T. J. Cline
Timothy Joseph Cline is an American-Israeli professional basketball player for Ironi Ness Ziona of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for the Richmond Spiders and the Niagara Purple Eagles. Cline is the son of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame player Nancy Lieberman.
College career
After playing three years of junior varsity basketball at Plano West Senior High School, Cline re-made his game and starred his senior season, earning conference offensive player of the year honors. He was able to obtain an NCAA Division I scholarship to Niagara. As a freshman, he earned Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference all-rookie team. When coach Joe Mihalich left Niagara for Hofstra, Cline chose to transfer to the University of Richmond.At Richmond, Cline built a reputation as a scorer. In his senior season, he averaged 18.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. A skilled passer, Cline averaged 5.6 assists per game, unusual for a player his size. In 2014–15 he was fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference in 2-point field goal percentage. In 2015–16 he was second in the A-10 in field goal percentage and 2-point field goal percentage, and sixth in points per game. In 2016–17 he was second in the A-10 in 2-point field goal percentage and assists per game, third in field goal percentage, and fifth in points per game.
At the close of the 2016–17 season, Cline became the second Spiders player to be named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. Despite playing only three seasons at Richmond, Cline finished his career ranked eighth in points and seventh in assists in Spider history.
Professional career
Galatasaray (2017)
On August 6, 2017, Cline signed with Turkish team Galatasaray for the 2017–18 season. He parted ways with Galatasaray on November 15 after seeing action in five games.Hapoel Holon (2017–2020)
2017–18 season
On November 15, 2017, Cline signed a two-year deal with Israeli team Hapoel Holon. On November 23, 2017, Cline received an Israeli passport. On February 15, 2018, Cline won the Israeli Cup with Holon after beating perennial cup holders Maccabi Tel Aviv, 86–84 in the final game of the competition. On March 4, 2018, Cline recorded a season-high 16 points, shooting 7-for-8 from the field, along with four rebounds and two assists in a 105–88 win over Maccabi Ashdod. Cline helped Holon reach the 2018 Israeli League Final, where they eventually lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv.2018–19 season
On July 2, 2018, Cline joined the Milwaukee Bucks for the 2018 NBA Summer League, where he averaged 3.2 points and 4 rebounds in 14 minutes per game.On March 5, 2019, Cline recorded a career-high 19 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the field, along with four rebounds and two assists in an 85–81 win over Balkan. In 20 Israeli League games, he averaged 9.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Cline helped Holon reach the 2019 FIBA Europe Cup semifinals, where they eventually were eliminated by Dinamo Sassari.