Billy McKinney (basketball)

William Mervin McKinney III (born June 5, 1955) is a retired American professional basketball player and former radio broadcaster. Due to his quickness, he was nicknamed "The Crazed Hummingbird".[1]

A 6'0" guard, McKinney attended Zion-Benton High School, where he played for Mo Tharp (long time Fremd coach), and Northwestern University, earning a degree in education. He was the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer for 35 years until John Shurna surpassed him in February 2012.[2] From 1978 to 1986 McKinney played in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Kansas City Kings, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, San Diego Clippers and Chicago Bulls. He averaged 8.0 points per game and 3.5 assists per game in his NBA career.

McKinney later served as Assistant Vice President of Basketball Operations (Chicago Bulls), Director of Player Personnel (Minnesota Timberwolves), Vice President of Basketball Operations (Detroit Pistons), Executive Vice President of the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics and the WNBA's Seattle Storm. In his previous position he was the radio color analyst for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. In June, 2008, McKinney was hired by fellow Zion-Benton alumnus John Hammond as the Milwaukee Bucks' Director of Scouting. In 2015, he was named Vice-President of Scouting.