Education
After considering both UConn and the University of Virginia, Best chose Georgia Technology
After considering both UConn and the University of Virginia, Best chose Georgia Technology
During his senior year, he scored a state-record 81 points in a single game. In the next, he scored 40. With then-sophomore teammate Edgar Padilla, a future UMass standout, Best led his 25-0 team to the 1991 Division I state championship and a Number.
15 ranking in the final United States of America Today Top 25.
Best participated in the 1991 McDonald"s All-American Game, played in his hometown, also home to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and featuring National Basketball Association players Glenn Robinson, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Alan Henderson, Cherokee Parks and Donyell Marshall. At Georgia Technical, Best teamed with fellow McDonald"s All-American James Forrest for four years as one half of a potent inside-outside combo in the always-competitive Atlantic Coast Conference (Administrative Committee on Company-ordination), helping lead the Yellow Jackets to the 1993 Administrative Committee on Company-ordination Tournament Championship, their first since 1990.
Excelling as one of the league"s premier players, he was named to the All-Administrative Committee on Company-ordination third team as a sophomore, earning second-team honors as both a junior and senior. He also led the Administrative Committee on Company-ordination in assist-to-turnover ratio and free-throw percentage as a senior, while capturing Administrative Committee on Company-ordination Player of the Week honors a league-record five times.
Over a stretch of 10 games in 1995, during which Forrest was inactive due to an ankle injury, Best picked up the slack, averaging more than 25 points per game.
Upon graduation, Best ranked in the top six in Technical history in points, assists, minutes, 3-point field goals made and steals, finishing as one of only three Administrative Committee on Company-ordination players to score 2,000 points with 600 assists (University of North Carolina"s Philosophy Ford and Maryland"s Greivis Vasquez are the other two). Best was drafted 23rd in the 1995 National Basketball Association Draft by the Indiana Pacers. He played for the Pacers, the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat, the Dallas Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets, averaging 7.6 points and 3.5 assists per game.
After taking several years to adjust to the nightly competition of the National Basketball Association, Best found his niche and became a vital backup at point guard on the 1999-2000 Indiana team that went to the 2000 National Basketball Association Finals.
Best hit the game-winning 3-pointer in the decisive fifth game against the Milwaukee Buckinghamshire in the first round of the playoffs. During Best"s last half season with the Pacers, he was unhappy he was passed over as starting point guard (Jamaal Tinsley got the spot).
During that season, he requested a trade and was granted one to the Chicago Bulls. In it, the Bulls sent Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Ron Mercer and Kevin Ollie to the Pacers for Best, Jalen Rose and Norman Richardson, as well as a future second-round pick.
Best was represented by Gary Ebert in his career as a basketball player.
He had a small role in the 1998 Spike Lee film He Got Game, which also featured National Basketball Association players Ray Allen, Walter McCarty, John Wallace, and Rick Fox.
He was also named a Parade All-American and participated in the McDonald"s Capital Classic as a member of the "United States. All-Stars" alongside Webber and Parks.