James White

James William White IV (born October 21, 1982) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the New York Knicks of the NBA. Standing at a height of 6'7", and weighing 215 lbs, he plays the positions of shooting guard and small forward. White earned the nickname 'Flight 75' due to his leaping ability.

White is well known for his athleticism and his ability to dunk. Since high school, his most famous dunk has been the between-the-legs dunk, with many variations. He is also known for his ability to jump from the free throw line and dunk a basketball with both hands. 'Flight' White was a runner-up in two notable dunk contests: behind future University of Florida and Golden State Warriors power forward David Lee in the 2001 McDonald's High School Slam Dunk Contest, and behind North Carolina's David Noel in the NCAA College Slam Dunk Contest during the 2006 Final Four weekend.

College career

White played his freshman year at the University of Florida in 2001–02 helping the Gators to a 22–9 record. He saw action in all but two games, making a pair of starts and averaged 20.5 minutes of playing time. He posted averages of 6.1 points and 2.9 rebounds.

He transferred to the University of Cincinnati, and after sitting out in 2002–03, he became a starter for the Bearcats in his three years with them, including his senior year when he averaged 16.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks.

2003–04 season

White made his UC debut in mid-December 2003 vs. Middle Tennessee, playing for the first time since March 2002, scoring eight points in 19 minutes of action. Tallied 14 points in the win over Miami (December 27, 2003), while also dishing out four assists. Moved into the starting lineup vs. DePaul (January 11, 2004), replacing injured Armein Kirkland, and became a fixture. Tallied 12 points, five rebounds and three assists vs. Louisville (January 21, 2004). He had 12 points and four rebounds at Wake Forest (February 15, 2004). He lettered in the spring for the C-USA champion UC track and field team. Qualified for NCAA Regionals in the high jump and triple jump. Named C-USA co-Player of the Week after averaging 14.5 points, 8.0 assists and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 69 percent from the field in a pair of UC wins (February 23–29). Scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, both then-career highs, in the win over Saint Louis (February 25, 2004), also recording seven assists, three steals and two blocked shots.He dished out nine assists at Charlotte (February 28, 2004). He scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and had six assists in the C-USA semifinal win over Saint Louis (March 12, 2004).

He started the final 21 games of the season and took on a larger share of the ball-handling responsibilities in the final eight contests. He became team assists leader (3.6) who averaged 4.8 assists over the final eight games. He dished out seven assists and gathered six rebounds in the NCAA Tournament opening round win over East Tennessee State (March 19, 2004).

2004–05 season

Scored 10 points, all in the decisive game-clinching scoring run, in the season opening win over Valparaiso (November 19, 2004). Scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the win over Miami (Ohio) (December 27, 2004). Tallied 15 points vs. Louisville (January 15, 2005) on 4-of-5 shooting, and also recorded eight rebounds and seven assists, while holding UofL All-American Francisco Garcia to seven points. Scored a career-high 25 points, on 9-of-12 shooting, and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win over Houston (January 29, 2005). He played all 40 minutes of the Charlotte game (February 5, 2005), finishing with 18 points, five rebounds and six assists He tallied 14 points, leading UC's second-half comeback with 12 points, in the win over UAB (February 19, 2005). He scored the game-winning basket vs. Memphis (March 5, 2005) when he grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a short jumper from the baseline with 16.2 seconds to play and finished with 11 points and tied a career high with 11 rebounds. Tallied 15 points and had six rebounds in the NCAA Tournament opening round win over Iowa (March 17, 2005). He became team leader in assists (3.1) and scored in double digits 19 times.

2005–06 season

Scored 21 points in win over Murray State (November 19, 2005), making a steal and dunk in the final seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime. He scored 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and had seven rebounds, and three steals in the win over Vanderbilt (December 10, 2005), sinking a career-high four treys. Rallied UC from a five-point deficit in the final two and a half minutes of the win over LSU (December 23, 2005), hitting back-to-back 3-pointers at the 2:27 and 1:51 marks and a pair of clinching free throws at 0:17. Tallied a season-high 23 points vs. North Carolina A&T (December 30, 2005),matching personal bests with four 3-point field goals and four steals. He tallied 22 points, making 4-of-6 treys, and hit a 3-pointer to put UC in the lead with 2:57 to play in the win over Providence (February 17, 2006), and also grabbing seven rebounds. He scored 17 points, going 3-of-5 from 3-point range, and had four assists vs. Seton Hall (February 28, 2006). White scored a career-high 32 points, including a career-high five three-pointers, in a narrow loss to Syracuse on March 8.

He became team scoring leader (15.9) who has reached double figures in all but four games. Topped the 1,000-point mark in career scoring with 1,209 points, 1,027 scored during his three seasons as a Bearcat to become the 44th member of UC's 1,000-point club. Leads the team in free throw percentage (.839) and is second in steals (1.1), assists (2.1), blocks (0.8) and third in rebounding (5.0). Named to the Las Vegas Holiday Classic all-tournament team after averaging 18.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in the four wins.

Professional career

NBA He was selected in the second round (31st overall) by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2006 NBA Draft, and his rights were immediately traded to the Indiana Pacers for the rights to the Pacers' pick at No. 45 overall (Alexander Johnson), and second-round draft choices in 2007 and 2008. In eight preseason games with Indiana, White averaged 3.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 17.5 minutes a game over 8 preseason games. He was cut by the Indiana Pacers on October 31, 2006, with coach Rick Carlisle saying his release was the most difficult cut he has been involved with in his coaching career. White signed a two-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs on November 3, 2006.

On December 16, 2006 the Spurs assigned White to play in their NBA Development League affiliated team the Austin Toros. He was recalled on December 26, but re-assigned to Austin three days later. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich stated that the reason for the move was that the in-season schedule does not allow much time to practice and the veteran-heavy team does not allow any spare minutes for White. He continued to receive his salary from the Spurs while playing for the Toros. Toros coach Dennis Johnson stated that White received regular playing time. After playing in 15 games (with 11 starts), and averaging 16.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.67 steals in 34.4 minutes, White was recalled by the Spurs for the second time on January 27, 2007. He had hitherto not seen any playing time with the Spurs.

On March 26, White made his NBA debut with the Spurs against the Golden State Warriors, scoring 9 points and grabbing 3 rebounds in 14 minutes during his first game. White also got the first NBA start of his career on April 16, 2007 in a loss against the Memphis Grizzlies. In a game where the Spurs rested their regular lineup due to the playoff standings already having been decided, White responded by scoring a career-high 17 points in 39 minutes of play. He averaged 8.2 PPG in 6 games for the Spurs. He was waived during the off-season by the Spurs on July 23, 2007 and received an NBA championship ring.

NBA 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

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2006–07	San Antonio	6	2	22.8	.439	.286	.800	3.3	.8	.5	.2	8.3
2008–09	Houston	4	0	2.8	.600	.500	.000	.0	.3	.3	.3	1.8
2012–13	New York	57	16	7.6	.431	.341	.579	.8	.5	.2	.1	2.2
Career		67	18	8.7	.438	.340	.676	1.0	.5	.3	.1	2.7

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2009	Houston	5	2.4	.333	.500	.000	.2	.0	.0	.0	1.4
2013	New York	4	2.3	.500	.000	.000	.5	.0	.0	.0	1.0
Career		9	2.3	.385	.250	.000	.3	.0	.0	.0	1.2