Damion James



Damion Marquez Williams James (born October 7, 1987 in Hobbs, New Mexico) is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of theNBA. He previously played for the Texas Longhorns men's basketball team. {| class="toc" id="toc"

Contents
[hide] *1 High school career
 * 2 College career
 * 2.1 Freshman season
 * 2.2 Sophomore season
 * 2.3 Junior Season
 * 3 NBA
 * 4 NBA statistics
 * 4.1 Regular season
 * 5 See also
 * 6 References
 * }

[edit]High school career
As a senior at Nacogdoches High School James averaged 23.5 points, 15.2 rebounds, 5.2 blocks, 4.3 assists, and 2.5 steals per game.

[edit]College career
At 6-foot-7, 230-pounds he was considered one of the top prospects in the country coming out of high school.[citation needed] He had initially signed to play college basketball at the University of Oklahoma for head coach Kelvin Sampson. When Sampson took the head coaching position at the Indiana University the administration at OU released James from his letter of intent and he switched his decision to Texas.

[edit]Freshman season
James started all 35 games, along with fellow freshmen Kevin Durant and D. J. Augustin, in leading the Longhorns to a 25–10 record. James averaged 25.9 minutes per contest, with 7.6 points and 7.2 rebounds.[1]

[edit]Sophomore season
James averaged 13.2 points and 10.5 rebounds helping Texas win a share of the Big 12 regular season title. While talking about the Texas Longhorns on Selection Sunday, Dick Vitale said that James may be the most athletic player in all of college basketball. He also shot 43.6% from behind the arc.

[edit]Junior Season
James, along with A. J. Abrams and Justin Mason, started all 35 games for the Texas Longhorn basketball team that went 23–12 and advanced to the second round of the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. He averaged 15.4 points and 9.2 rebounds with double doubles in 16 of the games on his way to earning a spot on the All-Big 12 Conference Second Team.[2] On April 15, 2009, James entered his named into the 2009 NBA Draft, without hiring an agent, and thus retaining his NCAA eligibility.[3] On June 13, 2009, it was reported that James pulled his name from the 2009 NBA Draft after not being guaranteed a first-round draft position.

[edit]NBA
James was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 24th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. His rights were traded to the New Jersey Nets for the rights of the 27th pick Jordan Crawford and the 31st pick Tibor Pleiss in the 2010 NBA draft. The Hawks then sold Pleiss' rights to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On December 9, 2010, James got his first career start against the Dallas Mavericks.

[edit]See also

 * 2006 high school boys basketball All-Americans
 * 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

[edit]References

 * 1) ^ Texas – Season Statistics
 * 2) ^ http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/60087/gamelog