Sometimes an NBA player is bound for greatness, but for whatever reason his career goes down
the path that leaves us wondering what could’ve been.
In majority of cases the reason could be an injury.
Sometimes, it’s the wrong organization, a subpar coach or personal problems.
All we are left with in the end are the thoughts of what could have been.
Hey guys, I’m PRPLPRNCH and today I want to talk about Keith Van Horn - A star who
was supposed to be a superstar.
Keith Van Horn was a 6 foot 10 , 220 pound forward out of Fullerton California.
The highly recruited forward decided to go to University of Utah where he would play
4 years and receive many honors including a couple All-American teams and 3x Western
Athletic Conference player of the year.
In those 4 years Van Horn would average 20.8 points and 8.8 rebounds.
Van Horn would improve every year with his top season being his senior season when he
averaged 22 points and 9.5 rebounds.
Great college career prompted Philadelphia 76ers to draft Keith Van Horn with the second
overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, but right after he was immediately traded to the New
Jersey Nets.
In New Jersey, Van Horn would immediately become a great scorer.
In his rookie season Keith Van Horn averaged 19.7 points and 6.6 rebounds making the NBA
All-Rookie First Team and leading the Nets to the 1998 NBA playoffs, where they would
obviously be swept in the first round against Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls.
Van Horn’s success in his rookie year led him to be the first white player on the cover
of Slam Magazine.
Next year, in a lockout shortened 50-game NBA season Keith Van Horn would have a year
of his life.
He would average 21.8 points which was the fifth best mark in the league that year and
a career-high 8.5 rebounds.
That wasn’t enough though for the Nets to make the playoffs, but on the bright side
it seemed that the Nets had a superstar for the future.
It really only seemed like that.
For the next 2 seasons Van Horn would do his scoring thing but that didn’t quite rhyme
with team success.
The lack of success as a team triggered the Nets organization to make a trade for a star
point guard in Jason Kidd.
The nets core of Kenyon Martin, Van Horn and now Kidd, as well as incoming rookies Richard
Jefferson and Jason Collins made the Nets into a powerhouse.
They would finish the regular season with a much better record and make it deep into
the playoffs, all the way to the 2002 NBA Finals against Los Angeles Lakers.
On the way to the Finals Keith Van Horn would prove to be a valuable piece for the Nets.
In fact, he was the most valuable piece in the Eastern Conference Finals where he would
hit the game winning three point shot against the Boston Celtics in Game 6 to send New Jersey
Nets to the NBA Finals.
In the finals though they were overpowered by the Los Angeles Lakers.
One thing people didn’t notice is how with the arrival of Jason Kidd, Keith Van Horn
was not a budding superstar anymore.
The shine was on others and the Nets didn’t see Van Horn as the building block for the
future.
During the summer of 2002, Van horn was traded back to the team that originally drafted him
- the Philadelphia 76ers.
He would spend only 1 season in Philadelphia averaging 15.9 points and 7.3 rebounds.
Then he was once again traded, this time to the New York Knicks.
where he would continue to be productive averaging 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds, but that’s
the statline of only 47 games
as later in the season Van Horn was traded to the Bucks.
After the season Bucks would trade him to
the Dallas Mavericks where he would spend the last 2 years of his NBA career.
In Dallas he was the 6th man and played his role perfectly, but that was far off from
the expectations he had after his second season in New Jersey.
Van Horn was traded 4 times in a span of 2 years and following the 2005-06 season, Van
Horn took a year off from the game to spend time with his family.
As it turned out, it was more than a year off.
He retired, at just 30 years of age.
He did get some NBA money though - On february 19, 2008 Van Horn signed a three-year deal
with the Mavericks to help complete a deal that would send Jason Kidd back to Dallas
and him back to the Nets.
Of course, he never played, and earned $4.3 million just by signing the paper.
Keith Van Horn made a mark in the league.
He played in 575 NBA Games and averaged 16 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
Pretty good numbers for someone who played in the league so little.
Van Horn’s career was over, and he had no regrets about it.
He wanted to start a new life.
In an interview to Scoop B Radio, Van Horn said; “I was fortunate to have the time
in the NBA that I did, but I had a timeline.
I had to make different decisions in my life.
I needed to provide stability for [my family] and be there for them.
I couldn’t do that playing in the NBA.”
Van Horn chose something other than basketball.
SOmething that’s more meaningful to him and now Van Horn invests into real estate
firms, a school for special needs and a mobile software company while spending the majority
of his day running a youth basketball program that trains around 1000 young ballers.
His big star potential turned him into an even bigger man, which isn’t that bad after
all.
Thank you very much for watching guys.
Would Keith Van Horn be in the hall of fame if he didn’t end his NBA Career so prematurely.
How do you think the trade for Jason Kidd affected Van Horn’s growth?
Whatever your thought is, please leave a comment below.
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Thanks!
This was PRPLPRNCH, and I’m out!