Shawn Christopher Respert is an American retired professional basketball player who currently works as an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association.
Education
A 6"3" shooting guard born in Detroit, Michigan, he attended Bishop Borgess High School, and he came to prominence while playing college basketball at Michigan State University where his jersey is now retired. Respert was the teams leading scorer all four seasons at Michigan State and finished his career second all-time in scoring among Big Ten players with 2,531 points (trailing only Calbert Chaney) and first in Big Ten games with 1,545 points scored.
Career
He played professionally in the for four seasons from 1995 to 1999. Respert was a standout at Michigan State. He and point guard Eric Snow combined to form one of the nation"s most prolific backcourt tandems for head coach Jud Heathcote"s Spartans.
He left East Lansing as the Spartans all-time leading scorer and began the tradition of out-going seniors kissing the South at center court during their final home game.
Respert was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1st round, with the 8th overall pick, of the 1995 Draft. The Blazers traded his rights to the Milwaukee Buckinghamshire for the rights to Gary Trent and a first-round pick.
Respert was traded to Toronto in his second year, where he scored 5.6 points a game. He next played briefly in Dallas the next season and then had a second stint with the Raptors.
Respert finished his career in Phoenix during the 1998-1999 season.
He was under contract with Los Angeles Lakers for a brief period in October 2000 but was waived before playing in any games for them. In his career, Respert played in 172 games and scored a total of 851 points on averages of 4.9 points in 13.7 minutes per game. He played professionally in Italy for Adecco Milano (1999–2000) and Fillattice Imola (2001–2002).
He also played in Poland for Spójnia Stargard Szczeciński (2002–2003).
Respert had stomach cancer but did not admit it until 2005. He started being bothered with stomach cramps towards the end of his rookie season.
He noticed a lump below his belly button even after changing his diet. Respert was diagnosed with cancer after undergoing a series of tests at Milwaukee"s Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in May 1996.
After confirmation through a second opinion, he underwent daily radiation therapy for three consecutive months, losing twenty pounds in the process.
He only told a select few. Not even his family and girlfriend knew, because "people don"t want to hear excuses in pro sports, even if the excuse is cancer."
Respert became a volunteer coach at Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical in Texas in 2004. Then in early 2005, he was hired to be Director of Basketball Operations at Rice University for 21⁄2 years.
Next, Respert spent two years as the Director of Player Development of the "s minor league, the Development League.
In September 2008, he was hired by the Houston Rockets as the Director of Player Programs. On December 6, 2011 he was hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves as a player development coach.
He was named an assistant coach by the Memphis Grizzlies in September 2013.