Chris Silva

Chris Silva
Player information
Full name	Chris Silva Obame Correia Silva
birthday	19th September 1996 (age 23)
place of birth	Libreville , Gabon
size	203 cm
position	Power forward
college	South Carolina Gamecocks (2015-2019)
Club information
society	Miami Heat
league	NBA
Jersey number	30th
Clubs as active
Since 2019	Miami Heat

Chris Silva Obame Correia Silva (born September 19, 1996 in Libreville ) is a Gabonese basketball player who is active in the NBA for the Miami Heat . He played college basketball with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Personal

At the age of only 16, Silva, who at the time did not speak a word of English and had no experience of professional basketball in a club, set out from his home country of Gabon to New York in 2012 to become a professional basketball player. With several transfers he finally reached the John F. Kennedy International Airport. In the US, he quickly piqued the interest of Tommy Sacks, assistant basketball coach at Roselle Catholic High School. Sacks later commented:

"His ceiling is so high, one of the highest I've ever seen, because all he wants to do is get better. He wants to live in the weight room. He wants to run on his own. He wants to work out. He wants to get shots up. "(In German, meaning:" His performance is higher than I've ever seen it before, because all he wants is to improve. He wants to be in the weight room all the time. He wants to Go running on his own. He wants to train. He wants to throw. ")

High school

When Silva was accepted into the team at the Catholic High School Roselle, he did not yet know the exact rules of the game. However, he learned quickly and won the national championship with his team in his second year. Silva attracted the interest of college basketball teams (including the Seton Hall Pirates and the Rhode Island Rams) and eventually signed with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

college

Silva played a total of four years for the South Carolina Gamecocks college team. In his debut year he was only able to play six of his 32 games as a starter and scored only 5.4 points on average. But in the following year, Silva was in the starting five in all of his 37 games and almost doubled his point average (10.2 PPG). With a defensive rating of 88.7, Silva achieved the best value in the Southeastern Conference this season (including before the later NBA all-star Bam Adebayo ). The Gamecocks reached the Final Four this year .

In his third season, Silva was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and was appointed to the first team and the all-defensive team of the season in that conference. With an average of 14.3 points and 8 rebounds per game, he achieved his previous highs. After the season, Silva signed up for the NBA draft, but left his name off the list of candidates in May 2018 and returned to South Carolina for a fourth year.

In his four college years, Silva averaged 11.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game in 134 games. He hit 49.7% of his field dignity, 47.5% of the three-point throws and 72.9% of the free throws.

Professional career

2019/20 NBA season

In July 2019, Silva signed his first professional contract with the Miami Heat and entered the NBA as an undrafted rookie. On October 19, 2019, his contract was converted into a so-called two-way contract to give Silva the opportunity to play for the Heat development team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce , in the NBA G-League training league . Silva made his NBA debut on October 23 when his Heat beat the Memphis Grizzlies at 120:10. As a banker, he recorded eight points, six rebounds and three blocks in this encounter. In the course of the season, Silva was used regularly, but only for a few minutes, and mostly final phases of already decided games. On November 23, 2019, he scored 10 points for the first time in his NBA career when he lost his Heat against the Philadelphia 76ers . In this game he was allowed to stand on the field for a good 20 minutes.

National team

On June 11, 2015, Silva was appointed by head coach Thierry Bouanga to the preliminary squad of the Gabonese national basketball team for the African Cup of Nations (AfroBasket) 2015.

statistics

Legend
GP	Matches played (Games Played)	GS	Games from the beginning (Games started)	MPG	Graduated minutes per game (Minutes per game)
FG%	Throw rate from the field (field goal percentage)	3P%	Throwing quota three-point throws (3-point field-goal percentage)	FT%	Free throw rate (free-throw percentage)
RPG	Rebounds per game (rebounds per game)	APG	Assists per game (assists per game)	SPG	Steals per game (steals per game)
BPG	Blocks per game (blocks per game)	PPG	Points per game (points per game)	FAT	Career record (NBA Regular Season only)

college

season	team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2015–16	South Carolina Gamecocks	32	6th	13.3	.482		.609	4.5	0.2	0.4	0.9	5.4
2016–17	South Carolina Gamecocks	37	37	20.9	.524	.000	.749	6.1	0.4	0.6	1.4	10.2
2017-18	South Carolina Gamecocks	33	33	25.8	.467	.417	.753	8.0	1.2	0.6	1.4	14.3
2018–19	South Carolina Gamecocks	32	32	26.7	.508	.500	.744	7.6	0.9	0.9	1.9	15.2
total		134	108	21.7	.497	.475	.729	6.5	0.7	0.6	1.4	11.3

NBA Regular Season

season	team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2019-20	Miami	33	0	8.0	.672	.000	.674	2.9	0.5	0.3	0.5	3.2

As of February 4, 2020

NBA G-League

season	team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2019-20	Sioux Falls Skyforce	2	0	17.9	.833		.500	5.0	2.0	0.5	2.5	11.5

As of February 4, 2020

Web links

• Chris Silva - player profile on NBA.com
• Chris Silva - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• South Carolina Gamecocks bio

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/2998741460554782223/from-gabon-to-t-of-c-glory-the-basketball-journey-of-roselle-catholics-chris-silva/ From Gabon to T of C glory: The basketball journey of Roselle Catholic's Chris Silva
2. ↑ https://nypost.com/2014/09/19/the-nj-hoops-star-from-africa-the-chris-silva-saga/ The NJ hoops star from Africa: The Chris Silva saga
3. ^ South Carolina forward Chris Silva withdraws from NBA draft. Retrieved February 5, 2020 (American English). 
4. ↑ https://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/05/21/chris-silva-returning-to-south-carolina-for-senior-season/
5. ↑ https://www.nba.com/heat/news/heat-signs-martin-and-silva HEAT Signs Martin and Silva
6. ↑ HEAT Convert Silva To Two-Way Contract | Miami Heat. In: nba.com. October 19, 2019, accessed February 4, 2020 . 
7. ↑ NBB: Afrobasket 2015: le Gabon dévoile sa liste de 21 joueurs. Retrieved February 5, 2020 (French).