Sean Chambers (born February 27, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player, best known for being a resident import of the Alaska Aces basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association from 1989 to 2001.[1]

Sean Chambers
FEU Tamaraws
PositionHead coach
LeagueUAAP
Personal information
Born (1965-02-27) February 27, 1965 (age 59)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight196 lb (89 kg)
Career information
High schoolHighlands
(North Highlands, California)
College
Playing career1989–2001
PositionForward
Number20
Career history
As player:
1989–2001Alaska Milkmen / Aces
As coach:
2017–2018Alaska Aces (consultant)
2023–presentTNT Tropang Giga (player dev't assistant)
2024–presentFEU
2024–presentPhilippines (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
As player:

He formerly served an assistant coach for the TNT Tropang Giga, and now current coach of the FEU Tamaraws.[2]

Early life

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Beginning his collegiate career at Cuesta College, Chambers led the Cougars to a 20-11 season as a sophomore, highlighted by averaging 22.8 points per game.[3]

A back-to-back CCAA Player of the Year[4] and 1986 third-team NABC All-American[5] while playing for Cal Poly, Chambers was asked to try out for the United States Athletics team to the 1988 Seoul Olympics but preferred to stick to basketball.

He once held the record in high jump for the Grant Union School District, with a top lifetime clearance of 7 feet, 1.25 inches, which ranked as the country's fourth-leading prep high jump in 1983 (attracting a recruiting offer for track & field from Florida State before he elected to fully play basketball).[6]

Professional basketball career

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Standing 6-foot-2,[7] Chambers went to Manila with the Los Angeles Jaguars to play in the first PBA-IBA World Challenge series. In a sideshow, Chambers topped the special slam dunk competition. He went back the following year with the Jaguars and in 1989 PBA First Conference, he was hired by then Alaska coach Bogs Adornado to replace Carl Lott as their import.[8]

In 1991, Chambers led the Alaska Milkmen to their first-ever PBA championship, and finally got an award when he was named only the second recipient of the Mr. 100% award. Norman Black won the award in 1983. For the whole of 1991 PBA season, Chambers averaged 37.7 points in two conferences in a total of 34 games. He played 10 more seasons in the PBA with Alaska, and had the most titles among imports tied with Justin Brownlee, including a grand slam in 1996.[9]

PBA career statistics

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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

[10]

Season-by-season averages

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Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1989 Alaska 38 46.7 .593 .323 .707 15.4 6.3 1.5 1.8 38.3
1990 Alaska 23 47.5 .570 .250 .708 12.3 4.8 .9 1.9 29.9
1991 Alaska 34 47.1 .548 .167 .745 12.4 4.3 .7 1.8 37.7
1992 Alaska 12 47.1 .559 .000 .747 13.8 6.0 1.2 1.9 39.8
1993 Alaska 5 45.0 .618 .000 .608 12.4 3.4 .4 .6 33.4
1994 Alaska 23 45.9 .556 .333 .698 13.0 4.3 1.0 1.1 33.8
1995 Alaska 25 47.0 .589 .500 .710 11.6 4.5 .8 1.0 31.9
1996 Alaska 30 44.8 .567 .000 .737 10.8 4.0 1.0 .6 29.8
1997 Alaska 22 45.7 .567 .333 .642 11.0 3.9 .8 .8 25.0
1998 Alaska 18 43.9 .432 .308 .652 10.2 4.4 .6 .6 23.5
1999 Alaska 18 46.6 .455 .000 .696 10.3 4.7 1.2 .7 19.1
2000 Alaska 11 44.6 .453 .000 .632 10.3 4.5 1.2 1.1 18.9
2001 Alaska 11 46.3 .402 .000 .667 8.8 5.3 .7 .8 15.1
Career 270 46.2 .547 .268 .708 13.0 4.7 1.0 1.2 30.5

Post-basketball career

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Educational/Academic

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He worked at Fern Bacon Middle School as the Dean of Students.[11]

Coaching career

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In 2023, Chambers accepted a position on the coaching staff of the TNT Tropang Giga, specifically in player development.[12]

In 2024, Far Eastern University Tamaraws hired him as head coach.[13] He was later hired by Philippine national basketball team as an assistant coach, reuniting with Tim Cone.[14]

References

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  1. ^ Chuck Araneta (19 February 2018). "Paying it forward: Sean Chambers uses NBA All-Star Weekend to give back to the Philippines". ESPN. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Sean Chambers is the new FEU Tamaraws head coach". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  3. ^ Morris, Don (2018-05-01). "Greatest athletes on the Central Coast: Sean Chambers". Central Coast Journal. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  4. ^ Ramos, Elmer (March 2, 1987). "Chambers, Parker named all-CCAA". Mustang Daily. p. 4.
  5. ^ "NABC Division II All-America History". National Association of Basketball Coaches. 2021.
  6. ^ Hastings, Jon (January 22, 1985). "Cuesta's Chambers has Cougars flying". San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune. pp. 1B.
  7. ^ Wallner, Peter J. (March 2, 1995). "Chambers dribbles through culture shock". San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune. pp. C1.
  8. ^ "The case for Sean Chambers | Sports, News, the Philippine Star | philstar.com". The Philippine STAR. Archived from the original on 2013-07-22. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
  9. ^ Giongco, Mark (10 July 2013). "Cone disappointed as 'shoo-in' Chambers fails to get PBA Hall of Fame nod". Sports.inquirer.net. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  10. ^ "2001 Hardcourt The Official PBA Annual". pbaannual2001.neocities.org. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  11. ^ Velasco, Bill (December 19, 2020). "Sean Chambers: Good enough, never is". Philstar.com. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  12. ^ Maningat, Raul (October 22, 2023). "100% committed: Sean Chambers explains joining TNT in PBA return, names favorite teammate ever". onesports.ph. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  13. ^ Bacnis, Justine (2024-03-18). "FEU names Sean Chambers as head coach". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  14. ^ "Tim Cone shares how they brought in FEU's Sean Chambers as Gilas Pilipinas assistant coach". onesports.ph. Retrieved 2024-06-26.