Sarunas Jasikevicius
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sarunas_Jasikevicius".

content
Šarūnas Jasikevičius
Jasikevičius in pre-game warm ups with Panathinaikos.
Jasikevičius in pre-game warm ups with Panathinaikos.
Nickname Šaras
Position Point Guard
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight 205 lb (93 kg)
League Greek League
Euroleague
Team Panathinaikos
Number 19
Born March 5, 1976 (1976-03-05) (age 32)
Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR
Nationality Lithuanian
High school Solanco (Quarryville, Pennsylvania, U.S.)
College Maryland
Draft Undrafted, 1998
Pro career 1998–present
Former teams Lietuvos Rytas (1998–1999)
Olimpija Ljubljana (1999–2000)
FC Barcelona (2000–2003)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (2003–2005)
Indiana Pacers (2005–2007)
Golden State Warriors (2007)
Awards 2003 European Championship MVP
Spanish League Finals MVP 2003
Euroleague 2004-05 Final Four MVP
35 Greatest Euroleague Players 2008

Šarūnas Jasikevičius (pronunciation (help·info), born on March 5, 1976 in Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player. He is currently playing for Panathinaikos in Greece, as well as the Lithuanian national basketball team. He plays the point guard position.

Contents

Amateur career

Jasikevičius moved to the United States at a young age, and he played high school basketball at Solanco High School in Quarryville, Pennsylvania. He played college basketball at the University of Maryland.

Pro career

Europe

Saras with Maccabi.
Šarūnas expressing his gratefulness to his fans for their support in Vilnius, Lithuania, 2007.

Although Jasikevičius was moderately successful at the college level, averaging 12.7 and 12.4 points per game in his last two seasons at Maryland, he was not selected by any NBA teams in the 1998 NBA Draft, so he decided to return home to Lithuania to play with Lietuvos Rytas of the Lithuanian League during the 1998-99 season. He spent the 1999-00 season in the Slovenian League with Olimpija Ljubljana.

Šarūnas Jasikevičius moved to the Spanish League club FC Barcelona, playing there from 2000 to 2003. With Barcelona he blossomed into one of the best players in Europe, winning the Euroleague 2002-03 championship. Jasikevičius then moved to the Israeli League club Maccabi Tel Aviv, and there he promptly won the Euroleague 2003-04 championship and the Euroleague 2004-05 championship. During his time in Israel he was known by the nickname Sharas (in Hebrew: שאראס‎). 1

NBA

After having great success in Europe by winning 3 straight Triple Crown in Basketball championships, Jasikevičius finally decided to try his luck in the NBA, signing a three-year deal worth $12 million with the Indiana Pacers in July of 2005. He became the latest of several Lithuanian natives to play in the NBA, among them Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Arvydas Sabonis, Arvydas Macijauskas, Martynas Andriuškevičius and current players Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, Darius Songaila and Linas Kleiza.

On January 17, 2007, Jasikevičius was acquired by the Golden State Warriors along with teammates Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, and Josh Powell in exchange for Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Jr., Ike Diogu, and Keith McLeod. 2

On September 20, 2007, the Golden State Warriors reached a contractual buyout agreement with Jasikevičius and placed him on waivers. 3

Back to Europe

Jasikevičius (#19) goes up for a block while with Panathinaikos.

On September 25, 2007, the Greek League giant Panathinaikos announced a 2-year agreement with Jasikevičius. 4 His contract (€7,000,000 euros net for 2 years) and the total cost of the transfer (€8,700,000 euros net) made Jasikevičius' move to Panathinaikos the most expensive athlete transfer in Greek sports history.

Lithuanian national team

Medal record
Competitor for  Lithuania
Men's Basketball
Olympic Games
Bronze 2000 Sydney Lithuania
European Championships
Gold 2003 Sweden Lithuania
Bronze 2007 Spain Lithuania

Jasikevičius won a bronze medal with the Lithuanian national basketball team at the 2000 Olympic Basketball Tournament, where his team lost to the United States national basketball team by just two points in the semifinals. The margin was the closest US victory at that time, since the U.S. had started to use professionals, as Jasikevičius' last-second desperation three-pointer that could have won the game for Lithuania missed.

Jasikevičius also led Lithuania to the 2003 European Championship's gold medal and he was named the MVP of the tournament.

At the 2004 Olympic Basketball Tournament, Jasikevičius had an amazing performance against the United States national team, hitting seven three-pointers and scoring 28 points, as he lead Lithuania to a terrific win. Lithuania couldn't repeat its triumph though later on in the same tournament, losing to the same American team in the bronze medal game.

At the 2007 European Championship, Jasikevičius helped Lithuania's national team win the bronze medal.

Personal

Honours and awards

Club

FC Barcelona
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Panathinaikos

Country

Individual

References

  1. ^ Marzel to beauty queen: Don't marry a goy Ynetnews, 3 February 2006.
  2. ^ "Pacers, Warriors announce 8-player deal.". Associated Press (2007-01-17). Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
  3. ^ Warriors Request Waivers On Sarunas Jasikevicius.
  4. ^ Greens land Jasikevicius, too.
  5. ^ Saras, Baston Hope To Rekindle Title Chemistry. by Conrad Brunner, Oct. 6, 2006.

External links
© jGames.co.uk 2007 (some content from Wikipedia under GDL ) !-- ValueClick Media 468x60 and 728x90 Banner CODE for jgames.co.uk -->
Your Ad Here