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Sofoklis Schortsanitis

Célébrités du Cameroun

Sport

Sofoklis Schortsanitis

Basket Ball

Sofoklis Schortsanitis
Date de Naissance:
1985-06-22
Lieu de Naissance:
Tiko

Euroleague champion, Sofoklis Schortsanitis is a Greek Cameroonian professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. of the Israeli Super League.

Sofo won the Euroleague title in 2014 with Maccabi Tel Aviv and reached the Euroleague Final twice in 2010 and 2011, while playing for Olympiacos and Maccabi respectively. He was a member of the Greek national team as they captured silver medal honors in the 2006.

Early Years

Schortsanitis began playing basketball at a professional level with Iraklis in the Greek League when he was a teenager. In the 2002–03 season, he averaged 11.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in the Greek league at the age of 17. He then went on to play in the Italian League with Cantù during the 2003–04 season, but his stay was a failure due to a lack of maturity and experience. Following that, he returned to Greece and spent the 2004–05 season with Aris.

Olympiacos

In the 2005–06 season, Sofo was transferred to Olympiacos. He became a vital member of the team that reached the Euroleague quarter finals and his performances impressed Panagiotis Giannakis, who picked him for the senior Greek national basketball team at the end of the season.

During the following two years, Schortsanitis failed to reach consistency and his chronic weight issues reemerged, to the point he spent almost the entire 2007–08 season dealing with them. He came back in shape in the 2008–09 season, helping Olympiacos reach the Euroleague Final Four. In the 2009–10 season, he made another step towards consistency, displaying his most mature performances on the "Reds'" way to the Euroleague Final, which they lost to Navarro's and Rubio's Barcelona by 86–68.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On August 5, 2010, Schortsanitis signed a two-year deal with five-time Euroleague champions Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Super League.[3] His presence alongside Jeremy Pargo, Chuck Eidson, and Doron Perkins helped the team reach the 2011 Euroleague Final, where they eventually lost to Diamantidis' Panathinaikos, by a score of 78–70. Sofo averaged 12 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1 assist per game throughout the Euroleague 2010-11 season, earning an All-Euroleague First Team selection.

In the 2011–12 season, Schortsanitis fought a chronic knee injury which had an impact on his performance during the season and left him unable to participate with the Greek national team that summer. Nevertheless, he helped Maccabi reach the Euroleague quarter finals, where they were topped by Panathinaikos, losing the series, 3–2.

Panathinaikos

On July 4, 2012, Schortsanitis signed a three-year contract with Panathinaikos,[4] worth €1.5 million euros net income. He reportedly turned down significantly more lucrative offers from Baskonia Vitoria and Galatasaray, among others, in order to return to Greece and fulfill his desire to play for the Greens. In July 2013, Panathinaikos announced that Schortsanitis would not continue play for Panathinaikos.

Second stint with Maccabi

On July 10, 2013, Schortsanitis returned to Maccabi after one season in Panathinaikos and signed a three-year contract with Israeli champion.[6] Following his comeback, Maccabi won the Euroleague, his first in career. Over 29 games in the Euroleague, he averaged 9.6 points and 2.6 rebounds for an average of 14.2 minutes played onto the court.

NBA

Schortsanitis drew interest from the Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2006, after having been selected in the 2nd round (34th overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft; however, because he was still under contract with Olympiacos at the time, he did not make the leap to the NBA.

In 2010, his contract with Olympiacos expired and he elected to participate in the NBA Summer League with the Clippers, with an eye towards joining the team; this time, however, the Clippers were unimpressed, and he failed to secure a contract with the team. On July 30, 2012, the Los Angeles Clippers traded the rights of Schortsanitis, to the Atlanta Hawks, in a sign-and-trade deal for Willie Green.