Wally Szczerbiak
Wally Szczerbiak | ||
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Player information | ||
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Full name | Walter Robert Szczerbiak | |
birthday | 5th March 1977 (age 43) | |
place of birth | Madrid , Spain | |
size | 201 cm | |
Weight | 110 kg | |
position | Small Forward / Shooting Guard | |
college | Miami | |
NBA draft | 1999 , 6th pick, Minnesota Timberwolves | |
Clubs as active | ||
1999-2006 Minnesota Timberwolves 2006-2007 Boston Celtics 2007-2008 Seattle SuperSonics 2008-2009 Cleveland Cavaliers![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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National team | ||
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United States |
Walter Robert "Wally" Szczerbiak (born March 5, 1977 in Madrid , Spain ) is a former American basketball player who was active from 1999 to 2009 in the NBA . During his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves , he was once an NBA All-Star .
Szczerbiak's father, Walter Szczerbiak, was a professional basketball player for the Pittsburgh Condors , and later for Real Madrid . He is considered one of the 50 most influential basketball players in Europe of all time.
Career
High school
After Father Walter had finished his basketball career, the family Szczerbiak moved to the States in order, and Wally attended high school in Cold Spring Harbor . In 1997 he took part in the Empire State Games for the same .
college
Szczerbiak studied for three years at Miami University in Oxford , Ohio. Overall, he achieved an average of 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the RedHawks . He is in second place in the ranking of the best point collectors of all time at his university behind Ron Harper . The jersey with the number 32 is no longer awarded in his honor .
NBA
Minnesota (1999-2006)
In the 1999 NBA Draft , he was drawn in 6th place by the Minnesota Timberwolves . In his rookie season, he scored 11.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He was elected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and was allowed to take part in the NBA Rookie Challenge 2000 in Oakland . In this game he was able to contribute 13 points.
A year later, he was a sophomore at the event in Washington, DC . This time he got 27 points and 8 rebounds, which earned him the title of MVP .
In the 2001-2002 season, Szczerbiak played all 82 regular season games for the Wolves. In addition, he was appointed for the first time next to stars like Kobe Bryant in the team of the Western Conference for the NBA All-Star Game 2002 in Philadelphia and achieved 10 points.
In 2003 he missed the first 53 games of the season due to a heel injury.
In the 2004-2005 season Szczerbiak reached two career milestones. He scored his 5,000th point and played his 1,000th assist.
Overall, he scored from 1999 to 2006 in six and a half seasons an average of 14.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in a total of 467 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves .
Boston (2006-2007)
On January 26, 2006 Szczerbiak was transferred to the record champion Boston Celtics together with his teammates Michael Olowokandi and Dwayne Jones, as well as the rights to the following first-round draft pick . In return, Marcus Banks , Mark Blount , Ricky Davis and Justin Reed moved to Minnesota. In addition, the Timberwolves received two future draft picks.
In a year and a half at the Celtics , "Wally World" averaged 16.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
Seattle (2007-2008)
He only slipped on the record champions' jersey 64 times before joining the Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City) on June 28, 2007 along with Delonte West and the rights to Jeff Green in exchange for superstar Ray Allen plus the rights to Glen Davis Thunder ) changed.
There he ran exactly 50 times and achieved an average of 13.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists.
Cleveland (2008-2009)
Again just eight months later, he was part of a swap between three teams, namely the Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls , and was transferred to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
From 2007 to 2008 he achieved, with an average of 25.5 minutes (from 48), “only” 9.5 points, as well as 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists for the Cavs, with a rather short deployment time for his circumstances the play-offs again for the first time since 2004 .
Szczerbiak also played the role of the sixth man in the 2008/2009 season , and gave the stars LeBron James and Delonte West important breaks. With 7.0 points and 3.1 rebounds he was able to contribute to the success of his team, which had the best record in the league after the regular season (as of April 1, 2009). Then Szczerbiak reached the Conference Finals with the Cavaliers . His contract was not subsequently extended.
Due to repeated injuries in his knee, Szczerbiak announced his retirement in autumn 2009.
Private life
Szczerbiak is of Ukrainian origin: his grandparents were Ukrainians and met in a refugee camp in West Germany after the Second World War. After the war they emigrated to Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania.
Szczerbiak is married to his wife Shannon and has five children.
In 2013, Szczerbiak was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.
Web links
- Wally Szczerbiak - player profile on NBA.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walter Szczerbiak ( memento from July 15, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), on hoopedia.nba.com
- ↑ Wally Szczerbiak , on boston-celtics.fandom.com
- ↑ # 32 Wally Szczerbiak ( memento June 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), on statsheet.com
- ↑ Wally Szczerbiak ( Memento from January 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on nba.com,
- ↑ Celtics Acquire Szczerbiak, Olowokandi and Jones from Timberwolves , on nba.com
- ↑ Celtics Acquire Seven-Time All-Star Ray Allen from Sonics ( Memento from February 18, 2012 on WebCite )
- ^ Cavaliers Acquire Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith and Delonte West in Three-Team Trade , on nba.com
- ↑ Wally's Worlds. July 10, 2012, accessed April 26, 2020 .
- ↑ Wally's Worlds. July 10, 2012, accessed April 26, 2020 .
- ^ Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (English).
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Szczerbiak, Wally |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Szczerbiak, Walter Robert |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American basketball player |
DATE OF BIRTH | March 5th 1977 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Madrid , Spain |