Professional Career
Van Horn was drafted as the second overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers; however, his rights were immediately traded to the New Jersey Nets along with Michael Cage, Lucious Harris and Don MacLean in exchange for the draft rights to Tim Thomas and Anthony Parker and player contracts of Jim Jackson and Eric Montross.
Van Horn played for the Nets from 1997 to 2002. He was named 1st Team All Rookie in his first NBA season, averaging a team leading 19.7 points and 6.5 rebounds and leading the Nets to the NBA playoffs. His best season as a pro came in 1999, where he averaged a team-leading 21.8 points per game (5th in the NBA) as well as 8.5 rebounds per game. He was an important part of the 2002 Nets team that won the Eastern Conference Championship, leading the team in rebounding and placing second in scoring, but was eventually swept by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2002 NBA Finals. He hit the game-winning three point shot against the Boston Celtics in game 6 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Championships to send the Nets to the NBA finals. He ranks in the Nets top ten in several statistical categories including points, field goals made, three point field goals made and attempted, and offensive and defensive rebounds.
On August 6, 2002 Van Horn was traded to his original team, the Philadelphia 76ers along with Todd MacCulloch for center Dikembe Mutumbo. He spent one year with the 76ers placing second on the team in scoring and rebounding while the Sixers made the second round of the NBA playoffs. After spending the year with the 76ers he was traded to the New York Knicks in a four team deal that also included the Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves. His stint with the Knicks was short; on February 16, 2004 he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three team trade.
In order to make salary cap room for the signing of free-agent-to-be Michael Redd in the coming off season, on February 24, 2005 the Bucks traded Van Horn to the Dallas Mavericks for the expiring contracts of Alan Henderson, Calvin Booth and cash. He spent nearly two seasons with Dallas playing a key sixth man role and helping the Mavericks win the 2006 Western Conference Championship where they eventually lost in the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat.
Following the 2006 NBA season, he took a year off in order to spend time with his family. On February 19, 2008 Van Horn signed a three-year deal (only the first year guaranteed) with the Mavericks in order to help complete a blockbuster trade that sent Jason Kidd from the New Jersey Nets to the Mavericks and Devin Harris to the Nets. As expected, Van Horn did not play at all for the Nets and was waived on October 23, 2008.
Van Horn finished his NBA career with averages of 16.0 points per game and nearly 7 rebounds per game.
Read more about this topic: Keith Van Horn
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or career:
“... all professional ideologies are high-minded. Hunters, for instance, would not dream of calling themselves the butchers of the woods.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)