Tom Gugliotta

Thomas James Gugliotta (born December 19, 1969) is a former American professional basketball player who played thirteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Tom Gugliotta

Personal information
Born	December 19, 1969 Huntington Station, New York
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
High school	Walt Whitman (Huntington Station, New York)
College	NC State (1988–1992)
NBA draft	1992 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6th overall
Selected by the Washington Bullets
Playing career	1992–2005
Position	Power forward
Number	24, 8, 42, 7
Career history
1992–1994	Washington Bullets
1994–1995	Golden State Warriors
1995–1998	Minnesota Timberwolves
1999–2004	Phoenix Suns
2004	Utah Jazz
2004–2005	Boston Celtics
2005	Atlanta Hawks
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Star (1997) NBA All-Rookie First Team (1993) Third-team All-American – NABC (1992) First-team All-ACC (1992) Second-team All-ACC (1991)
Career NBA statistics
Points	9,895 (13.0 ppg)
Rebounds	5,589 (7.3 rpg)
Steals	1,079 (1.4 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men's basketball Representing  United States FIBA Americas Championship 1999 San Juan National team

Early life

The youngest of seven children, Gugliotta attended Walt Whitman High School. His two older brothers, Frank Jr. and Charlie, both enjoyed limited collegiate success on the hardwood and played professionally in Europe. His father called an old friend, Jim Valvano at North Carolina State University during his senior season and told Valvano that his youngest son was going to be a special basketball player. Valvano took a chance on Gugliotta and brought him to Raleigh.

College career

During his freshman season, "Googs" was limited by a knee injury. However, he emerged in the second half of the ACC season as a member of the rotation for the Wolfpack and appeared in 28 games, averaging two points and 1.3 rebounds per game. During the offseason, Valvano began telling crowds at Wolfpack Club meetings that Gugliotta was beginning to blossom. Emerging as a taller, heavier sophomore, Gugliotta averaged 11.1 points and seven rebounds a game. As a junior, Gugliotta began to show his star potential, averaging more than 15 points and nine rebounds per game. As a senior, Gugliotta averaged more than 22 points and almost 10 rebounds per game.

NBA

Gugliotta was drafted in 1992 out of North Carolina State University with the 6th overall pick by the National Basketball Association's Washington Bullets. In 13 NBA seasons he averaged 13.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 2.8 apg over 763 regular season games, but appeared in only 12 playoff games. His best years were with the Minnesota Timberwolves, scoring 20.6 and 20.1 ppg in the 1996–1997 and 1997–1998 seasons. Gugliotta also played for the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz and the Atlanta Hawks.

Accident

On December 17, 1999, Gugliotta had a near-death experience. Having trouble sleeping after games, Gugliotta took a supplement marketed as a "sleep aid" which included furanon di-hydro, also known as gamma butyrolactone, or GBL. Gugliotta was talking to his wife, Nikki, on his cellular telephone when he collapsed and stopped breathing. His wife heard the commotion and called the wife of teammate Rex Chapman who was able to call her husband on the bus and instruct him to check his bag for the supplement bottle. The information saved his life as doctors were able to give him an antidote in the emergency room moments later.[1]

Personal

Tom met his wife, Nikki, at North Carolina State and later had a daughter, Greer. They were later divorced.

He was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the Basketball Category with the Class of 1994.

NBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1992–93	Washington	81	81	34.5	.426	.281	.644	9.6	3.8	1.7	0.4	14.7
1993–94	Washington	78	78	35.8	.466	.270	.685	9.3	3.5	2.2	0.7	17.1
1994–95	Washington	6	6	37.7	.398	.500	.788	8.8	3.0	3.5	1.8	16.0
1994–95	Golden State	40	40	33.1	.443	.311	.567	7.4	3.1	1.3	0.6	10.9
1994–95	Minnesota	31	17	32.8	.454	.318	.762	7.2	4.5	2.0	0.9	14.4
1995–96	Minnesota	78	78	36.3	.471	.302	.773	8.8	3.1	1.8	1.2	16.2
1996–97	Minnesota	81	81	38.7	.442	.258	.820	8.7	4.1	1.6	1.1	20.6
1997–98	Minnesota	41	41	38.6	.502	.118	.821	8.7	4.1	1.5	0.5	20.1
1998–99	Phoenix	43	43	36.3	.483	.286	.794	8.9	2.8	1.4	0.5	17.4
1999–00	Phoenix	54	54	32.7	.481	.125	.775	7.9	2.3	1.5	0.6	13.7
2000–01	Phoenix	57	2	20.3	.392	.250	.792	4.5	1.0	0.8	0.4	6.4
2001–02	Phoenix	44	40	25.7	.422	.333	.757	5.0	1.8	0.9	0.7	6.5
2002–03	Phoenix	27	11	16.6	.455	.000	1.000	3.7	1.1	0.5	0.2	4.8
2003–04	Phoenix	30	3	10.1	.313	.000	.750	1.9	0.7	0.5	0.1	2.3
2003–04	Utah	25	24	20.6	.375	.333	.700	5.2	1.7	0.7	0.3	3.7
2004–05	Boston	20	0	10.9	.297	-	.667	2.2	0.6	0.5	0.6	1.3
2004–05	Atlanta	27	9	27.7	.431	.308	.784	5.5	2.1	1.2	0.5	7.9
Career		763	608	30.9	.451	.284	.784	7.3	2.8	1.4	0.6	13.0
All-Star		1	0	19.0	.429	.000	.750	8.0	3.0	2.0	-	9.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1996–97	Minnesota	3	3	40.3	.422	.750	.600	5.3	4.3	2.3	0.7	18.3
1998–99	Phoenix	3	3	39.3	.371	-	.750	8.3	3.3	1.3	1.0	10.7
2000–01	Phoenix	4	0	21.5	.308	-	.778	3.8	0.8	2.0	0.3	5.8
2002–03	Phoenix	2	0	5.0	.500	-	.500	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.5
Career		12	6	27.9	.393	.750	.690	4.8	2.2	1.6	0.5	9.6

Notes

1. ESPN The Magazine: Close Call (by Tom Gugliotta)

External links

• Historical Player Profile at NBA.com
• Career statistics and player information from Basketball-Reference.com
• https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/guglito01.html