Thomas Kelati

Thomas Kelati
Player information
birthday	September 27, 1982
place of birth	Walla Walla (WA), United States
size	196 cm
position	Shooting Guard / Small Forward
college	Washington State
Club information
society	UCAM Murcia
league	League ACB
Clubs as active
2001–2005 WSU Cougars ( NCAA ) 2005–2006 Dexia Mons-Hainaut 2006–2008 Turów Zgorzelec 2008–2009 Unicaja Málaga 2009–2010 Power Electronics Valencia 2010–2012 BK Chimki 2012–2013 Valencia Basket Club 2013 Laboral Kutxa Since 2014 UCAM Murcia 00000 0
National team
Since 02010	Poland

Thomas Kelati (born September 27, 1982 in Walla Walla , Washington ) is a Polish basketball player of American - Eritrean origin. After marrying a Polish woman in 2010, Kelati took on his wife's nationality and competes for Poland in international games . In international club competitions Kelati won the Eurocup 2009/10 with the Valencia Basket Club as well as the Eastern European VTB United League 2011 and the Eurocup 2011/12 with BK Chimki .

Career

During his studies at the Washington State University in Pullman in his native US state played Kelati from 2001 for the high school team Cougars in the Pacific-12 Conference of NCAA Division during his playing days could be the Cougars did not I. for national finals of the NCAA qualify . Kelati is one of the most successful three-point shooters in the history of the Cougars.

After the end of the study in 2005 Kelati joined as a professional to Europe , where he worked in the Belgian Ethias League a contract with Dexia from the Walloon Mons in Hainaut signed. With this club he was Belgian cup winner and runner-up in 2006. He then moved to the Polish PLK to Zgorzelec , the Polish sister city of Görlitz an der Neisse , where he was Polish runner-up twice in a row with PGE Turów . In the second season, Kelati was also able to attract international attention when, after winning the group stage in the ULEB Cup 2007/08, he and his team advanced to the final tournament of the eight best teams of this competition, where they were eliminated in the quarter-finals against Dynamo Moscow .

Then in 2008 Kelati moved to the Spanish ACB league for Unicaja in Málaga, Andalusia . With this club also played in the top European division ULEB Euroleague 2008/09 , where they were eliminated after winning the group in the preliminary round in the intermediate round of the sixteen best teams. In the Spanish championship they finished third after the regular season and were eliminated in the play-off semi- finals against eventual champions FC Barcelona . In the Spanish Cup Copa del Rey they reached the final, which was lost to the Basque club Tau Cerámica . Afterwards, Kelati signed a contract with the Greek club Olympiacos Piraeus , which was dissolved by the club after the medical check, instead he received a contract from the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers , which was dissolved again before the season started. Then Kelati returned to Spain, where he was signed by the Valencia basketball club , with which he won the 2010 ULEB Eurocup in the final against the German representative Alba Berlin . As fourth in the main round in the Spanish championship they failed in the first play-off round of all things because of Kelati's ex-club from Málaga. In 2010 he then moved to the basketball club from Khimki , Russia , a suburb of Moscow , where he signed a two-year contract. With this club he won the VTB United League in 2011 and the ULEB Eurocup in 2012.

With the Polish national team in 2010 Kelati qualified for the 2011 European Championship finals in neighboring Lithuania . In the preliminary round of the final tournament, after two wins, they just dropped out early because of the poorer direct comparison. For the 2012/13 season he returned to Valencia BC in the ACB league. At the 2013 European Championship finals , the Polish national team disappointed and only won the insignificant last group game of the preliminary round against hosts Slovenia under German coach Dirk Bauermann . After Kelati was traded as a new signing for the Turkish first division returnee Trabzonspor for the 2013/14 season , he returned to the ACB league before the start of the season and replaced the injured Devon van Oostrum at Laboral Kutxa from Vitoria-Gasteiz on a temporary basis of two months . Kelati himself injured himself after just under four weeks and was replaced by Rimantas Kaukėnas . At the beginning of February 2014 Kelati got a contract with the league competitor UCAM from Murcia .

Web links

Commons : Thomas Kelati  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• archive.fiba.com: Players - Thomas KELATI (POL) - Overview of participation in FIBA competitions ( English )
• Kelati, THOMAS - Statistics on the websites of the ULEB (English)
• ACB: Thomas Kelati - player profile on the pages of the League ACB ( Spanish )
• Player Bio: Thomas Kelati - player profile on the pages of the WSU Cougars from 2005 (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Eritrea: Thomas Kelati to Become Polish Citizen. (No longer available online.) CapitalEritrea.com, February 6, 2010, archived from the original on September 13, 2011 ; accessed on September 11, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ 2010-11 Men's Basketball Information Guide. (PDF (2.44 MB)) (No longer available online.) WSUCougars.com, p. 50 , formerly in the original ; accessed on September 11, 2011 .  ( 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.    
3. ^ Thomas Kelati Stats - Washington State Cougars. (No longer available online.) Statsheet.com, archived from the original on January 9, 2014 ; accessed on January 9, 2014 (English, statistics from NCAA seasons). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ BC Khimki adds Thomas Kelati. ULEB , July 23, 2010, accessed September 11, 2011 . 
5. ^ Laboral Kutxa's Kelati, out three weeks. ULEB , October 23, 2013, accessed October 24, 2013 . 
6. ↑ El UCAM Murcia ficha a Thomas Kelati. ACB League , February 4, 2014, accessed February 4, 2014 (Spanish, media info UCAM Murcia).