Professional Basketball Player for the Atlanta Hawks. At a height of 7 feet, 0 inches and 260 pounds, he was a naturally talented basketball player, having played basketball for the first time in the 4th Grade, and sticking with it every year afterwards. In 2000, he was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 15th overall pick of that year’s NBA Draft. On Draft Day, June 28, 2000, he was traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for their pick, Joel Przybilla. He then played two seasons for the Houston Rockets and later, for the Atlanta Hawks, averaging 5.6 points per game in his overall career. While in Houston, he had minor surgery on his knees, to repair damage to the joints, and got married in 2001. He and his wife, Katie, would have a daughter, Elezan, in January 2004. When the Minnesota Timberwolves cut him in training camp in 2003, he passed up several good offers to play in Europe so that he could stay close to his wife, Katie, who was then pregnant with their daughter. He joined the Atlanta Hawks on a ten-day trial contract in March 2004. After transferring to Atlanta, he settled in as center with the Atlanta Hawks. In the summer of 2004, he had signed a two-year, $ 3.15 million contract, with the Atlanta Hawks. He died suddenly in Atlanta, Georgia, from apparent cardiac arrest. At 2:30 am the morning of October 15, 2005, his wife, Katie, called 911 to report that her husband was turning blue and having difficulty breathing, and that she was giving him cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Paramedics quickly responded and took him immediately to Northside Hospital in nearby Cumming, Georgia, by ambulance, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Cause of death was determined to be a heart attack; he was 28 years old. During his last year with Atlanta, he started 44 games, averaging 5.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13.5 minutes. Although not projected as a starter for the 2005 season, he was viewed as a top backup, and as a very dependable player.