Clifford Ray

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Clifford Ray (born January 21, 1949 in Union, South Carolina) is a former professional basketball player.

A 6-9 center, Ray played three of his ten seasons in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls (1971-74) and the other seven with the Golden State Warriors (1974-81).

Ray played his college basketball at the University of Oklahoma. In 1971 the Chicago Bulls selected him in the third round of the NBA draft. He spent three seasons with the Bulls, his best being 1973-74 during which he averaged 9.3 points and 12.2 rebounds per game.

After the 1973-74 season Ray was traded to Golden State for fellow center Nate Thurmond. In 1975 the Warriors, led by Rick Barry and coached by Al Attles, won the NBA championship; ironically, before sweeping the Washington Bullets in the NBA Finals they had defeated the Bulls, Ray’s former team, in the Western Conference finals.

Ray is one of a handful of players to have played at least ten seasons in the pros and record more rebounds (6953 over 784 games for an 8.9 average) than points (5821, for a 7.4 average) for his career.

After his playing career, Ray worked as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks. He also coached in the Continental Basketball Association, where he landed his lone head coaching job with the Fort Wayne Fury, replacing Barry as head coach at the end of the season. Later, he worked as a New Jersey Nets assistant before returning to Golden State as an asistant coach. He had also worked as an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic where he was responsible for the development of Dwight Howard. As of now, Ray has been signed with the Boston Celtics to work with big men Kendrick Perkins and Al Jefferson.

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