Mickell Gladness

Mickell Gladness

No. 32   Dakota Wizards
Center
Personal information
Date of birth	July 26, 1986 (1986-07-26) (age 25)
Place of birth	Birmingham, Alabama
Nationality	American
High school	Sylacauga HS Sylacauga, Alabama
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
College	Alabama A&M
Pro career	2008–present
League	NBA D-League
Career history
Matrixx Magix Nijmegen (2008–09) Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2009–11) Dakota Wizards (2011–present)
Career highlights and awards
NBA D-League champion (2009–10)

Mickell Gladness (born July 26, 1986) is an American basketball center. He is a member of the NBA Development League's Dakota Wizards.

Early life

Gladness was born in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up in Sylacauga.^[1][2] He attended Sylacauga High School from 2000–01 to 2003–04, then attended Lawson State Community College for one year.^[2]

College

In his first and only season playing basketball for a community college, Gladness, who is 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) and weighed 200 pounds (90.72 kg) when he attended,^[3] averaged modest numbers with 3.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.^[2] Gladness transferred to Alabama A&M for the remaining three years of his college eligibility.

Due to NCAA rules where a player does not have to sit out one full season if she or he transfers up a division (in this case, from a community college up to Division I) Gladness was able to begin playing immediately as a true sophomore in 2005–06. He appeared in 26 games and blocked 77 shots.^[4] It was in his junior season, however, that Gladness made a name for himself in college basketball. Playing in 30 games, Gladness rose out of seemingly nowhere to lead the nation in blocked shots per game at 6.3, with an adjusted-per-40 minutes rate of 7.9 bpg.^[3][5] He set an NCAA Division I single game record with 16 blocks against Texas Southern on February 24, 2007.^[5] No other player in Division I history has even recorded 15 blocks in a single game.^[5] Despite showing similar statistics otherwise, Gladness' blocks per game average dropped to 4.5 for his senior year.^[4] It is speculated that opposing players now knew of his shot-blocking ability and avoided getting too close for him to block their shots.^[3] Although he did not repeat as the NCAA season shots blocked leader, he did graduate having blocked 396 shots in only three seasons of Division I basketball, which was good enough to be in the all-time top 25 when he graduated.^[4][5]

Professional

Gladness was not selected in the 2008 NBA Draft. Without making a roster in the NBA, he went to Europe to play for Matrixx Magix Nijmegen in the Dutch Basketball League in 2008–09, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands.^[6][7] Gladness had signed a two-year contract, but after dissatisfaction with the style of play on Matrixx he decided to opt out of his contract's final season.^[6][7] He participated in the 2010 NBA Summer League as a member of the Miami Heat. He was then signed by the Heat to a non-guaranteed deal on September 27, 2010,^[8] but was waived during the pre-season on October 11.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 13 or more blocks in a game
• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season blocks leaders
• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career blocks leaders

References

1. ^ "#44 Mickell Gladness". NBA Development League profile. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. 2010. http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/index.jsp?player=mickell_gladness. Retrieved August 23, 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Maurer, Matthew (2010). "Mickell Gladness". The Draft Review. http://www.thedraftreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3773. Retrieved August 23, 100. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Mickell Gladness stats, comparisons". DraftExpress LLC. 2007. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Mickell-Gladness-1308/. Retrieved August 23, 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Mickell Gladness #40". ESPN Internet Ventures. 2010. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=28001. Retrieved August 23, 2010. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} "2009–10 NCAA Men's Basketball Records" (PDF). 2009–10 NCAA Men's Basketball Media Guide. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2009. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/m_basketball_RB/2010/D1.pdf. Retrieved August 23, 2010. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Mickell Gladness stats" (PDF). D-League full player profile. NBA Media Ventures LLC. 2010. http://www.nba.com/media/dleague/mickell_gladness.pdf. Retrieved August 23, 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Young, LaVonte (July 29, 2010). "Gladness playing for Miami Heat in Summer League". The Daily Home. matchbin inc.. http://www.dailyhome.com/view/full_story/8936749/article-Gladness-playing-for-Miami-Heat-in-Summer-League?instance=home_sports. Retrieved August 23, 2010. 
8. ^ "Heat complete camp roster, sign Mason, Gladness". USA Today. Gannett Co. Inc.. September 27, 2010. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2010-09-27-3666272324_x.htm. Retrieved September 29, 2010. 

External links

• NBA D-League profile

Persondata
Name	Gladness, Mickell
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 26, 1986
Place of birth	Birmingham, Alabama
Date of death
Place of death