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Laker From The Past: Tony Campbell

Written by Ezra - TP&G Blog | 27 September 2011

As part of our "lockout relief" efforts, The Purple And Gold Blog will be profiling some of the past Laker role players that made an impact on the team one way or another. This is Part 7 of the series.

TonyCampbell
TONY CAMPBELL
Position: Shooting Guard/Small Forward
Height: 6' 7"
Weight: 215 lbs.
Jersey Number: 19
College: Ohio State University

Seasons with Lakers: 1988-89
Averages as a Laker: 51.1% FG / 17.1% 3Pts. / 78% FTs / 8.6 PPG / 2.1 RPG / 1 AST / .7 STL / .2 BLK / 1.5 TO / 2.5 PF / 15.5 MPG
A scorer by nature, Tony Campbell signed with the Lakers as a free agent on March 30th, 1988 and became an integral member of the bench during the 1988 Playoffs on their run to their back-to-back title. He only averaged 3.1 points in 6.1 minutes per game in the 15 games he played in the playoffs that year, but it was his defense against the Detroit Pistons in the 1988 NBA Finals that really highlighted his contribution to the Lakers.

Why was he so successful defensively against the likes of Joe Dumars, Vinnie Johnson, and Adrian Dantley? That's because he spent the previous 3 seasons as a Piston before putting on the purple and gold jersey.

Campbell averaged 11 points while shooting 56.4% per game in just his first 13 games as a Laker. However, he couldn't duplicate his production the following season (6.2 points/45.8% per game). That prompted general manager Jerry West to allow the Minnesota Timberwolves acquire Tony through their expansion draft in 1989 where he stayed for the next 3 years and set the team's first all-time scoring record of 4,888 points. Doug West broke his record in 1995.

In 4 years as a Buckeye, Campbell averaged 14.7 points and 6 rebounds as their starting small forward. He was selected by Detroit as their 20th pick in the 1st round of the 1984 Draft.

One interesting historical fact about Campbell is he was the first player to ever win an NBA title and a Continental Basketball Association (CBA) championship in the same year.

Tony also played for the Knicks, Mavericks and retired from the NBA as a Cavalier in 1995. He then went overseas and joined the AEK Athens before heading back to the CBA to play for the Florida Beachdogs in 1996. Ten years later, he became the head coach of the boys' basketball team at Paramus Catholic High School in New Jersey.

Campbell is currently the athletic director for the Bay Ridge Preparatory School in Brooklyn, New York.