Jodie Meeks

Jodie Meeks

Jodie Meeks (born August 21, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Meeks played college basketball for the University of Kentucky Wildcats. On January 13, 2009, he gained national recognition by breaking the Kentucky single-game scoring record by scoring 54 points in a nationally-televised game on ESPN against Tennessee. In the same game, he broke the university's single-game three-point record by making 10 three-pointers.

High school career

Meeks attended Norcross High School, which he led to its first state basketball championship in 2006 under coach Eddie Martin. During his senior high school season, Meeks averaged 23.6 points per game during the regular season and 28.3 points per game during the state playoffs. Meeks was named the 2006 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Player of the Year . He was also named 2006 Gwinnett Daily Post Player of the Year, 2006 Atlanta Tipoff Club Metro Player of the Year and Player of the Month (February 2006). He was named to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) All Star Team and led the North Team to its first victory in over three years. He was named the North Squads’ MVP. He was also named to the All Tournament Team at Bob Gibbons, Kingwood, The Main Event (Las Vegas), Chick-Fil-A, and Dell Curry’s Bojangles tournament. Also, he was named to the 2006 Derby Classic All Star game and played with many of his future Kentucky teammates on April 15, 2006 against rival Louisville recruits.

College career

Freshman season

See also: 2006-07 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team Meeks made his college debut November 2, 2006 in an exhibition game against Lindsey Wilson College at Rupp Arena coming off the bench. He finished the game with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. He was named CBS/Chevrolet Player of the Game during the nationally televised game against Louisville in Freedom Hall, after pouring in a career-high 18 points in the Wildcats' win over Louisville on December 16, 2006. He was named the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Freshman of the Week three times during his freshman season. Meeks was a unanimous selection to the SEC All-Freshman team. He was also recognized among America's best freshman selected by The Collegeinsider.com to the Freshmen All-America team. The Freshmen All-America team consists of 16 players selected by Division I coaches and NBA scouts.

Sophomore season

See also: 2007–08 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team Expectations were high for Meeks coming into his sophomore season, and it appeared that Meeks was going to match those expectations after scoring 34 points in an exhibition game against Pikeville College. However, injury limited him to 11 games that season. On April 2, it was announced that Meeks was diagnosed with a sports hernia.

Junior season

See also: 2008–09 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team On November 15, 2008, during the season-opener against Virginia Military Institute, Meeks scored 39 points, but the Wildcats lost 111–103. On November 28, Meeks scored 37 points in the Findlay Invitational tournament in Las Vegas against the Kansas State Wildcats. Kentucky would go on to win the tournament. Meeks had more points than the whole Kansas State team combined at half-time of that game. On December 20, Meeks scored a then-career high 46 points against Appalachian State at the annual home game for the Wildcats at Freedom Hall in Louisville. He tied former Kentucky Wildcat, Tony Delk's record for most three pointers in a game with 9. He set a record for the most points scored by a Wildcat in Freedom Hall with 46. He followed that performance two days later by scoring 32 points in just 28 minutes against Tennessee State University. Meeks and teammate Patrick Patterson are among UK's more productive pairs of teammates since the days of Dan Issel and Mike Pratt in the early 1970s.

On January 13, 2009, Meeks broke Kentucky's single-game scoring record (formerly held by Dan Issel) by scoring 54 points in a 90–72 win against rival Tennessee. In that game he also broke Tony Delk's single-game record, which he had shared, for three pointers by making 10 of 15 attempts and was 14 of 14 from the free throw line.

On February 11, 2009, Meeks made the game-winning three point shot with 4.7 seconds left against the Florida Gators. Meeks would again break the 40 point margin on February 14, scoring 45 points against the Arkansas Razorbacks team, a performance that produced the most points scored in a game by an individual at Bud Walton Arena. Meeks also broke the record for most 3-pointers in a season at UK, with 117.

Meeks was named a unanimous selection to the All-SEC First team during his junior season and was the first player since Chuck Hayes in 2004–05 to be named AP First Team All-SEC. He was named the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District IV Player of the Year. Meeks was named a Second Team All-American by the Associated Press (AP), the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), and by Sporting News.com. Meeks was a consensus Second Team All-American in 2008–09.

NCAA career statistics

Year	GP	MPG	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	DRPG	ORPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOPG	FPG	PPG
2006–07	34	22.1	95	227	.419	44	121	.364	61	68	89.7	2.0	0.9	2.8	1.5	0.9	0.1	1.2	1.3	8.7
2007–08	11	23.2	27	88	.307	16	50	.320	27	34	79.4	1.9	0.7	2.6	1.5	0.5	0.1	1.1	1.7	8.8
2008–09	36	34.4	263	568	.463	117	288	.406	221	234	90.2	2.9	0.5	3.4	1.8	1.3	0.1	2.7	1.9	23.7
Career	81	27.7	385	883	.436	177	459	.386	299	366	89	2.4	0.7	3.0	1.6	1.1	0.1	1.8	1.6	15.4

NBA

On April 7, 2009, Meeks declared his eligibility for the 2009 NBA Draft and his intention to not hire an agent, leaving open the possibility of returning to Kentucky next season. In a May 28 story, Meeks stated in reference to his desire to be a first round NBA draft pick, "If I'm not first round, then I'll go back to school." On June 15, 2009, Meeks decided to stay in the draft and forgo his final season of eligibility at Kentucky. During the 2009 NBA Draft on June 25, 2009, Meeks was drafted 41st overall by the Milwaukee Bucks.

On February 18, 2010, Meeks was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers along with Francisco Elson in exchange for Primoz Brezec and Royal Ivey.

On November 26, 2010, Meeks scored 21 points in a 99–90 loss to the Miami Heat. He got his first career start on December 3, 2010, putting up 9 points, one rebound, and one steal in 19 minutes. In just his second start, Meeks scored 26 points (20 in the first quarter), shooting 9–16 from the field, including 7–10 from long range (6–7 in the first quarter). On March 27, 2012, Meeks scored 31, a new career high.

In the 2011–12 season, Meeks' three-point field goal percentage dropped (.365) and his free throw attempts fell drastically. He eventually lost his starting job to Evan Turner.

On August 13, 2012, Meeks officially signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers worth about $3 million. The second year of the contract is a team option. On November 30, he scored 21 points on a career-high seven three-pointers in a 122–103 win over the Denver Nuggets.

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
2009–10	Milwaukee	41	0	11.9	.362	.280	.857	1.8	0.5	0.3	0.1	4.1
2009–10	Philadelphia	19	0	12.3	.440	.380	.722	1.4	0.9	0.3	0.1	5.9
2010–11	Philadelphia	74	64	27.9	.425	.397	.894	2.3	1.1	0.9	0.1	10.5
2011–12	Philadelphia	66	50	24.9	.409	.365	.906	2.4	0.8	0.6	0.0	8.4
2012–13	L. A. Lakers	78	10	21.3	.387	.357	.896	2.2	0.9	0.7	0.1	7.9
Career		278	124	21.9	.404	.367	.887	2.2	0.9	0.6	0.1	8.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2011	Philadelphia	5	5	25.0	.419	.444	.833	2.0	0.8	0.6	0.0	7.8
2012	Philadelphia	13	1	7.8	.346	.231	1.000	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	2.7
2013	L.A. Lakers	1	0	20.0	.250	.000	1.000	2.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	4.0
Career		19	6	13.0	.377	.333	.955	0.8	0.4	0.4	0.1	4.1