Jiří Welsch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jiří Welsch

Jiří Welsch inbounding the ball
Position	Shooting guard\Point guard
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight	208 lb (94 kg)
Team	Unicaja Málaga
Born	January 27, 1980 (1980-01-27) (age 28) Pardubice, Czechoslovakia
Nationality	Czech Republic
College	none
Draft	16th overall, 2002
Pro career	1998–present
Former teams	CSA Sparta Prague(1998–2000) Olimpija Ljubljana(2000–2002) Golden State Warriors (2002–2003) Dallas Mavericks (2003) Boston Celtics (2003–2005) Cleveland Cavaliers (2005) Milwaukee Bucks (2005–2006)

Jiří Welsch (IPA: [ˈjɪr̝iː ˈvɛlʃ]) (born January 27, 1980 in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia (present Czech Republic)) is a Czech professional basketball player currently with Unicaja Malaga in the Spanish ACB.

Welsch began his professional career as a teenager with BHC SKP Pardubice of the Czech Republic, where he played until 1998. He signed with CSA Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) for the 1998-99 season, and then with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia), where he played until 2002. He was named Mattoni League Most Valuable Player following the 2001-02 campaign.

Welsch was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 16th selection of the 2002 NBA Draft, but was immediately traded to the Golden State Warriors. He spent one season with the Warriors (1.6 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 0.7 apg in 37 games) in 2002-03 before he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, along with Antawn Jamison, Chris Mills and Danny Fortson, in exchange for Evan Eschmeyer, Nick Van Exel, Avery Johnson, Popeye Jones and Antoine Rigaudeau on August 18, 2003. Without ever playing a game for them, Welsch, along with Mills, Raef LaFrentz and a lottery-protected 2004 pick, was traded by Dallas to the Boston Celtics on October 20, 2003 in exchange for Antoine Walker and Tony Delk.

Welsch scored 8.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.0 apg in 136 games and started 100 games in 2003-04 and 2004-05 for the Celtics. On February 24, 2005, Welsch was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for a future first-round pick in 2007.

On June 28, 2005, Welsch was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for a 2006 second round draft pick.

[edit] External links

• NBA.com Profile - Jiri Welsch