Mire Chatman

Mire Chatman
Player information
Full name	Mire DeJuan Chatman
birthday	October 24, 1978
place of birth	Garland (TX), USA
size	187 cm
position	Point Guard / Shooting Guard
college	Texas – PanAm
Clubs as active
1998–1999 Freed-Hardeman Lions ( NAIA ) 1999–2000 Sw Christian Rams (NJCAA) 2000–2002 UTPA Broncs ( NCAA ) 2002–2004 BK Ventspils 2004–2005 ÉB Pau-Lacq-Orthez 2005–2006 MBK Dynamo Moscow 2006–2007 Lottomatica Rome 2007–2008 Triumph Ljuberzy 2008–2011 Beşiktaş Cola Turka 2011–2012 Pınar Karşıyaka SK 2012–2013 UNICS Kazan 2014 BK Ventspils 00000

Mire DeJuan Chatman (born October 24, 1978 in Garland , Texas ) is a retired American basketball player . After studying in his home country, Chatman began a professional career in Europe, where he first played in Latvia , France , Russia , Italy and for four years in Turkey . Chatman ended his active career at the age of 36 at BK Ventspils, where he started his European career and with whom he had become national champion twice, in December 2014, a few weeks after being "All-Time Leading Scorer" in the second most important European club competition ULEB Eurocup has been. He won this competition in 2006 with Dynamo Moscow.

Career

After graduating from school in his hometown, Chatman first studied at the private, Presbyterian -influenced Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson (Tennessee) , with whose Lions team he was active in the NAIA . After a season he returned to Texas in 1999 and continued his studies at the African-American Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas , where he played with the Rams school team in the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association (NJCAA). After completing his undergraduate studies, Chatman stayed in Texas and continued his studies in 2000 at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburgh (Texas) . Their university team Broncs is one of the traditionally unsuccessful teams in basketball and took part in games in NCAA Division I as a team that was independent of conferences (so-called "Independents") during Chatman's time . Despite a positive season record in 2002, the Broncs had practically no chance of being nominated for the finals in a national NCAA postseason tournament. Chatman achieved various individual awards for players of independent teams, but remained with no real chance of a selection in the entry draft of the highest endowed professional league NBA .

Chatman nevertheless began a professional career as a basketball player and from 2002 played in the Latvijas Basketbola Līga for the Latvian champions from Ventspils . With this team he was able to defend the championship title twice and also received various individual awards in this league, including the title in the " Slam Dunk Contest" at the Latvian All-Star Game 2003. At the first edition of the FIBA EuroCup Challenge as FIBA Europe Champions Cup he reached the Final Four tournament with the team , where they finished third after a clear semi-final defeat with a narrow victory after extra time over the KK Hemofarm . A year later, the Latvian champion was allowed to participate in the ULEB competition ULEB Cup 2003/04 , now known as the ULEB Eurocup . Ventspils showed good performances in the group stage of the preliminary round, but then dropped out in the round of 16 against the later semi-finalists Reflex Belgrade . For the 2004/05 season Chatman moved to the French champion Élan Béarnais from Pau , with whom he played in the highest-ranking European club competition ULEB Euroleague 2004/05 . The French lost both games against the German champions Opel Skyliners and were eliminated with only three wins in 14 games after the preliminary round. In the French championship of the LNB Pro A , the defending champion was eliminated in the main round six in the play-off quarter-finals without a win against the later new title winner Strasbourg IG .

In the 2005/06 season Chatman played for the first time in Russia in the then top division Superleague Russia for Dynamo from Moscow . With the club he remained unbeaten in the ULEB Cup 2005/06 except for two preliminary round matches and ultimately won the competition in the final against Aris Thessaloniki with more than ten points difference. In the Russian championship you stayed fifth in the main round in the first play-off round without a win against UNICS Kazan. In the 2006/07 season Chatman left after differences with coach Dušan Ivković then the club and moved in November 2006 to Virtus Lottomatica of Rome in the Lega Basket Serie A . With Chatman Rome reached in the ULEB Euroleague 2006/07 for the first time the intermediate round of the 16 best teams, in which, however, only managed one victory in six games. In the regular season of Serie A Rome improved to fourth place, but in the play-off semi-final series of the Italian championship they were eliminated from defending champion Montepaschi Siena , who suffered the only defeat in a play-off game that season could. For the 2007/08 season Chatman returned to Russia and played again for Dynamo, but for the club from Moscow Oblast in Lyubertsy , which from then on called itself Triumph . After winning the group in the preliminary round of the ULEB Cup 2007/08 , they surprisingly lost in the round of 32 against the German representative Artland Dragons . Also in the play-offs of the Russian championship they fell short of expectations as fourth in the main round when they lost the series to Chatman's former team Dynamo Moscow in the first round.

For the 2008/09 season, Chatman moved to the Türkiye Basketbol Ligi for Beşiktaş Cola Turka from Istanbul . With Beşiktaş, Chatman remained largely unsuccessful in the now called Eurocup competition in the following three events and was eliminated after the preliminary round or first group stage. In the Turkish championship he was with the club after the regular season fifth, fourth and sixth and was eliminated twice in the play-off quarter-finals against local rivals Galatasaray Café Crown . When Beşiktaş took part in the only semi-finals in 2010 at that time, Chatman was suspected of doping after a positive test and had been suspended since February 2010. For the 2011/12 season Chatman got a contract with league rivals Pınar Karşıyaka from Izmir . With this club Chatman lost in the first play-off round against Anadolu Efes SK , while his former team Beşiktaş won the first championship since 1975 and a triple with the success in the EuroChallenge 2011/12 . With Pınar Karşıyaka Chatman had failed in the same international club competition in the second group phase, among other things again to the Artland Dragons. In the 2012/13 season Chatman played again in Russia, which had organized their best teams in the Professionalnaja Basketbolnaya League (PBL). With UNICS from Kazan , Chatman reached fifth place in the last PBL 2012/13 . The PBL was completely replaced from the following season, at least in Russia, by the regional European VTB United League , at which UNICS hardly performed better in the 2012/13 season and was eliminated in the quarter-finals against national competitor Lokomotive Kuban Krasnodar . In the Eurocup 2012/13 UNICS lost the duel between the former title winners against Valencia Basket Club in the quarter-finals and "saved" the semi-final against Lok Kuban, who later won this competition.

Chatman, mostly an internal top scorer in his respective team , had recently played less of a game at UNICS and had been spared as a veteran in national games. Chatman did not sign a new contract for the 2013/14 season and seemed to have already ended his active career when he made a comeback for the 2014/15 season and returned to BK Ventspils, the starting point of his professional career. Chatman was also able to take part in the Eurocup 2014/15 with BK Ventspils, who had become national champions again for the first time in five years in the preseason . There he became the “all-time leading scorer” of the competition in the home game against Lok Kuban at the end of November 2014, when he exceeded the previous record of 1,138 points set by the Bulgarian Todor Stojkow , with Chatman among the ten best point collectors also the one with the best number of points Game is. Ultimately, Ventspils was eliminated after only two wins in ten games after the preliminary round. Chatman's regained ambition was already slackened without an international stage and at the age of 36 he declared his final retirement from paid competitive sport.

Web links

• Chatman, MIRE - Statistics on the websites of the ULEB ( English )
• Mire Chatman - Turkish Basketball League Player - TBL statistics on the websites of TBLStat.net (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chatman is the new Eurocup scoring king. ULEB , November 26, 2014, accessed on January 4, 2015 (English, media info). 
2. ↑ UTPA Athletics to Honor Mire Chatman Thursday. University of Texas – Pan American , January 29, 2014, accessed January 4, 2015 (media info). 
3. ↑ BC Ventspils - KK Hemofarm / FIBA ​​Europe Champions Cup for Men 2003. FIBA Europe , May 4, 2003, accessed on January 4, 2014 (English, game statistics). 
4. ↑ Mire Chatman - Joueurs - Pro A. Ligue Nationale de Basket , accessed on January 4, 2015 (French, player profile). 
5. ↑ Aris BSA vs. Dynamo Moscow. ULEB , April 11, 2006, accessed January 4, 2015 (English, match report). 
6. ↑ Legabasket: Mire Chatman. Lega Basket Serie A , accessed January 4, 2015 (Italian, player profile). 
7. ↑ Beşiktaş'ta doping şoku! (No longer available online.) Milliyet , February 16, 2010, formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 4, 2015 (Turkish).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
8. ^ Mire Chatman, the leading scorer in Eurocup history, retires. ULEB , December 19, 2014, accessed January 4, 2015 .