Theophilus (Theo) Curtis Ratliff (born April 17 1973 in Demopolis, Alabama) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the NBA's Detroit Pistons. He primarily plays the center position, and is known as an excellent shot-blocker. He has twice led the league in blocks per game and is third among active players in blocks, trailing only Dikembe Mutombo and Shaquille O'Neal.
Ratliff played basketball at Demopolis High School and later graduated from the University of Wyoming. He was selected with the 18th pick of the 1995 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons, for whom he played for 2½ seasons.
During the 1997-98 season he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. He played in Philadelphia for three seasons, and was voted Eastern Conference starting center of the 2001 All-Star Game, but was unable to play due to injury. He was a key fixture on the 2000-01 team that made it to the NBA finals; but an injured Ratliff was dealt at the trading deadline to the Atlanta Hawks for Dikembe Mutombo.
He missed most of the next season due to injury, but rebounded to post 262 blocks the next year with the Hawks. In the 2003-04 season (his best year as a pro), he recorded a league-leading 307 blocked shots, despite a trade to the Portland Trail Blazers, along with Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Dan Dickau for Rasheed Wallace and Wesley Person. After the 2004 season, he signed a lengthy contract extension with the Blazers; however he was not as effective in 2004-05 season as he had been the previous season. As a result, midway through the season, he lost his starting job to Joel Przybilla. On June 28, 2006, the Boston Celtics acquired Ratliff along with Sebastian Telfair from the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for the No. 7 pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, power forward/center Raef LaFrentz, and point guard Dickau.
On July 31, 2007 it was made official that Ratliff was to be traded along with Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, and draft picks, to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett. On February 29 2008 Ratliff was waived by the Timberwolves , and he rejoined the Pistons on March 4.
