SHERMAN DOUGLAS

SHERMAN DOUGLAS

THE GENERAL

ALL-MET ELITE

NCAA - 6th all-time assists leader

960 career assists

Sherman Douglas was the ultimate floor leader, leading Syracuse to its best three year run in school history. 'The General' was an excellent ball handler, who was a clutch scorer during the crucial moments of the game. Douglas graduated from Springarn High School in Washington D.C., the same school that Dave Bing attended. Douglas was not highly recruited, with Syracuse being the only Division 1 school to offer him a scholarship.Douglas showed himself to be able to run the fast break as well as any player in the country. His trademark was the alley-oop pass, lobbing the ball up near the hoop as sky-walker Stevie Thompson or big men Derrick Coleman  and Rony Seikaly would slam it home. Douglas would often focus on passing the ball early in the games, and then would revert to becoming a scoring during the crunch moments of the game. He was gifted at helping his teammates get the easy basket, and very good at minimizing turnovers. Full court presses against Syracuse were foolish because Douglas always seemed to break them. Though small by NBA standards at 6', Douglas would be a solid point guard for twelve seasons. His second year in the league was perhaps his best, as he averaged 18.5 points and 8.5 assists for the Miami Heat. Douglas was able to bring his famed alley-oop pass to the NBA, and succeed with it, despite the fact many critics assumed the athletic talent of defenders in the league would prevent. He showed everyone he was the unquestioned master of that pass.