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Former NBA forward Greg Ballard, who won a league title in 1978 with the Washington Bullets, brings 12 years of assistant coaching experience to the bench with the Hawks, having joined Mike Woodson's staff prior to the 2004-05 campaign after nine years in Minnesota. He came to the Timberwolves from the Dallas Mavericks, where he also served as an assistant coach. Ballard had worked as an assistant scout for Burghy Roma of the Italian League before returning to the NBA to serve on Quinn Buckner's staff in Dallas.
The fourth overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft out of the University of Oregon, Ballard played eight seasons with the Bullets before he was traded to Golden State in June 1985. He spent two years with the Warriors before heading to Italy to serve as an assistant coach on the 1989-90 Il Messagero Roma team, which featured former NBA players Danny Ferry and Brian Shaw. He recorded a career high average of 18.8 points a game in the 1981-82 season with the Bullets, and totaled career numbers of 12.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in 802 games. Ballard enjoyed seven years of playoff competition, six seasons with Washington, averaging 7.4 ppg and 5.0 rpg. As a rookie, he was part of the 1977-78 NBA title team.
The 6-7 Ballard is a member of the University of Oregon Hall of Fame and was inducted into the state of Oregon's Hall of Fame in August 1996. A native of Los Angeles, Ballard was a highly regarded baseball prospect as a pitcher and was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 15th round of the 1973 free-agent baseball draft.
In the summer of 2005, Ballard spent time in Treviso, Italy as part of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders, the league’s premier international basketball and community relations outreach program.
Born January 29, 1955, Ballard and his wife Donna, have three children, Lawrence, Gabrielle and Gregory Jr. | 