Remembering Mike Sweetney, 43: a basketball life beyond the Garden

Mike Sweetney, the former Knicks and Bulls forward, has died at 43. Yahoo Sports reported the news on September 17, citing an announcement by his wife, India. New York knew him as a lottery pick from Georgetown. Players he later coached knew another part of his basketball life, one that continued well after his NBA career.

From Georgetown to New York

The Knicks selected Sweetney ninth overall in the 2003 NBA Draft. He spent two seasons in New York before an October 2005 trade to Chicago. Georgetown's historical NBA roster lists his Knicks years as 2003–05 and his Bulls years as 2005–07. Those four NBA seasons were one chapter in a connection to the game that lasted much longer.

Before New York, there were three seasons at Georgetown, from 2000 through 2003. Yeshiva University's coaching biography records 1,750 college points, 887 rebounds and 180 blocks. He averaged 18.2 points and shot 55 percent from the field across that college career.

That college record helps explain the expectations that accompanied him to New York. Sweetney had been a productive interior player for Georgetown before he became a name on an NBA draft board. His points, rebounds and blocks remain part of the career, not simply a prelude to where the Knicks selected him.

The work after the NBA

In September 2019, Sweetney joined Yeshiva's men's basketball staff as an assistant. The university's biography also records his work coaching the Ramaz School's girls varsity team and running a basketball camp in Israel. He had moved from playing to helping other players learn the game.

A remembrance limited to his NBA seasons would leave that work out. Sweetney's basketball life included Georgetown, New York and Chicago, then the teams and young players he coached. Stadium & Street extends its condolences to his family, friends, former teammates and those players.