Nikola Mirotic

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Basketball player
Nikola Mirotic
Mirotić in March 2015
Player information
Full name Nikola Mirotić Stajović
birthday 11th February 1991 (age 29)
place of birth Titograd , SFR Yugoslavia
size 209 cm
Weight 113 kg
position Power forward
NBA draft 2011 , 23rd pick, Houston Rockets
Club information
society FC Barcelona
league League ACB
Jersey number 33
Clubs as active
2009–2014 Real Madrid 2009–2010 → CD Maristas ( LEB , loan) 2014–2018 Chicago Bulls 2018–2019 New Orleans Pelicans 2019 Milwaukee Bucks Since 2019 FC BarcelonaSpainSpain
SpainSpain
United StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited States
000 0United StatesUnited States
0SpainSpain
National team
Since 02015SpainSpain Spain

Nikola Mirotić Stajović ( Cyrillic : Никола Миротић , born February 11, 1991 in Titograd , SFR Yugoslavia ) is a Montenegrin - Spanish basketball player . He has been under contract with FC Barcelona in the ACB league since 2019 . Before that, he played for five years in the North American professional league NBA .

career

Beginnings and breakthrough in Spain

Nikola Mirotić started his career in 2004 in his hometown Podgorica in the youth department of the KK Joker club . In the summer of 2006, the then 15-year-old moved to Spain to join Real Madrid's youth team . With the capital city he played in the youth division until 2009, in the 2007/08 season he won the Spanish U20 championship with Real.

On April 3, 2009, he made his first-team debut in a Euroleague match against arch-rivals FC Barcelona . Just two days later, he made his league debut for the capital city against CAI Zaragoza . To give him more match practice, Real Madrid loaned Mirotić to the LEB Oro club CD Maristas Palencia in the 2009/10 season .

Mirotić in Real Madrid's shirt

After the end of the season he returned to the Spanish record champions. At the beginning of the season he was rarely used, but thanks to his strong performance from the end of 2010 he was increasingly playing his way into the regular team and ousted veteran Jorge Garbajosa to the position of power forward. Mirotić also attracted international attention and received the ULEB Euroleague Rising Star Trophy for the best player under the age of 22 in the 2010/11 season.

On June 23, 2011 Mirotić was selected in the NBA draft by the Houston Rockets in 23rd place and handed over to the Chicago Bulls that same evening . However, he did not take the step to the United States, but continued to play in Madrid for the time being. In the 2011/12 season he was again honored by the ULEB Euroleague as the best player under the age of 22, making the trophy for the first time in history to the same player twice in a row.

In the 2012/13 season he reached the final of the ULEB Euroleague with his team and was elected to the All-Euroleague Second Team . He finished the basic season of the ACB league with Real in first place and the 22-year-old Mirotić was voted the best league ACB player of the season for his achievements as the youngest player in history . In the final of the championship, Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona 3-2.

In the following season Mirotić and his team won the national cup and the Supercup, in the Euroleague and in the ACB League Real Madrid failed in the final.

NBA

In July 2014 he announced his move to the NBA , where he signed with the Chicago Bulls. In his rookie season with the Bulls, Mirotić played an important role as a substitute. At the All-Star Weekend he took part in the rookie sophomore game ( Rising Stars Challenge ), which was played for the first time as Team World against Team USA. He contributed 16 points to victory in the world selection. In March he was instrumental in helping the Bulls maintain their place in the table despite the loss of their top performers Derrick Rose , Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson , and was considered a candidate for the title of rookie of the year and best sixth man . At the end of the season, he averaged 10.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 20.2 minutes of play and came in second behind Andrew Wiggins in the rookie of the year election. He was also elected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. In the play-offs he was less successful and recorded only 5.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per encounter with an average playing time of 14.6 minutes.

On February 1, 2018, Mirotić was transferred from the Chicago Bulls to the New Orleans Pelicans as part of a player swap. Until then, he had scored an average of 16.8 points per encounter in 25 appearances for Chicago in the 2017/18 season and thus posted the best value in this category in his time in Chicago. In New Orleans, he should primarily help to absorb the injury-related loss of DeMarcus Cousins , who was previously a sporting pillar of the team. By the end of the season, Mirotic was in 30 games for the team on the field and came up with an average of 14.6 points per game.

On February 7, 2019, the last day before the transfer market closed, Mirotić joined the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a player swap that included three teams .

Return to Spain

At the beginning of July 2019 he was announced by FC Barcelona as a new addition. He was awarded a three-year contract by the Catalan club. With Barcelona he became Spanish runner-up in 2020 and was named the best player of the ACB 2019/20 season. He had scored an average of 19 points and 5.2 rebounds per encounter over the course of the year.

National team

In March 2010 Mirotić received Spanish citizenship and won the bronze medal at the European Championships with the Spanish U20 national team in the summer of the same year. Only a year later he took part again with the U20 in the European Championship finals. This time the Iberians remained undefeated and won the gold medal. Mirotić himself finished the competition with an average of 27 points and 10 rebounds per game and was named the best player of the tournament for his achievements .

His debut in the senior national team was delayed due to a FIBA rule, which only allows the participation in tournaments organized by the world federation of a player who has received citizenship after the age of 16. Serge Ibaka was repeatedly preferred. Only Mirotić's good 2014/15 season with the Chicago Bulls opened the gates to the Spanish national selection for him. Mirotić finally played his first game on August 11, 2015 in preparation for the European Basketball Championship against Belgium .

At EuroBasket 2015 he was European champion with the Spanish selection. He was one of the top performers of the Spaniards and was their second best shooter (12.7 points per game) and rebounder (4.9), both behind the tournament's MVP , Pau Gasol .

Achievements and honors

real Madrid

National team

Honors

Web links

Commons : Nikola Mirotić  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Las Lecciones de aprendidas Nikola Mirotic y Marko Todorovic. In: Liga ACB . July 26, 2011, Retrieved July 26, 2011 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Real Madrid's Nikola Mirotic chosen 2011 Rising Star. In: ULEB Euroleague . April 21, 2011, accessed April 28, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Real Madrid's Mirotic becomes first two-time Rising Star winner. In: ULEB Euroleague . April 18, 2012, accessed April 18, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Nikola Mirotic, MVP Orange 2012-13. In: Liga ACB . May 22, 2013, Retrieved May 22, 2013 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ Mirotic moves to the NBA. In: laola1.at. July 14, 2014, accessed July 14, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Wiggins leads World past USA 121-112 in Rising Stars. NBA.com, February 14, 2015, accessed September 9, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Steve Aschburner: Bulls in thick of East chase thanks to Mirotic's big month. NBA.com, March 19, 2015, accessed September 9, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Wolves' Andrew Wiggins named Kia Rookie of the Year. NBA.com, April 30, 2015, accessed September 9, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Top rookie Wiggins headlines NBA All-Rookie team. NBA.com, May 18, 2015, accessed September 9, 2015 .
  10. ↑ https://stats.nba.com/player/202703/
  11. ↑ NBA Trade: Milwaukee Bucks Grab Nikola Mirotic For Four Picks In: spox.com February 7, 2019 (accessed February 3, 2019)
  12. ↑ https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/basketball/first-team/news/1265482/nikola-mirotic-signs-for-barca
  13. ^ Former Bull Nikola Mirotic wins Spanish league MVP honors for FC Barcelona. Retrieved July 4, 2020 (American English).
  14. ↑ FC Barcelona, ​​ESTADÍSTICAS, TEMPORADA 2019-2020. In: acb.com. Retrieved July 4, 2020 (Spanish).
  15. ↑ El Gobierno español concede la nacionalidad española a Nikola Mirotic. In: Liga ACB . March 26, 2010, Retrieved January 28, 2010 (Spanish).
  16. ↑ España se hace con el bronze en Zadar. In: As . July 18, 2010, Retrieved July 18, 2010 (Spanish).
  17. ↑ MVP Mirotic leads All-Tournament Team. In: FIBA Europe . July 24, 2011, accessed July 25, 2011 .
personal data
SURNAME Mirotic, Nikola
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mirotić Stajović, Nikola (full name); Mirotic, Nikola (spelling without diacritical marks)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION spanish basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH February 11, 1991
PLACE OF BIRTH Titograd , Yugoslavia