'''Ernest Maurice "Kiki" Vandeweghe III''' (born August 1, 1958 in Wiesbaden, Germany), is a former National Basketball Association player and the former General Manager of the Denver Nuggets. Vandeweghe is the son of former NBA player Ernie Vandeweghe and Colleen Kay Hutchins, the winner of the 1952 Miss America pageant. Vandeweghe is also the nephew of another NBA player, four-time All-Star Melvin Hutchins. As a player, Vandeweghe was regarded as an excellent scorer and outside shooter, as well as an excellent passing forward; his teams made the NBA Playoffs in 13 of his 14 seasons in the league. However, he was generally considered to be a poor defensive player and rebounder.

Vandeweghe was a collegiate star at UCLA, where he (along with head coach Larry Brown) led the Bruins to the 1980 NCAA championship game, which they lost to Louisville. He was then drafted 11th overall in the 1980 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks, but refused to play for Dallas and demanded a trade. (For virtually the remainder of his career, he was subjected to boos whenever he played in Dallas). He got his wish, and was traded to the Nuggets on December 3rd of that same year. As a member of the Nuggets, Vandeweghe was twice selected to the NBA Western Conference All-Star team, in 1983 and 1984.

In the summer of 1984, Vandeweghe was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Calvin Natt, Wayne Cooper, Fat Lever, and a draft pick. Vandeweghe had several productive seasons in Portland, where he averaged nearly 25 points a game. He paired with Clyde Drexler to form a dynamic scoring duo. However, during the 1987-1988 season, Vandeweghe suffered a back injury and lost his starting job to Jerome Kersey. He was traded the next year to the New York Knicks (where his father played his entire career); with whom he played for several years apart from half a season with the Los Angeles Clippers before retiring from the league after the 1993-1994 season.

On August 9, 2001; Vandeweghe was named to the Nuggets' General Manager position. As general manager, Vandeweghe has overseen a return by the Nuggets to the NBA playoffs; major moves by Vandeweghe have included the drafting of Carmelo Anthony in 2003 and the hiring of George Karl as head coach in 2005. However, some other moves by Vandeweghe have backfired outright or failed to produce the desired returns, such as the drafting of draft bust Nikoloz Tskitishvili in 2002, and the signing of Kenyon Martin to a free agent contract. Shortly following a somewhat embarrassing first round playoff elimination at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2006 playoffs, the Nuggets announced that Vandeweghe's contract would not be renewed.

External links

*Official website
*''Basketball Reference'' page on Kiki Vandweghe

Biography courtesy of the brilliant Wikipedia!