15 best Michigan basketball NBA careers in Wolverines history

10. Campy Russell

A 6’8 forward originally from Jackson, Tennessee, Campy Russell was a high school standout in the state of Michigan and stayed home with the Wolverines, playing for the school in the early 1970s.

Russell put up impressive numbers in his first collegiate season, but his junior season was the real moneymaker. He’d average 23.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game for the Wolverines, earning Second-Team All-American honors.

After that stellar performance in college, Russell headed to the pros, becoming the 8th pick of the 1974 NBA Draft by way of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Russell played six seasons with the Cavaliers and became an All-Star in his fifth year in the league. He averaged a career-high 21.9 points per game in that 1979 season and had a half-decade stretch of very solid play, with decent rebounding numbers as well.

Unfortunately, Russell’s career was limited by injuries at the end, and he was out of the league by 1984 after a brief attempt at a comeback. Still, his success in the 70’s with the Cavaliers earned him a certain spot in their history.

For his career, he averaged 15.8 points per game, a number eclipsed by only a couple of former Wolverines, with his 8,953 career points sitting 9th among former Michigan players.