One of the best basketball players to ever come from Western New York has passed away.
Claudine Ewing from WGRZ-TV in Buffalo tweeted out Saturday morning that the family of 18-year National Basketball Association veteran Cliff Robinson said that he has died at the age of 53.
Robinson was born in Buffalo on Dec. 16, 1966 and was a graduate of Riverside High School. As a senior at Riverside playing basketball, Robinson averaged 22.3 points per-game and also averaged a dozen rebounds.
After graduating high school, Robinson attended the University of Connecticut and played four years of college basketball under the leadership of Hall of Fame head coach Jim Calhoun. Over his four years in college, Robinson averaged over 15 points per-game and helped lead UConn to an NIT title in 1988. He finished his collegiate career with 1,664 points, was named to the school's All-Century team and had his No. 00 retired.
In the 1989 NBA Draft, Robinson was drafted 36th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round. He went on to play eight seasons in Portland, where he averaged 16.2 points per-game primarily playing as a power forward or small forward. The 6-foot-10, 225-pounder went on to play in 644 games with the Trail Blazers and finished fifth in franchise history with 10,405 points scored.
Robinson also spent time in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets before calling it a career after the 2006-07 season. In 1,380 career games played in the NBA (13th all-time), "Uncle Cliff" went on to score 19,591 points, which ranks him 54th on the all-time list.
During his career, Robinson was an NBA All-Star once in 1994, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 1993, and was selected to the NBA’s All-Defensive Second-Team twice.
Robinson was an inductee of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
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