Brooklyn Nets: 15 best draft picks of all-time (updated through 2018-19)
By Phil Watson
147. . SG. New Jersey Nets (1st round, 8th overall, 1996 NBA Draft). Kerry Kittles. 5. player
Kerry Kittles was never an All-Star. He was never really a star at all, but he was a very solid pro who played an important role as the outside shooting threat for the New Jersey Nets for the better part of a decade.
Kittles was an All-Rookie Second Team pick in 1996-97 after the Nets took him eighth overall from Villanova in the 1996 NBA Draft. He was very good in his second year as well, averaging a career-best 17.2 points per game on .440/.418/.808 shooting.
But his right knee started to develop problems in 1999-2000 and he wound up missing the entire 2000-01 campaign after a second surgery on the balky joint.
He came back well for three seasons, even in a slightly diminished role as the Nets tried to manage his minutes a bit more carefully.
Kittles was with the Nets for eight seasons, active for seven, and averaged 14.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 33.6 minutes per game.
The Nets traded Kittles in July 2004 to the Los Angeles Clippers for a 2005 second-round pick. Kittles would last just one season in L.A., limited to 11 games because of a groin problem and, later, a bulging disc in his back, before retiring.
As a rookie, Kittles set a rookie record with 158 3-pointers, a mark that stood for 12 years before being broken by Rudy Fernandez of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2008-09. He has been an assistant coach at Princeton University the last two seasons.