Background
He is the son of former American Bar Association player Walt Piatkowski.
He is the son of former American Bar Association player Walt Piatkowski.
Piatkowski attended Rapid City Stevens High School and was a student and a standout in basketball.
He most recently played for the National Basketball Association"s Phoenix Suns. In basketball, as a senior, he led his team to the 1989 South Dakota Class Associate of Arts State Championship, was an All-State selection, and was named the Mr. Basketball for the State of South Dakota.
Piatkowski played four years at the University of Nebraska for coach Danny Nee.
Piatkowski was a first team All-Big Eight pick by the Associated Press his junior year and averaged a team high 16.7 points per game. He averaged 21.5 points per game his senior season and was named to the All Big Eight team again.
He also led the Huskers to the Big Eight Conference Tournament Championship game while scoring a collegiate high and NU single game record 42 points against Oklahoma in the semi-finals. They went on to defeat Oklahoma State in the finals and he secured tournament Most Valuable Player honors.
That helped earn them the sixth seed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament.
He was recognized as an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press and finished his collegiate career with 1,934 career points, behind only Dave Hoppen for the most in school history. His jersey at Nebraska (Number 52) was retired in 2006. After completing his eligibility at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Piatkowski was drafted by the Indiana Pacers with the 15th pick of the 1994 National Basketball Association Draft.
The Pacers immediately dealt his draft rights, along with Jerome Richardson and Malik Sealy, to the Los Angeles Clippers for Mark Jackson and the draft rights to Greg Minor.
He ended his Clipper career as the franchise leader in games played (616), 3-point field goals made (738) and 3-point field goal attempts (1,835) and free throw percentage (880%). After nine seasons with the Clippers he signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Houston Rockets before the 2003-2004 season.
Piatkowski became a Bulletin on September 8, 2004, when Houston sent him, Adrian Griffin and Mike Wilks to Chicago in exchange for Dikembe Mutombo. On July 13, 2006, Piatkowski officially signed with the Phoenix Suns, agreeing on a two-year, $2.4 million deal.
In April 2014 Piatkowski"s Group was attempting to buy the Los Angeles Clippers from Embattled owner Donald T Sterling.
He played for the United States in the World Basketball games in 1993. On February 16, 2002, he set a career high of 36 points against the Dallas Mavericks. He set the Clippers individual season record for three-point percentage at.466 which ranked him third in the National Basketball Association that season.
(2001-2002)
Nicknamed "Pike" and "The Polish Rifle" for his surname and three-point shooting accuracy.
Beginning in the 2008-2009 season, Piatkowski became the color analyst on Fox Sports Midwest for the Nebraska men"s basketball team He teams up with Greg Sharpe to call the action for the Cornhuskers.
He was a member of the All Big Eight Freshman team in 1991 and was honorable mention All Big Eight his freshman and sophomore seasons.