Drew Naymick

Drew Naymick (born February 18, 1985) is an American professional basketball player with the ČEZ Nymburk of the Czech basketball league. He played collegiately at Michigan State.^[1] He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans and also played professionally for Kotwica Kołobrzeg of the Dominet Bank Ekstraliga in Poland prior to the 2009-2010 season.

College career

In his 2003-2004 season he got to play in 22 games and scored more than 2 points in 6 games. He scored his first point against Kansas. He also brought down 13 rebounds throughout the year. When they played UCLA he got his first of many blocked shots. Michigan State made the NCAA basketball tournament. The 2004-2005 season was led Naymick playing in 29 games total. He had 16 blocked shots with 3 of them coming against Stanford. He shot 56.7 percent from the field making 17 of his 30 shots. At the end of the year he was awarded the Academic All-Big Ten, and got the Michigan State Scholar-Athlete Award. Again the team made the NCAA tournament and made it to the Final Four. Naymick’s 2005-2006 season started out great he started the first seven games of the year, but it was ended quickly due to a torn labium. He pulled down 13 boards, 8 points, 2 assists, and 2 blocked shots. Once again he was awarded the MSU’s Scholar-Athlete Award. Because of his shoulder injury he was red shirted and given another year to compete in the NCAA. Even though Naymick could not play the team made it to the NCAA tournament. In 2006-2007 he played in 35 games and started the last eleven. He was the Unsung Player on his team voted by his teammates. He had 55 blocked shots which was 2nd in school history. He averaged 3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocks per game and 22 steals on the season. Again he made the Academic All-Big Ten and got the MSU’s Scholar-Athlete Award. Again the team made it to the NCAA tournament. Naymick’s final season during the 2007-2008 school year was one for the record books. He appeared in 36 games while starting 23 of them. He was ranked 3rd in the Big Ten for blocked shots averaging 1.67 blocks per game. Throughout the season he averaged 4.3 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game. He also had a total of 60 blocked shots which made him Michigan State’s career leader in blocked shots tallying 134 total blocks. And to conclude Naymick’s final season the team made the NCAA tournament but lost to Memphis. He was given the Academic All-Big Ten again averaging over a 3.5 gpa. Naymick Graduated with honors from Michigan State University in 2008.^[2]

Naymick is Michigan State's career leader in blocked shots with 134.^[3]

Professional Career

After Graduation Naymick got himself an agent and was signed with a Poland team. Kotwica Kolobrzeg was the team he played for from 2008-2009. As a powerful 6’10’’ center Naymick started. He played in 29 games throughout the season while averaging 25.8 minutes a game. While shooting 58 percent from the field he also ripped down 7.5 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, and 10.6 points a game. Naymick’s team won the Polish Cup in 2009, and Naymick won the defensive player of the year award to finish off his final season in Poland. ^[4]

During the summer of 2009 he played for the Indiana Pacers. ^[5]

After playing in the Polish league, he received a number of offer to play elsewhere and signed with Cáceres Ciudad del Balocsesto in Spain. During his 2009-2010 season with the Cáceres Naymick started. ^[6]

Coming off of his season with Cáceres Ciudad del Balocsesto he once again went to play for the Pacers during the summer of 2010, but was then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Naymick played in 2 games for a total of 16 minutes. ^[7]

On September 24, 2010, Naymick signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.^[8] He was waived on October 21 at the end of training camp. He then signed with the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Development League.^[9]

In August 2011 he signed a one-year deal with ČEZ Nymburk in Czech Republic.^[10]

References