Mickell Gladness

Mickell Gladness

Gladness as a member of the Miami Heat in December 2011
No. 32 – Kalev/Cramo
Position Center
League Korvpalli Meistriliiga
VTB United League
Personal information
Born (1986-07-26) July 26, 1986
Birmingham, Alabama
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight 230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
High school Sylacauga (Sylacauga, Alabama)
College
NBA draft 2008 / Undrafted
Playing career 2008–present
Career history
2008–2009 Matrixx Magixx
2009–2011 Rio Grande Valley Vipers
2011 Dakota Wizards
2011–2012 Miami Heat
2012 Golden State Warriors
2012–2013 Santa Cruz Warriors
2013–2014 Reno Bighorns
2014 Jiangxi Xinye
2014–2015 Townsville Crocodiles
2015 Canterbury Rams
2015–2016 Maccabi Ashdod
2016 San Lorenzo de Almagro
2016–present Kalev/Cramo
Career highlights and awards

Mickell Jawaun Gladness (born July 26, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for Kalev/Cramo of the Korvpalli Meistriliiga. Gladness grew up in Alabama, played college basketball for Lawson State Community College and Alabama A&M University, and began his professional career in the Netherlands after going undrafted in the 2008 NBA draft. In 2011, Gladness debuted in the NBA with the Miami Heat.

Early life

Gladness was born in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up in Sylacauga where he attended Sylacauga High School from 2000 to 2004.[1]

College career

In his first and only season playing basketball for Lawson State Community College, Gladness averaged modest numbers with 3.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.[1] He transferred to Alabama A&M in 2005 where he played out the remaining three years of his college eligibility. At Alabama A&M, Gladness majored in business management.[2]

Due to NCAA rules where a player does not have to sit out one full season if he or she transfers up a division (in this case, from a community college up to Division I) Gladness was able to begin playing immediately as a true sophomore in 2005–06. He appeared in 26 games and blocked 77 shots.[2] It was in his junior season, however, that Gladness made a name for himself in college basketball. Playing in 30 games, Gladness rose out of seemingly nowhere to lead the nation in blocked shots per game at 6.3, with an adjusted-per-40 minutes rate of 7.9 bpg.[1][2] He set an NCAA Division I single game record with 16 blocks against Texas Southern on February 24, 2007.[1][2] No other player in Division I history has even recorded 15 blocks in a single game.[1][2] Despite showing similar statistics otherwise, Gladness' blocks per game average dropped to 4.5 for his senior year.[1][2] It is speculated that opposing players now knew of his shot-blocking ability and avoided getting too close for him to block their shots.[1][2] Although he did not repeat as the NCAA season shots blocked leader, he did graduate having blocked 396 shots in only three seasons of Division I basketball, which was good enough to be in the all-time top 25 when he graduated.[1][2] In his final two seasons, Gladness was a first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference selection.[1][2]

Professional career

Gladness went undrafted in the 2008 NBA draft. In July 2008, he signed a two-year deal with Matrixx Magixx of the Dutch Basketball League.[2][3] In 2009, he opted out of the second year of his two-year contract with Matrixx.[2]

In November 2009, Gladness was acquired by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League where he went on to help the team win the 2010 D-League championship. He subsequently joined the Miami Heat for the 2010 NBA Summer League and on September 27, 2010, he signed with the Heat. However, he was later waived on October 11, 2010,[4] and on October 30, he was reacquired by the Vipers.[4] On January 24, 2011, he was waived by the Vipers. Five days later, he was acquired by the Dakota Wizards, only to be waived by the team on March 19, 2011.[4]

In November 2011, Gladness was reacquired by the Dakota Wizards. On December 9, 2011, he signed with the Miami Heat and went on to make his NBA debut on December 25 against Dallas. On February 7, 2012, he was waived by the Heat,[5] only to re-sign with the team on February 11 to a 10-day contract. On February 28, he signed a second 10-day contract with the Heat,[4][6] but after that expired, he parted ways with the Heat after appearing in just eight games.

On March 22, 2012, Gladness signed a 10-day contract with the Golden State Warriors.[7] On April 1, 2012, he signed with the Warriors for the rest of the 2011–12 season.[8] Gladness started the final seven games of the regular season for the Warriors, recording a season-best game on April 26 in the season finale against San Antonio with 14 points and 9 rebounds.[9]

On September 7, 2012, Gladness re-signed with the Miami Heat.[10] However, he was later waived again on October 21, 2012.[11] On November 28, 2012, he was acquired by the Santa Cruz Warriors.[12]

In September 2013, Gladness signed with the Orlando Magic.[13] However, he was later waived by the Magic on October 25, 2013.[14] After returning to Santa Cruz on December 9, 2013, he was traded the following day to the Reno Bighorns.[15] Following the 2013–14 D-League season, he joined Jiangxi Xinye of the Chinese NBL.[16]

On June 12, 2014, Gladness signed with the Townsville Crocodiles for the 2014–15 NBL season.[17] In 27 games for the Crocodiles, he averaged 9.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and a league-leading 2.2 blocks per game.[18]

On February 9, 2015, Gladness signed with the Canterbury Rams for the 2015 New Zealand NBL season.[19] In 18 games for the Rams, he averaged 11.1 points, 11.3 rebounds and a league-leading 2.3 blocks per game.[20]

In September 2015, Gladness signed with Maccabi Ashdod of the Israeli Basketball Premier League.[21] He left the team in March 2016 after appearing in 21 games. Later that month, he joined San Lorenzo de Almagro of Argentina, but his stint lasted just three games.

On May 6, 2016, Gladness joined the NBL All-Australian side in China to provide some additional height and defensive play in the three-game series against the Chinese national team.[22]

On September 16, 2016, Gladness signed with Estonian club Kalev/Cramo.[23]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011–12 Miami 8 0 3.5 .333 .000 .000 1.4 .3 .1 .1 .3
2011–12 Golden State 18 7 12.4 .429 .000 .500 2.6 .2 .2 1.1 3.0
Career 26 7 9.7 .424 .000 .500 2.2 .2 .2 .8 2.2

NBL

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2014–15 Townsville 27 27 25.1 .531 .000 .506 7.7 .4 .3 2.2 9.1
Career 27 27 25.1 .531 .000 .506 7.7 .4 .3 2.2 9.1

Personal

Gladness and his wife, Adriana, have a son named Cale.[24]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Mickell Gladness". TheDraftReview.com. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Mickell Gladness" (PDF). NBA.com. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  3. ↑ Young, LaVonte (July 29, 2010). "Gladness playing for Miami Heat in Summer League". DailyHome.com. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Mickell Gladness Player Profile". RealGM.com. RealGM, L.L.C. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  5. ↑ "HEAT Request Waivers on Mickell Gladness". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. February 7, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  6. ↑ Heat re-sign Mickell Gladness to second 10-day contract
  7. ↑ "Warriors Sign Free Agent Center Mickell Gladness To 10-Day Contract". NBA.com. March 22, 2012. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  8. ↑ Warriors Sign Mickell Gladness For Remainder Of Season
  9. ↑ Mickell Gladness 2011-12 Game Log
  10. ↑ Miami Heat sign Jarvis Varnado and Mickell Gladness
  11. ↑ HEAT Waive Dozier and Gladness
  12. ↑ Santa Cruz Warriors Add Maurice Baker And Mickell Gladness
  13. ↑ Magic Sign Osby, Four Others; Prepare for Camp
  14. ↑ Magic Waive Four Players; Roster Trimmed to 15
  15. ↑ Bighorns Aquire [sic] Mickell Gladness in Three Team Trade
  16. ↑ Former NBA big-man Mickell Gladness signs with Townsville Crocodiles
  17. ↑ Crocs sign import centre Mickell Gladness
  18. ↑ Player statistics for Mickell Gladness – ANBL
  19. ↑ Ex-NBA centre Mickell Gladness signs for Canterbury Rams
  20. ↑ Player statistics for Mickell Gladness – NZNBL
  21. ↑ Source: Ex-NBA center Mickell Gladness, led...
  22. ↑ MICKELL GLADNESS JOINS CPA AUSTRALIA NBL ALL AUSTRALIAN SIDE
  23. ↑ BC Kalev/Cramo signs Mickell Gladness, re-signs Martin Dorbek
  24. ↑ From the NBA to NZ: No regrets for new Canterbury Ram Mickell Gladness
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