Wally Szczerbiak

Walter Robert "Wally" Szczerbiak ( /ˈsɜrbi.æk/ sur-bee-ak; born March 5, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player.^[1][2]

Early life

Szczerbiak was born in Madrid, Spain, while his father Walter (a former ABA player) was playing for Real Madrid, and spent much of his childhood in Europe during his father's playing career. When Walter retired, he moved his family back to his native Long Island, New York, where Wally attended high school in Cold Spring Harbor. Szczerbiak competed for the Long Island team in the 1994 Empire State Games.

College career

In college, Szczerbiak played for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He graduated from the Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University where he studied marketing. At Miami he led his team to the Sweet 16 in the 1999 NCAA Tournament as a #10 seed. Szczerbiak scored a career high 43 points in a first round win over #7 seed University of Washington. He followed that up with a 24-point performance in the second round against #2 seed Utah, leading the Redhawks to the Sweet 16, where they would eventually lose to Kentucky 58-43, despite Szczerbiak's 23-point performance.

He was named a first team All-American, and second team All-American in 1998-99. In the same year, he was named MAC Player of the Year.

He finished his career at Miami University as the university's second all-time leading scorer with 1,847 points.^[3]

NBA career

Minnesota Timberwolves (1999–2006)

The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Szczerbiak 6th overall in the 1999 NBA Draft. His best year as a pro was in 2002 when he was a coaches' selection to the Western Conference All-Star team. Later he tied a Timberwolves franchise record of 44 points on April 13, 2003, since broken by Kevin Garnett. Szczerbiak was coming off the bench for the 2004-05 NBA season. He was uncomfortable with the role and wanted to be a starter. In the 2005-06 season, the former all–star returned to the starting role.

Boston Celtics (2006–07)

On January 26, 2006, Szczerbiak, along with Michael Olowokandi, Dwayne Jones and a conditional first–round draft pick, was traded to the Boston Celtics for Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks, Justin Reed, and two second-round draft picks.^[4]

Szczerbiak underwent knee surgery in the 2006 offseason to fix a knee which had been injured for several months.

In the 2006-07 season, Szczerbiak played well early on, including a 35-point performance against the Charlotte Bobcats early in the season. However, he was soon plagued by several injuries to both ankles, which greatly affected his performance, namely his shooting and jumping ability. Szczerbiak decided to have season–ending surgery on his ankles.

Seattle SuperSonics (2007–08)

On June 28 (the night of the 2007 NBA Draft), the Celtics traded Szczerbiak to the Seattle SuperSonics along with Delonte West and Jeff Green (Boston's 5th overall pick) for Ray Allen and Glen Davis (Seattle's 35th overall).^[5]

Cleveland Cavaliers (2008–09)

On February 21, 2008, Szczerbiak was traded from the SuperSonics to the Cleveland Cavaliers along with Sonics teammate Delonte West, in a 3-way deal also involving the Bulls, which also sent Ben Wallace and Joe Smith to Cleveland.^[6]

Szczerbiak played in 25 regular season games (one start) with the Cavaliers averaging 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds. He scored 18 points against Detroit on April 16, 2008. Between the SuperSonics and the Cavaliers, Szczerbiak played in 75 games (two starts) and averaged 11.5 points and 2.9 rebounds.

During the playoffs, Wally took over as a starter for the Cleveland Cavaliers playing at the #2 spot. Wally helped the Cavs get past the first–round of the 2008 NBA Playoffs by putting up 26 points along with shooting 6–13 from the 3 point line in game six against the Washington Wizards. For the playoffs, Szczerbiak averaged 10.8 points per game.

During the 2008–2009 NBA season, Szczerbiak played in 74 games, starting in 5 of them. Given 20 minutes a game, Szczerbiak averaged 7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while shooting .450% from the field and .411% from 3.

Free agency

During the offseason, Szczerbiak's contract ran up and was not renewed by the Cavaliers, making him a free agent. The accquistions of guard Anthony Parker and forward Jamario Moon, both formerly of the Toronto Raptors, had made Szczerbiak, who earned $63 million from a contract he had signed back with Minnesota, expendable. Total earnings during the entirety of his career are roughly estimated at $74 million.

Knee surgery and possible retirement

On November 5. 2009, Szczerbiak revealed that he had a third surgery performed on his left knee three weeks earlier, and that his career could be over as a result.^[7]

A week later, on November 11, 2009, he reportedly rejected a contract offer from the Denver Nuggets (which was worth the league's veteran minimum); opting instead to continue to rehabilitate from the knee surgery and possibly test the free agent market again if the rehab goes well. Another report around this date had him reportedly mulling the possibility of retirement for a broadcasting career after a tryout opportunity with the New York Knicks fell through.^[8][9]

Personal life

Szczerbiak and his wife Shannon have 3 children, the youngest of whom was born on March 1, 2008.^[10] He is named Maximus Jack.^[11] The other two children are daughters, named Annabella and Amberley. Szczerbiak has two younger siblings, Will and Wendy.

Szczerbiak later became a basketball analyst for CBS College Sports.^[12]

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

• Wally Szczerbiak at NBA.com
• Wally Szczerbiak at Basketball-Reference.com
• Statistics from ESPN.com