Top 20 former Michigan State Spartans to play in the NBA
By Riley Nisbet
8. Jay Vincent
Although his brother and fellow former-Spartan, Sam, began to show improvement toward the end of his career and may be remembered as a better player because of that recency, Jay Vincent shined in the first half of his career and was undoubtedly the better player across a brief career.
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Vincent was selected as the first pick in the second round of the 1981 NBA Draft, but had a breakout first season in the league, averaging 21.4 points (which ranked 15th among all players) and seven rebounds per game. This success earned Vincent a spot on the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
In his first seven seasons, Vincent at least 11 points per game despite coming off the bench in most games those years.
Although Vincent’s production dropped off in the final two years of his career, so did his utilization rate. His minutes per game dropped from 22.3 in 1988-89 to just 11.2 in 1989-90.