Vin Baker (born November 23, 1971 in Lake Wales, Florida) is a former American professional basketball player who plays as a power forward/center
In 1993, Vin Baker joined the NBA through the draft, and the peak beck was known for his strong interior attack and effective control of rebounding in the league, and was selected to the NBA All-Star Team four times, but his form quickly declined due to excessive drinking. After being cut by the Timberwolves in the 2006–07 preseason, Vin Baker officially announced his retirement
Chinese name Vin Baker
His foreign name is Vin Baker
Nationality United States
Place of birth Lake Wales, Florida, USA
Born on November 23, 1971
College of the University of Hartford
Height 211cm
Weight 105kg
Moon Baker, a 1993 graduate of the University of Hartford, was selected by the Bucks in the eighth place in the first round of the draft that year. After entering the NBA, Baker quickly became an All-Star averaging 20+10 per game and was hailed as one of the best big forwards in the NBA at the time.
In the 1996-97 season, in his final season with the Bucks, he averaged double-double performances: 21 points and 10.3 rebounds, making him the first player in bucks history to play 20+10 in 22 years after Abdul-Jabbar.
At the end of the 1996–97 season, the Supersonics traded Kemp for Baker, who together with Schramph and Payton became the supersonic mainstay.
In 1998, he played in the All-Star Game in New York, his fourth and last all-Star selection, scoring 8 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. In his first playoff appearance, he averaged 15.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 0.53 shots per game in 10 games.
In 1999, the NBA was mired in labor disputes until the start of the game in February of the following year, When Hughes's Baker did drink too much, and his weight gain made him the laughing stock of the league after the start of the game.
In 2000, Baker was selected for the Dream Four team to win the basketball tournament at the Sydney Olympic Games.
In the 2000-01 season, his pitiful average of 12.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game was even lower than his career rookie season (1993-94) of 13.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. In the 2001–02 season, Vin Baker averaged 14.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game for the Supersonics. In his five seasons in Seattle (1997-2002), he averaged just 15.1 points per game and 6.8 rebounds. At the end of the season, the Celtics made a big three-for-two deal with supersonics to get Baker.
In the 2002-03 season, the former All-Star and Olympic gold medalist played just 52 regular season games, averaging 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. The Celtics hoped his arrival would give strong interior support to "Twin stars" Paul Pierce and Anthony Walker, but Baker's overweight and alcoholism once again erased the team's dreams and led to them being swept by Kidd's Net in the playoffs.
In the middle of the 2003–04 season, the Celtics terminated his contract after Vin Baker was banned for violating his alcohol treatment agreement, averaging 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in 37 games for the Celtics. NBA officials initially said that Baker could not sign with him after being sacked by the Celtics, but after the players' union protested, he was eventually determined by the arbitrator to be free to join any team. After learning that Baker had a "free body", the Raptors, Heat and Knicks three teams with weak forward lines immediately expressed their desire to sign him, and Baker finally chose the Knicks.
In the 2004–05 season, Baker, who had entered the final year of his career, moved to houston to the Rockets as an interior substitute. Becoming Yao's teammate was the last time he had ever received the attention of Chinese fans, however, Baker's career performance throughout the 2004-05 season completely plummeted to a personal extreme, with 1.3 points and 1.4 rebounds.
After being cut by the Timberwolves in the 2006–07 preseason, Vin Baker announced his retirement. After retiring from the military, Baker was still an alcoholic, coupled with the chaos of his personal life, the restaurant business failed, the money was quickly lost, and nearly $105 million in his career income was eaten up. Painstakingly, Baker became a new person and worked as a store manager at a Starbucks coffee shop. He also coached young players during the summer league.