt contest legend started.
1986 was the first-year NBA introduced the 3-point contest.
As the league leader in percentage, Hodges was one of the participants.
His first crack at the contest was a good one since he made the finals and was the runner-up
behind one of the faces of the league - Larry Bird.
That was just a start.
From that point on, Craig Hodges participated in 7 more consecutive 3-point contests.
In 1987 and 1988 Hodges didn’t get past the first round.
Then, in 1989 he was runner-up to the winner Dale Ellis and then he did something nobody
besides Larry Legend has done.
Craig Hodges won 3 consecutive 3-point contests from 1990 to 1992 making him one of only two
players in NBA history to win the contest 3 times and do it 3 times in a row.
In 1990, Hodges even competed against Michael Jordan who probably had one of the worst moments
of his career.
Jordan scored only 5 points and was eliminated in the first round, tying the all-time worst
result with Detlef Schrempf.
1991 was Hodges greatest moment.
He won in great fashion as he set up multiple records - he made 21 shots in one round, including
19 consecutive.
And that contest had some shooters around.
Clyde Drexler, Tim Hardaway, Glen Rice.
In 1992, he beat an even more star-studded cast of shooters.
Dell Curry, Dražen Petrovič, John Stockton, and future 2x champ Jeff Hornacek as well.
Hodges participated in one more 3-point contest in 1993.
This time though, he wasn’t on any team.
No team signed him for the 92-93 season.
NBA initially left him off the contest, but in the end, allowed him to participate, since
he was the 3x defending champion.
For the contest, Hodges wore a generic NBA jersey and was eliminated in the semi-finals.
That was his 3-point contest career.
So what about his real one?
After spending 3 full seasons in Milwaukee and averaging double-digit points for the
team in each of those seasons, in 1988,
Hodges was acquired by Phoenix Suns.
There he continued to average double-digit points and shot a fantastic 54.4% from the
3pt line.
Phoenix gave up on him just 10 games into the 1988-89 season when he was acquired by
the Chicago Bulls.
That was good for him since the Bulls were championship ready with Michael Jordan.
Hodges spent the rest of the 1988-89 season with the Bulls connecting on 42.3% of his
three-pointers and averaging 10 points.
He spent 3 more seasons with the Chicago Bulls with his role diminishing, but on the contrary,
he was a part of 2 championship teams.
After the 1992 championship win, Hodges was waived by the Bulls and never ever played
for an NBA team again.
In his NBA career, Hodges played in 695 games and averaged 21.7 minutes, 8.5 points, 2.5
assists.
For his career, Hodges shot 46.1% from the field and 40% from the three.
In total, he made 563 three-pointers.
Craig Hodges is a 2x NBA champion as a player and as a coach with the Lakers.
He won the 3-point contest 3 times.
Hodges was also a political activist.
After winning the 1992 NBA championship he visited the White House dressed in a dashiki
and delivered a hand-written letter to George Herbert Walker Bush about the administration’s
treatment of the poor and minorities.
He also criticized his Bulls teammate Michael Jordan for not using his fame to draw attention
to social issues.
That might’ve been one of the reasons why he didn’t receive even an offer for a tryout
from any NBA team.
Still, it was surprising that one of the best long-distance shooters wasn’t needed anymore.
Thanks for watching the video guys.
What do you think was the ultimate reason Craig Hodges NBA career ended so prematurely
at age 32.
Was it his political beliefs?
Did he start to slow down?
Please leave your answer in the comments.
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This was Purple Prince and I’m out!