After profiling Drew Gooden (No. 9 ex-Jayhawk who’s had the best pro career) and Nick Collison (No. 8) in my last two installments in this series, I now look at their former gutty KU teammate and the third outstanding member of Roy Williams’ 1999 recruiting class, one of the best groups in school history that left an indelible mark in Kansas basketball annals.
No. 7 Kirk Hinrich
Kirk Hinrich’s childhood hoop dreams officially came true at 7:10 p.m. (CT) on June 26, 2003, when NBA commissioner David Stern announced during the league draft that the Chicago Bulls had selected the former Kansas standout guard with the seventh pick in the first round.
Hinrich smiled broadly, pumped his fists, embraced his family members, and put on a Bulls hat. He was simply overwhelmed at the moment.
“I’m just real excited,” Hinrich said. “I can’t be more happier. It’s a dream I’ve had all my life. I think I’m going to go in there with the right attitude and make it work out.”
Chicago was looking for a point guard after starter Jay Williams suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle crash a week earlier; his NBA career would be over after just one season.
Hinrich, who admitted he “had to overcome the stereotype of being a white point guard,” greatly impressed scouts during workouts with his athletic ability.
“I think I showed them,” said Hinrich, a Sioux City, Iowa, native. “I went in there trying to impress people. I’m just thrilled to death going to Chicago.”
Now, as Hinrich’s NBA career appears to be over after 13 years (he hasn’t officially announced his retirement, but was not picked up last season), he’s become one of Chicago’s all-time greats, spending all but two and a half seasons with the franchise that drafted him. The 6-4 Hinrich ranks No. 1 in Bulls history in three-point field goals and three-point field goals attempted, No. 3 in career games and seasons played (both behind Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen), No. 3 in assists and steals (both again behind Jordan and Pippen), No. 4 in minutes, No. 8 in field goals, No. 6 in field goals attempted, No. 8 in points, No. 7 in assists per game, No. 6 in assists percentage, No. 7 in defensive win shares, No. 10 in win shares and No. 8 in value over replacement player.
Hinrich and Chicago have simply been a great basketball marriage, beginning with his first year in the city when he made the NBA All-Rookie First Team and averaged 12.0 points while ranking eighth in the league with 6.8 assists per game.
"I feel I'm kind of meant to play in Chicago," Hinrich told the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 14, 2004 during that rookie season. "The city is blue-collar. It's how I play. I'm a guy willing to do the little things. I've had to work for everything I've ever gotten. And to play in front of fans like we have who come every night even though we haven't been winning, it motivates you."
Hinrich was a pivotal part of Chicago’s run to the playoffs his second year in the league and the team has been in the playoffs 11 of the last 13 seasons.
“He helped birth a new, competitive basketball era for the franchise after the depths of 1999 through 2003,” longtime Bulls’ writer Sam Smith wrote at NBA.com on Nov. 24, 2015.
Hinrich averaged in double-figure scoring in seven of his first eight seasons in the league, and the only year that didn’t happen was 2008-09, when he just missed with 9.9 points per game as Derrick Rose joined the Bulls and became the starting point guard. Hinrich has also averaged in double figures in eight of 11 playoffs.
Hinrich’s second-to-fourth years were statistically his best, when he averaged 15.7 points and 6.4 assists in 2004-05 (21.2 ppg in playoffs), 15.9 points and 6.3 assists in 2005-06 (20.5 ppg in playoffs) and a career-high 16.6 points and 6.3 assists in 2006-07. Hinrich was called the face of the franchise and even compared to Steve Nash while on the cusp of NBA stardom. While it never happened as Rose arrived as the new man in town and Hinrich’s offensive production and minutes slipped, he still carved out a very distinguished and impressive NBA career.
After stints with the Washington Wizards (2010-11) and Atlanta Hawks (2011-12), Hinrich rejoined the Bulls in 2012-13 (he started all 60 games with Rose injured) and played there until he was traded to Atlanta on Feb. 18, 2016, a move which reportedly upset several Bulls’ players.
During his last NBA season with both Chicago and Atlanta, Hinrich played in a career-low 46 games and averaged just 3.0 points and 1.6 minutes in 13.7 minutes per game.
Known in Chi-Town as Captain Kirk with his relentless passion, gritty play, strong leadership and tenacious defense, Hinrich persevered through injuries during the latter years of his career while still making winning plays when in action. Like his former KU teammate Nick Collison, Hinrich’s game has transcended pure numbers in many ways. The ball always moved better when Hinrich was in the game and he’s one of the greatest warriors and battlers in Bulls history, reminding Chicago fans of former great Jerry Sloan.
Hinrich’s coaches have all loved him.
"You go by what he does for the team and how he helps you win," then-Bulls’ coach Tom Thibodeau told the Chicago Tribune during the 2014-15 season. "That's where he is invaluable. I just love his competitive spirit. To me, he's going to fight for everything. He's going to run your team. He's a great leader. Here, you can see how vocal he is. He knows what everyone is supposed to do. He's getting guys to the right spots."
Current Bulls’ coach Fred Hoiberg is another admirer.
"Kirk is just so rock-solid," Hoiberg told the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 10, 2015. "He's always in the right spot. Defensively, he's very smart (and) he can get us into an offense. He does a lot of things that don't show up in a box score. That's a tough role to have, but Kirk has played it well his entire career."
Hoiberg talked more about Hinrich at NBA.com on Nov. 24, 2015.
“Fans should appreciate everything he does because he is all about winning,” Hoiberg said. “You can’t have enough of those guys on your team. He has the ultimate respect of his teammates because of how hard he plays and how he does those little things.”
Hoiberg, a fellow Iowa native, has been a long fan of Hinrich’s.
“He’s had an unbelievable career. Besides him decommitting from Iowa State (Hinrich did so after ISU coach Tim Floyd left to accept the Bulls’ head coaching job), I’m a big admirer of everything he has accomplished,” Hoiberg said with a laugh. “Even back in the days when he was playing at Kansas following a fellow Iowan was fun. I think he came (to the Bulls) the year I left. I would have loved to have played with Kirk. He’s the ultimate team guy. ... He’s just a flat out winner.
“The biggest thing is the way he organizes you, gets you into an offense. We scored 31 in the first quarter against Phoenix. A lot of that was because of Kirk’s pace. He’s going to get your defense organized as well because he talks and communicates out there on the floor. He’s a great example for the young guys because of how he works, how he approaches it; he’s a true professional. Played a lot of minutes in this league, 13 years and still going out and producing like he has.”
Hinrich’s former and current teammates rave about him as well.
“The thing about him is he's not scared of anybody,” Collison told the Chicago Tribune during Hinrich’s rookie season. “People look at him and think he's from Iowa, he's not big and doesn't look athletic, and they expect to intimidate him. But he defends as well as anyone I've ever seen or played with. Kirk gets the stereotype of the white guard ... But guys try to rush him and he goes right by them. He loves it when guys pressure him and play him physical."
Collison and Hinrich were former AAU teammates before their paths crossed again at Kansas.
"The first time I knew about him," Collison said, "was in an AAU tournament (for kids)19 and under and we're 16. There are all these McDonald's All-Americans with their uniforms and matching shoes, and we're these kids from Iowa with the ratty uniforms and Kirk takes on the best guy and we win by 20.
"He was so fearless. I remember one time in college he gets hit in the eye. There's blood in there and we find out the next day he has a concussion. So he's holding his left eye after he got hit and with one hand still is dribbling and making the passes. He never came out of the game."
With his career ticking down and Hinrich on the last year of his contract in 2015, he was still playing with that same fiery passion and trying to improve.
"Oh, geez, I don't know, I don't know," Hinrich told the Tribune then about how many jumpers he’s shot in his lifetime.
"That's the great thing about this game, you can always get better. Growing up, it's what I wanted to do and I feel blessed to be able to do it."
The former KU star said that October day that he wasn’t thinking about retirement just yet.
"It seems like yesterday I was a young player and now all these players call me, 'The Old Guy,' " Hinrich said. "I'm going to cherish it and not take anything for granted. I realize I'm at the tail end of my career (but) I feel like I can play longer.
"I hope that I will know when it's time to go," he added. "Mentally and physically it can be challenging at times but I'm up for it (this season). ... When you get back to it (basketball after the offseason) you realize how much you really love it and want to do it as long as you can. I love the competition of it. I love the camaraderie with my teammates, the sense of coming together as a team and trying to accomplish something."
With hoops has come a marriage and family. Hinrich has a wife, Jill, and four young children.
"When I was young it was easy to get caught up in the lifestyle — it's a great life," he said. "You get so many privileges but you have to be a pro and do your job. When I got married and had kids, it put everything in perspective for me. It was the first time I ever really had to balance basketball and anything else. To balance it was one of the more challenging things I've ever had to do."
Now, after all of his accomplishments playing in the Windy City for 10 and a half seasons, Hinrich couldn’t ask for anything more.
“I grew up a big Bulls fan,” Hinrich told Smith. “To be drafted here and play most of my career here is such a blessing.”
Omar Sanchez of Bullsnation.net called him a “legendary Bull” on Aug. 25, 2015.
“Chicago’s Discobolus has always been with us. A physical specimen and war-tested master of the game. A constant balanced attack without having the flashiest game to play with. Captain Kirk isn’t ‘Augustus of Prima Porta’ or Michaelangelo’s ‘David’, but he is the ultimate litmus test for what it means to be a Bull.”
And then read what Smith penned on NBA.com in November 2015:
“Hinrich isn’t being enshrined in Springfield, but his Bulls career will rank among the best ever in franchise history. It should merit consideration to eventually have his jersey number retired if not only for his statistical accomplishments, but for the blue collar, working class way he’s gone about his job that is both a tribute and a testament to his city and team. Hinrich doesn’t excite the crowd or the highlight room denizens. But he gets the attention of the stars of the game with his relentless, physical, combative style that often frustrated the likes of Miami star Dwyane Wade into some of the toughest games of his career. Wade once even needed the defense of Pat Riley about Hinrich’s tenacious style of play. It was no surprise, even approaching 35 in January, that Hinrich ran Stephen Curry into one of the least productive games of the season in the Warriors’ tense victory over the Bulls.”
Hinrich, a 2007 All-Defensive Second-Team selection who started 665 of 879 NBA games, boasts career averages of 10.9 points (9,594), 4.8 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 30.7 minutes per game, while shooting 41.1 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 80.0 percent at the charity stripe.
Hinrich, 36, ranks No. 58 all time in three-point field goals (1,172) and No. 91 in assists (4,245).
According to basketballreference.com, he's earned $71,692,268.
An All-Big 12 First-Team selection his junior and senior seasons at Kansas, Hinrich was also a third-team Associated Press All-American as a senior in 2003 while named to the Wooden All-American team. Hinrich, who helped spark KU to two Final Fours in 2002 and 2003, had his jersey retired in Allen Fieldhouse on March 1, 2009.
He ranks 12th all time at Kansas in scoring (1,753 points), fifth in assists, sixth in steals, third in three-point field goals, and eighth in minutes.
Hinrich loved his KU career and playing for Roy Williams in storied Allen Fieldhouse.
“I think (it’s) the all-time best basketball arena,” Hinrich said. “It has so much history.”
History will prove that Hinrich was one of KU’s all-time greats. However, his road to stardom got off to a rocky start his freshman season. As Hinrich struggled adjusting to college basketball and school, he reached arguably the lowest point in his life at Kemper Arena in Kansas City against Saint Louis on Dec. 30, 1999. That’s when he went scoreless and had five turnovers in 13 minutes.
Williams, one of Hinrich’s biggest supporters, was waiting for him after the game. As the two walked back to the bus for the 45-minute drive to Lawrence, the head coach put his arm around his despondent player.
“You’re the guard I wanted,” Williams told Hinrich softly.
Hinrich told me before Chicago’s exhibition game against Seattle in Allen Fieldhouse in October 2006 that it was the turning point of his career.
“To have a coach behind you 100 percent like that and show that much confidence in you, it meant a lot,” he said.
Hinrich eventually became KU’s starting point guard and blossomed into an All-American. Williams will always have a true affinity for what he meant to him and Kansas basketball. The current North Carolina head coach has said the recruiting class of Hinrich, Collison and Gooden restored his faith in the game and reignited his passion for coaching.
Williams calls Hinrich’s competitive fire almost peerless.
“He’s one of the most self-disciplined players I’ve ever coached,” Williams once told the New York Times. “I was an assistant coach at North Carolina when Jordan played there. I think Kirk is in the same ballpark with Michael as far as competitiveness is concerned. ”
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