| John Salley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | John Thomas Salley |
| Born: | May 16, 1964 |
| Occupation: | Basketball Player, actor, talk show host |
| Years active: | 1986-2000 |
| Known for: | being a Basketball player |
John Thomas Salley (born May 16, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player, actor and talk show host. He was the first player in NBA history to play on three different championship-winning franchises, as well as the first player (and only one of two, the other being Tim Duncan) in the NBA to win a championship in three different decades.
After being drafted in the first round out of Georgia Tech in 1986, the 7'0" (2.13 m) Salley played both power forward and center for the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Panathinaikos BC and Los Angeles Lakers. He was a long-time host of the former Fox Sports Net show The Best Damn Sports Show Period.
Early Life[]
Salley was born in Brooklyn, New York. Salley played high school ball at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn. He is a 1988 graduate of Georgia Tech's College of Management. He holds Georgia Tech's blocked shot record, and had his jersey number 22 retried, a very rare honor in college basketball.
Basketball Career[]
Detroit Pistons[]
Salley was drafted by the by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 1986 NBA Draft out of Georgia Tech. After joining the Pistons, he became close friends with Adrian Dantley, who taught him proper nutrition, how to exercise, and how to conduct himself off to court. Salley, for his part, called Dantley "The Teacher" Salley would become good friend with comedian Eddie Murphy and made several appearances at comedy clubs in the off-season. In 1989 and 1990, he played on two Pistons NBA championship teams. He is among the Pistons' all-time leaders in blocked shots.
Under the coaching of Chuck Daly, Salley was part of the Pistons era that featured three consecutive NBA finals appearances. The team's defense oriented style of play earned them the nickname of the NBA's "Bad Boys", with Salley playing alongside Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, James Edwards, Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas, Rick Mahorn and Dantley. After losing the 1988 NBA Finals in 7 games to the Lakers, the Pistons' run came to an end when the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls swept them in 4 games in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals.
Miami Heat, Tornoto Raptors[]
Salley was traded to the Miami Heat in 1992 and, a few years after that, was left unprotected by Miami in the 1995 expansion draft. Following a short stint with the inaugural Toronto Raptors team where he received little playing time, he negotiated a buy out of his contract.
Chicago Heat[]
Free of his Raptors contract, Salley signed with the Chicago Bulls, where he played with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc and former Pistons teammates Dennis Rodman and James Edwards. The Bulls of 1995-96 achieved a record-breaking 72-win season, ending with victory in the NBA championship. After the championship, Salley Retired. In 1996, Salley became came out of retirement to join the Greek team Panathinaikos BC for a few games.
Lakers[]
In 1999, Salley joined a Lakers team led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. He saw little action for the Lakers en route to the first of three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. In 2000, he retired again following the first Lakers championship season after proudly proclaiming that he had won "four championship rings, with three different teams, in three different decades and two different millenniums".
(Post) Pro-Basketball Career[]
John Salley had a role in Bad Boys and Bad Boys II, as a thick-glassed computer hacking nerd who gets out of jail because he helps crack files for the Miami Police Department. In 1996, Salley appeared as a veterans basketball player alongside Whoopi Goldberg in the film Eddie, about a fan who takes over a coach of the New York Knicks.
In the fall of 1998, Salley hosted the game show I Can't Believe You Said That, which aired on the Fox Family (now ABC Family) Channel. During that time, he also guest-starred as a panelist on Hollywood Squares.
In 2001, he made an appearance in the Luther Vandross music video "Take You Out".
In 2003, Salley appeared in the Showtime TV film Coast to Coast alongside actress Selma Blair.
In 2004, he was part of a three celebrity judges (along with Debbie Matenopoulos and Morgan Fairchild respectively) in the TBS Superstation reality show, He's a Lady.
In 2005, he appeared in the television series Noah's Arc as Victor.
In 2006, Salley was named the Commissioner of the American Basketball Association.
In 2007, Salley appeared in the ABC reality television series, Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, featuring a dozen of celebrities in stock car racing competition. In the first round of competition, Salley matched up with John Cena and tennis star Serena Williams. Salley also became host of the BET show Ballers.
Salley joined the cast of the reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, which premiere on NBC on June 1, 2009. He came in third place with Lou Diamond Phillips winner and Torrie Wilson runner-up. On the show, he became friends with Patti Blagojevich who is the wife of Rod Blagojevich.
He also appeared in the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic in 2009 as a member of the shopaholic help group (interestingly playing a retired NBA player), and had a role as a pimp in the blaxploitation spoof Black Dynamite.
He was one of the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period on Fox Sports Network. Salley hosted The John Salley Block Party, a radio morning show on Los Angeles station 100.3 The Beat from May 2005-2006.
For a short time, Salley provided analysis for NBC's NBA Showtime.
Salley appeared in the Disney Channel original movie, The Ultimate Christmas Present as a tall elf.
Salley hosted a podcast on Adam Carolla's ACE Broadcasting Network with sportswriter Kevin Hench entitled Spied and the Henchman. The show was cancelled on March 18, 2011.
Salley has also hosted VH1's Basketball Wives.
In 2012, he appeared as guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race (season 4, episode 2).
On an episode of Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker ("The NFL Kicker and the Workaholic", aired March 12, 2013) he acts as a consultant to Patti Stanger, to help one of her clients (an ex-NFL player) become less of a "playa" and find a woman to settle down with.
He is also a ambassador for Operation Smile.
This fall and for the next four spread out months, he'll be hosting The Big Spin for the Michigan Lottery.
Personal Life[]
Salley is a vegan and has appeared in PETA's testimonial videos, as well as promoting alternatives to practices of massive factory farming.
Salley is also noted for speaking at Michigan Vegfest since 2009 and appearing on VegMichael's billboard campaign.
On May 4, 2010 it was announced that Salley had joined the Simply Raw team. The group of individual who produced the documentary Raw for 30 had approached Salley with their video about reversing diabetes and "it instantly got his attention" since his father had this disease.
Salley teamed up with Farm Sanctuary in 2010 to host their New York City Walk for Farm Animals on Sunday, October 24, 2010.
Salley married Natasha Duff in 1993, and they have three children together.
John Salley is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
In June 2012, Salley became the official spokesperson for a natural supplements line called ViriMax that is developed by Natural Product Solutions, LLC.