TORONTO -- Former Bradley men's basketball star Anthony Parker (Naperville, Ill./Central H.S.), who was the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 1996, will return to the NBA during the 2006-07 season after signing a multi-year contract today with the Toronto Raptors.
“Anthony is a high character and experienced player that has proven over several years now that he belongs in the NBA,” said Bryan Colangelo, president and general manager of hte Raptors, in a release from the franchise this morning. “His addition adds great scoring punch to our lineup of guards and another veteran prsence for this young team.”
Parker was originally picked by New Jersey with the 21st overall selection in the 1997 NBA Draft, then traded to Philadelphia in a deal involving Keith Van Horn. He played parts of three injury-plagued seasons for the 76ers (1997-99) and Orlando (1999-00), averaging 2.4 points and 1.0 rebound in 55 career games, before taking his game overseas and developing into one of the top players in the Euroleague the past six seasons.
Parker played five of his six seasons in Europe for Maccabi Tel Aviv, leading his team to five Israeli National Championships, five Israeli National Cups, three Euroleague championships (2001, 2004 and 2005) and a Suproleague title (2001). He played the 2002-03 season for Virtus Roma and that proved to be the only year Maccabi Tel Aviv failed to win either the Israeli National Championship or Israeli National Cup during his six-year foreign career.
A 6-foot-6 wing, Parker averaged 13.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals in Israeli league play during his five seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv. In Euroleague action, he averaged 15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals.
During Bradley's 100-year celebration in 2002, Parker was selected one of the 15 greatest players in program history and he remains ninth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,683 points during his four-year (1993-97) career. A member of the Missouri Valley Conference All-Newcomer Team in 1994, Parker went on to earn all-conference honors during each of his final three seasons, second team in 1995 and first team in 1996 and 1997.
A two-time NABC first-team All-District honoree, he won the Valley's Player-of-the-Year award in 1996 after leading the Braves to their last regular-season league title. During Bradley's 1996 NCAA Tournament game versus Stanford, Parker tied the school record for 3-pointers in a game by draining 8-of-10 attempts from behind the arc to highlight his career-best 34 points. The Braves played in the postseason during each of Parker's four seasons on the Hilltop, making NIT appearances in 1994, 1995 and 1997 to go along with the 1996 at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Parker will be one of at least two former Braves playing in the NBA next season. Center Patrick O'Bryant was the No. 9 overall selection by Golden State in last month's NBA Draft and recently signed a two-year contract with the Warriors.
In addition, forward Marcellus Sommerville is playing for the Dallas Mavericks entry in the Southern California Summer Pro League in Long Beach, Calif. In his third game for the Mavericks entry, Sommerville scored 12 points in last night's 99-87 loss to the Lakers. Sommerville has scored in double-figures in all three games at The Pyramid, averaging 12.7 points to date. The Mavericks will play again tonight against Memphis, then will close out their five-game schedule in the Summer Pro League Saturday against Washington.
