Rip Hamilton is a retired professional basketball player. Hamilton played 14 seasons in the NBA and is best known for his nine-year stint with the Detroit Pistons, where he was a three-time All-Star. He helped lead the Pistons to six straight Eastern Conference Finals appearances, back-to-back NBA Finals appearances, their best record in franchise history (64–18 in 2005–06), and the 2004 NBA championship. Born and raised in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, a suburb west of Philadelphia, Hamilton played three years for the University of Connecticut. In his third and final year, Hamilton was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player en route to an upset NCAA Championship win over the favored Duke Blue Devils. He is the second-leading scorer in Connecticut Huskies history. Named a consensus first-team All-American, Hamilton decided to forgo his senior year and enter the NBA draft. Drafted seventh overall by the Washington Wizards, where he would spend the next three seasons, Hamilton notably averaged 20 points per game, starting next to Michael Jordan. Traded to Detroit for Jerry Stackhouse in 2002, Hamilton played with the Pistons for nine seasons before ending his career with two final seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The Pistons retired his No. 32 jersey on February 26, 2017.
