Shabazz Napier

Shabazz Napier
Player information
Full name	Shabazz Bozie Napier
birthday	July 14, 1991 (29 years 49 days)
place of birth	Roxbury , Massachusetts , United States
size	185 cm
position	Point guard
college	Connecticut
NBA draft	2014 , 24. Pick Charlotte Hornets
Club information
society	Brooklyn Nets
league	NBA
Jersey number	13
Clubs as active
2014–2015 Miami Heat 2015–2016 Orlando Magic 2016–2018 Portland Trail Blazers 2018–2020 Brooklyn Nets Since 2020 Washington Wizards 0

Shabazz Bozie Napier (born July 14, 1991 in Roxbury , Massachusetts ) is an American basketball player who is currently under contract with the Washington Wizards of the NBA .

While studying in his home country, Napier won the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship twice in 2011 and 2014, and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 2014. In the subsequent entry draft of the highest endowed professional league NBA , he was selected in 24th position by the Charlotte Hornets, who passed on their rights in a player exchange directly to the Miami Heat. Napier has expressed an interest in playing for the Puerto Rican national basketball team in the 2014 World Basketball Championship as his mother is from there.

Career

Napier graduated from the "Prep School" Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts , before going to study at the University of Connecticut in the US state of the same name. As a talented basketball player, he was accepted into the university team Huskies in 2010 together with the Germans Niels Giffey and Enosch Wolf , which was then playing in the old Big East Conference . Led by Kemba Walker as the final tournament's Most Outstanding Player , the huskies, coached by Jim Calhoun, won the prestigious NCAA statewide finals, also known as March Madness in the United States . After Walker left the team as an NBA professional, the Huskies lost the opening game of the final tournament in 2012. The NCAA subsequently banned the huskies from the finals for one year for violating academic guidelines, and Calhoun, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, resigned his coaching position with the huskies after 26 years due to health problems . After the old Big East split up, the Huskies stayed in the now American Athletic Conference (AAC) in 2013 and Napier was named "AAC Player of the Year" in 2014 under the new coach Kevin Ollie . After the Huskies had lost the AAC championship final to the former NCAA Champion Cardinals of the University of Louisville , they only went to the finals as seventh-placed team in their regional group and were only ranked 26th among all finalists nationwide. After an opening win in the first round after extra time, however, the huskies achieved further victories against higher-ranking teams. At the Final Four tournament, they finally beat the nationwide top-ranked team with ten points difference in the semifinals with the Gators of the University of Florida, who had previously been unbeaten that season, and reached the final of the "Underdogs" against a young and talented, but also low seeded team of the Kentucky Wildcats . It was the first time since the seeding list was introduced that none of the teams placed in the top three in the four regional groups could reach the final. In the final of the underdogs, the huskies won with 60:54 and Napier was awarded the MOP of the Final Four after 22 individual points as the top scorer of the final game. While Enosch Wolf had already left the team, Giffey was the first German to also win his second NCAA championship. With Leon Tolksdorf, another German was represented in the winning team as a supplementary player in the squad without a commitment at the Final Four.

In the 2014 NBA draft , which was considered particularly talented, Napier was selected in 24th position by the Charlotte Hornets, who, however, passed their rights directly to the Miami Heat in a player swap. Previously, multiple NBA MVP LeBron James had praised Napier and Napier's signing was seen as an attempt to keep James at the Miami Heat. However, James broke his contract with the Miami Heat after the lost final series of the NBA 2013/14 and moved back to the Cleveland Cavaliers .

In the summer of 2015, Napier was transferred to the Orlando Magic .

On July 7, 2016, Napier was transferred to the Portland Trail Blazers.

After 2 seasons in Portland, Napier signed a contract with the Brooklyn Nets on July 17th, 2018.

Web links

Commons : Shabazz Napier  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Shabazz Napier - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• Shabazz Napier Bio - Profile on the UConn sports website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Shabazz Napier most outstanding. ESPN , April 8, 2014, accessed July 13, 2014 . 
2. ↑ SPAIN2014 - Napier: "It will be an honor". FIBA America , April 7, 2014, accessed on July 13, 2014 (English). 
3. ↑ APR: Ten teams loose postseason. ESPN , June 20, 2012, accessed July 13, 2014 . 
4. ↑ Associated Press : DeAndre Daniels sparks UConn to upset of Florida, title game trip. ESPN , April 5, 2014, accessed July 13, 2014 (English, match report). 
5. ^ Erik Matuszewski: Kentucky Will Face Connecticut for NCAA Basketball Championship. Bloomberg News , April 6, 2014, accessed July 13, 2014 . 
6. ^ Shabazz Napier, UConn too much for Kentucky, seize national title. ESPN , April 7, 2014, accessed July 13, 2014 . 
7. ↑ Brad Penner: LeBron James on Shabazz Napier: 'My favorite player in the draft!' USA Today , June 26, 2014, accessed July 13, 2014 . 
8. ↑ Gary Dzen: The Miami Heat traded for Shabazz Napier, Because LeBron James. Boston Globe , June 27, 2014, accessed July 13, 2014 . 
9. ↑ Trail Blazers Acquire Shabazz Napier. Retrieved February 14, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Brooklyn Nets Sign Shabazz Napier. Retrieved February 14, 2019 .