Education
Phills attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He led the National Collegiate Athletic Association in three-point field goals per game (439) his senior year.
Phills attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He led the National Collegiate Athletic Association in three-point field goals per game (439) his senior year.
He played shooting guard and small forward for the National Basketball Association"s Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Hornets. He was selected by the Milwaukee Buckinghamshire in the 1991 National Basketball Association Draft (45th overall). After being cut in December 1991 without playing a game for the Cavaliers, Phills had a stint with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the Continental Basketball Association before being signed by the Cavaliers and rejoining the National Basketball Association late in the 1991-1992 season.
Over his nine-year career, he averaged 11.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
He was known as a defensive stopper, averaging 1.3 steals per game for his career, and an excellent perimeter shooter, with a 39.0% career three-point shooting percentage. Cleveland Cavaliers Charlotte Hornets Though he made a name for himself as a shooter during his college career, Phills became known as a tenacious wing defender in the National Basketball Association. At 6" 5" and 220 pounds, he was said to more resemble an NFL linebacker than a basketball player.
In 1996, Michael Jordan remarked that Phills was the toughest defender he had ever faced. Phills was traveling behind teammate David Wesley at over 75 mph (121 km/h) when his Porsche spun and crossed into oncoming traffic.
lieutenant hit another car, which in turn was struck in the rear by a minivan.
The drivers of the other two vehicles recovered, while Phills was pronounced dead at the scene. A police report said Phills and Wesley were driving "in an erratic, reckless, careless, in a negligent or aggressive manner." Wesley later was convicted of reckless driving after being cleared of a racing charge. The Hornets retired his #13 jersey number on February 9, 2000.
Phills was the first number that the Hornets franchise had ever retired.
lieutenant continued to hang for the original Hornets franchise until the end of the first season, when the team moved to New Orleans. In 2004, the National Basketball Association added an expansion team, the Charlotte Bobcats.
After the New Orleans team re-branded themselves as the New Orleans Pelicans, relinquishing the name, the Bobcats became the Hornets. On November 1, 2014, the newly renamed team rehung his jersey from the rafters of Time Warner Cable Arena.
On January 12, 2000, while a member of the Charlotte Hornets, Phills was killed in an auto accident in Charlotte, North Carolina.