Damion Lee

Damion Lee
No. 14 – Maine Red Claws
Position Shooting guard
League NBA Development League
Personal information
Born (1992-10-21) October 21, 1992
Baltimore, Maryland
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight 210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school Calvert Hall (Towson, Maryland)
St. Thomas More
(Oakdale, Connecticut)
College
NBA draft 2016 / Undrafted
Playing career 2016–present
Career history
2016–present Maine Red Claws
Career highlights and awards
  • Second-team All-ACC – Media (2016)
  • Third-team All-ACC – Coaches (2016)
  • First-team All-CAA (2015)
  • Second-team All-CAA (2013)
  • CAA All-Defensive Team (2015)
  • CAA Rookie of the Year (2012)
  • CAA All-Rookie Team (2012)

Damion Lee (born October 21, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League. In his collegiate career, Lee played three seasons for Drexel before graduating and transferring to the University of Louisville for his redshirt senior season.[1]

High school career

Lee graduated from Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, Maryland,[2] where in his final season he was a Second-Team Baltimore Sun All-Metro and a First-Team All-Baltimore Catholic League selection. Lee attended prep school at St. Thomas More in Oakdale, Connecticut, where he averaged 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game during the 2010–11 season. Lee was a First Team All-New England Preparatory School Athletic Council selection, leading his team to a 30–7 record and the National Prep School Championship.

College career

Drexel

In his freshman season as a member of the 2011–12 Drexel Dragons men's basketball team, Lee started at point guard. During that season, he averaged 12 points and 4.4 rebounds.[3] After the impressive start to his college career, he was named the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Rookie of the Year. He was also named to the CAA All-Tournament team after averaging more than 15 points in Drexel's three tournament games. In the CAA championship game, the Dragons (25–5) lost to VCU 59–56 in highly anticipated mid-major final. VCU was a Final Four team the previous year, and the majority of projections had both teams making the NCAA tournament. However, a disappointing Selection Sunday saw the Dragons not invited to the NCAA Tournament and instead accepting an automatic bid to the 2012 National Invitation Tournament as the CAA regular season champion and #3 seed. The Dragons defeated UCF and Northern Iowa, before falling to UMass in the regional final.

The following season, Lee was named to the Second-Team All-CAA after leading Drexel in scoring and finishing third in the CAA averaging 17.1 points per game. He was also second in the CAA in free throw percentage (.829), and fourth in three pointers per game (2.3). In a game against Old Dominion, Lee recorded a career-high 34 points.

In his third season at Drexel, after being selected to the Preseason CAA All-Conference First Team, Lee suffered a torn ACL in a game against Arizona. This caused him to sit out the entire season and redshirt his junior year.

Before his redshirt junior season at Drexel, Lee was named to the Preseason CAA All-Conference First Team for the second year in a row. He also was named to the Charleston Classic All-Tournament team. On February 21, 2015, during a game against Northeastern, Lee suffered a fractured right hand which prematurely ended his season.[4] Lee averaged 21.4 points per game during the season, ranking fourth in the nation and first in the CAA.[5] His free throw percentage of .887% ranked 14th in the nation and second in the CAA. He also averaged 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 27 games. Furthermore, Lee also led the team in steals per game (1.5 SPG), field goal percentage (.438 FG%), and three-point percentage (.385 3P%).[6] At the conclusion of the regular season, Lee was one vote shy of winning CAA Player of the Year, losing to Senior William and Mary guard Marcus Thornton.[7] However, Lee did win awards in CAA All-Conference First Team, CAA All-Defensive Team, and CAA All-Academic Team.[8]

On March 30, 2015, Lee announced that he would be transferring out of Drexel University for his fifth and final collegiate season.[9] He was considered to be the top transfer in college basketball by ESPN.[8]

Louisville Cardinals

On April 23, 2015, play his final collegiate season at Louisville under head coach Rick Pitino.[10] Other schools Lee was considering included Arizona, Gonzaga, Marquette, and Maryland. Lee said after the move, "The U of L community itself was unreal. I don't think there's any other city or college basketball town like it."[8] By mid-season in December 2015, he was Louisville's top point scorer.[11] He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11, 2016.[12] On Senior Night, Lee passed the 2,000-point mark.[13] With 10 games remaining in the season, Louisville ranked as the 13th best team in the country announced a self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2015–16 season amid an ongoing NCAA investigation over an escort sex scandal involving recruits between 2010 and 2014. They finished the regular season as the #16 ranked team with a 23-8 record, and did not play in the ACC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament because of the ban.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft, Lee joined the Miami Heat for the 2016 NBA Summer League. On September 26, 2016, he signed with the Boston Celtics.[14] He was later waived by the Celtics on October 20 after appearing in two preseason games.[15] On October 31, he was acquired by the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League as an affiliate player of the Celtics.[16]

Personal life

The son of Michelle Riddick, he earned a general humanities and social science degree at Drexel and majored in special education, with a concentration in assistive technology at Louisville.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Geary, Molly (March 30, 2015). "Drexel guard Damion Lee says he will graduate, transfer". SI.com. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Drexel bio". DrexelDragons.com. Drexel Athletics. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  3. ↑ Medcalf, Myron (February 22, 2012). "Get to Know: Drexel's Damion Lee". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Damion Lee to Miss Rest of Season Due to Injury". DrexelDragons.com. February 23, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  5. ↑ "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Player Scoring Per Game Statistics - 2014-15". ESPN. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Drexel Dragons Stats - 2014-15". ESPN. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ "2014-15 All-CAA Men's Basketball Release" (PDF). CAASports.com. March 5, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 Greer, Jeff (April 23, 2015). "Drexel transfer Damion Lee picks U of L". Louisville Courier-Journal. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ Borzello, Jeff (March 30, 2015). "Damion Lee eyes other schools". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  10. ↑ Parrish, Gary (April 23, 2015). "Louisville lands Damion Lee". CBSSports. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ Sullivan, Tim (December 27, 2015). "Lee steps up but misfires for U of L". Louisville Courier-Journal. Archived from the original on December 28, 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  12. ↑ Payne, Terrence (February 11, 2016). "Naismith Trophy midseason list announced". Fox Sports. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  13. ↑ Graves, Gary B. (March 1, 2016). "No. 11 Louisville Holds Off Georgia Tech 56-53 on Senior Night". gocards.com. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Celtics Finalize Training Camp Roster". NBA.com. September 26, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  15. ↑ "The Celtics have waived Marcus Georges-Hunt...". Twitter. October 20, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  16. ↑ "2016 Training Camp Roster Announced". NBA.com. October 31, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Louisville bio". gocards.com. Louisville Athletics. Retrieved October 22, 2016.

External links

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