McCalebb playing for the Macedonia national basketball team |
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| Nickname(s) | "Bo", "Boško", "Borče" |
|---|---|
| Position | Point guard |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
| League | Serie A Euroleague |
| Team | Montepaschi Siena |
| Number | 4 |
| Born | May 4, 1985 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Nationality | American / Macedonian |
| College | New Orleans |
| Draft | Undrafted |
| Pro career | 2008–present |
| Career history | Mersin (2008–09) Partizan (2009–10) Montepaschi Siena (2010–present) |
| Awards | See below |
Lester "Bo" McCalebb (Macedonian: Лестер "Бо" Мекејлеб; born May 4, 1985 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American-born Macedonian professional basketball player. He is currently under contract with Montepaschi Siena and plays for the Macedonian national basketball team where he is the team's key player.
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McCalebb attended O. Perry Walker High School in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] He played college basketball for the New Orleans Privateers for five years.[2][3][4] He played 128 games and made 977 field goals, 115 three point field goals, 610 free throws and total 2679 points. In 2006–07 season he won the Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year award.
He has spent 2008–09 season in Turkey where he had a lot of success in Mersin, averaging 17.4 points and 4.6 assists per game. He was also the Turkish League leader in steals with 2.7 per game.[5][6]
On October 16, 2009, McCalebb signed with the Euroleague team KK Partizan a week after the team released former point guard Milt Palacio for failure to join the team on time.[7][8] He had an amazing season in Partizan winning the Serbian national championship, Liga ABA (Adriatic League), the Serbian national cup and lead them to the Euroleague Final Four and earning an All-Euroleague Second Team selection.
In June 2010 he signed a three-year deal with Montepaschi Siena.[9]
In his first season in Italy he had even more success, helping his team to the Euroleague Final Four, and winning the Italian league, Italian Basketball Cup and Italian Basketball Supercup. Due to his consistently strong performances, McCalebb is widely regarded as one of the elite point guards in European basketball.
McCalebb decided to play for the Macedonian national basketball team[10] and he received a Macedonian passport. He is one of the key players on the national team with his teammates Pero Antić and Todor Gecevski. The "Macedonian MVP", as Macedonians call him, was the second leading scorer for the qualifying for the Euro Basket 2011, with a strong showing against Great Britain and NBA star Luol Deng.
On August 31, Macedonia lost the first match in EuroBasket against Montenegro. McCalebb scored 17 points and 4 assists. On September 1, Macedonian national basketball team beat Croatia with McCalebb scoring 19 points. He had another strong showing versus Greece in the third game in group play, scoring game-high 27 points and leading the team to a 72–58 win. McCaleeb scored 18 points against Finland in a 72–70 win. Then on September 8 (Macedonia's independence day) he led the team with 27 points in their 65–63 win over Georgia and placed Macedonia [10] in the quarter-finals. In the last two matches of the second phase he scored 19 points in Macedonian victory against Slovenia, and 16 in the dramatic loss against Russia. On September 14, Macedonia defeated the host nation Lithuania to qualify in the EuroBasket semifinals. McCalebb scored 23 points. In the semi-finals Macedonia was defeated by Spain 80–92, McCalebb scored 25 points. In the battle for the bronze medal Macedonia was defeated by Russia, in another epic, dramatic match. McCalebb scored 22 points and 4 assists, but Macedonia lost unfortunately 72–68. McCalebb was the best player on the position 2 in the EuroBasket. The rest of the best five were Tony Parker, Juan Carlos Navarro, Andrei Kirilenko and Pau Gasol. With 235 points, he was also the best scorer on the tournament. He averaged 21.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game and over 34 minutes per game.
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Club Honors
National Team Honors
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Individual Club Honors
National Team Individual Honors
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| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009–10 | KK Partizan | 22 | 22 | 30 | .667 | .219 | .853 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 14.3 |
| 2010–11 | Montepaschi Siena | 15 | 15 | 32 | .568 | .438 | .880 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 11.5 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | New Orleans Privateers | 31 | 31 | 27 | .667 | .311 | .606 | 3.4 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 13.1 |
| 2004–05 | New Orleans Privateers | 30 | 30 | 29 | .667 | .260 | .567 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 22.6 |
| 2005–06 | New Orleans Privateers | 4 | 4 | 32 | .393 | .300 | .657 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 19.0 |
| 2006–07 | New Orleans Privateers | 31 | 31 | 30 | .499 | .333 | .628 | 6.8 | 3.2 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 25.0 |
| 2008–09 | New Orleans Privateers | 32 | 32 | 33 | .535 | .405 | .772 | 4.4 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 0.1 | 23.2 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Macedonia | 11 | 11 | 34.2 | .470 | .310 | .853 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 21.4 |
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