NBA Players Dies Suddenly

Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collier died suddenly early Saturday, possibly of cardiac arrest, the team said. He was 28.

The team canceled a scheduled open scrimmage Saturday, as general manager Billy Knight said players were devastated by the loss of a teammate.

"Everybody was here and we made the announcement to the team," Knight said. "The players took it hard, as you would expect. We'll try to deal with it and keep moving forward."

Knight said "Jason had no issues" in a preseason physical examination given to all players.

"We'll wait until the experts can tell us, but there's no comments about any speculating at all that I'm going to do," Knight said. "Right now we just think about Jason and his family, his wife and a daughter.

"He was a good guy, a great teammate and a member of our organization. We're going to miss him."

Collier did not have any diagnosed health problems, said his father, Jeff.

Jeff Collier said he received a phone call at 3:30 a.m. Saturday from Jason's wife, Katie, who said he was having trouble breathing and quickly turned blue.

"Total shock," Jeff Collier said of his reaction. "You get a call and it's your daughter-in-law crying saying she's giving him CPR and trying to keep him going. I guess it took a while for the paramedics to get there. He had a slight pulse when they took him and he passed away in the ambulance while they took him to the hospital."

Collier, who began his college career at Indiana before transferring to Georgia Tech, was a native of Springfield, Ohio. He attended Central Catholic High in Springfield.

The 7-foot, 260-pound Collier was a part-time starting center for the Hawks the last two seasons after playing mostly as a backup in three years at Houston.

Collier started 44 games last season, averaging 5.7 points. With the addition of Zaza Pachulia, Collier was not projected as a starter this season but was viewed as a top backup.

In two preseason games, Collier averaged 3.5 points and 3.0 rebounds.

Collier was drafted by Milwaukee in the first round, with the 15th pick overall, in the 2000 NBA draft. He was then traded to Houston.

The Hawks are scheduled to play their next preseason game at Charlotte on Monday.

Jeff Collier, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in Springfield, Ohio, said his son's only physical problems were knee surgeries when he played at Houston.

"Now all of a sudden this comes up," he said. "We don't know exactly what happened. I'm anxious to find out. But I guess it doesn't make a whole lot of difference at this point."

Jeff Collier said Jason and Katie had been married for four years and had a daughter, Elezan, who will be 2 in January.

"He was a beautiful kid," Collier said. "Everybody he touched liked him. He played basketball from the time he was in the fourth grade until now. I don't think the kid was ever in a fight or an altercation."

Funeral arrangements are still incomplete, but the family plans a private viewing.

"Jason didn't really care to be a spectacle," his father said. "He would have wanted this to be a quiet thing. Instead of people being grim, he wants them laughing."

The elder Collier, who played at Georgia Tech from 1972-1976, said his son decided to follow in his footsteps and wear the same No. 52, he wore at Tech. His son also wore No. 52 at Houston, but because of some knee problems he had there, the father suggested he go back to wearing No. 40, which he used in earlier playing days, when he moved to Atlanta.

"I told him go back to 40 and you'll be fine," his father said. "I guess he wasn't."