Efthimios Rentzias

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Efthimios Rentzias
Ευθύμιος Ρεντζιάς
No. 14
Center
Personal information
Born	(1976-01-11) January 11, 1976 Trikala, Greece
Nationality	Greek
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (211 cm)
Listed weight	260 lb (118 kg)
Career information
NBA draft	1996 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23rd overall
Selected by the Denver Nuggets
Pro playing career	1993–2005
Career history
1993–1997	P.A.O.K. Thessaloniki (Greece)
1997–2002	Barcelona Basquet (Spain)
2002–2003	Philadelphia 76ers
2003–2004	Ulkerspor (Turkey)
2004–2005	Montepaschi Siena (Italy)
2005	Forum Filatélico Valladolid (Spain)
Career highlights and awards
FIBA U-19 World Championship MVP (1995)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Efthimios (or Efthimis) Rentzias (in Greek: Ευθύμιος Ρεντζιάς; born January 11, 1976) is a retired Greek professional basketball player. He was most notably a member of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. At 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) in height, he played the center position.

Early career

Rentzias played his first basketball for the youth team Danaos, a local team of Trikala. He began his professional career at the age of 17 with PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek League in the 1993-94 season. With PAOK he won the Korać Cup championship in the 1993-94 season and the Greek Cup championship in the 1994-95 season. He was named the MVP of the 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, helping Greece to win the tournament's gold medal. In the process Greece beat (by a score of 98-78) a U.S. team that featured future NBA players Stephon Marbury and Samaki Walker. During that period Rentzias was considered to be one of the most talented European basketball players.

Late career

Originally selected with the 23rd overall pick by the Denver Nuggets in the 1996 NBA Draft while under contract with PAOK, Rentzias opted not to play in the NBA at that time.

He later transferred to Barcelona Basquet for the 1997-98 season. In his last year with Barcelona (2001–02), Rentzias averaged 9.2 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game in 17.3 minutes per contest in 51 games in both the Spanish League (ACB) and the Euroleague. He shot 61.6 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from three-point range and 71.4 percent from the foul line. With Barcelona Rentzias won his second Korać Cup championship in the 1998-99 season and he also won 2 Spanish League championships in the 1998-99 and 2000-01 seasons.

In his only season in the NBA, during the 2002-03 campaign with the 76ers, he played in only 35 games, averaging 1.5 points per game. He was the second Greek-born basketball player at the time to ever suit up for an NBA team.

He subsequently played for Ülkerspor (Turkish League), Montepaschi Siena (Italian League) and Forum Valladolid (Spanish League).

Rentzias had plans to come back to PAOK to finish his career. Unfortunately, in August 2006, he announced his retirement from basketball at the age of 30, because of injury problems.

Career with the Greek national team

Rentzias was a part of the junior Greek national men's basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Championship. He was voted the MVP of the tournament.

Rentzias was a member of the senior men's Greek national basketball team from 1994 to 2002 and competed in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games at Atlanta. That was the just the second ever appearance by Greece's men's basketball team in a Summer Olympics and their first since the 1952 Summer Olympic Games. He averaged 5.0 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game in 12 minutes per game over seven contests in the 1996 Olympic Games.

He also played in the 1995 FIBA European Championship, the 1997 FIBA European Championship, the 2001 FIBA European Championship, the 2003 FIBA European Championship, the 1994 FIBA World Championship and the 1998 FIBA World Championship with the Greek national squad.

Club career synopsis

Danaos Trikalon
1993-97: PAOK (Greek A1 League)
1997-02: Barcelona Basquet (Spanish ACB)
2002-03: Philadelphia 76ers (NBA)
2003-04: Ülkerspor (Turkish League)
2004-05: Montepaschi Siena (Italian A League)
2005-06: Fórum Valladolid (Spanish ACB)

Club trophies

2x Korać Cup Champion: with PAOK in 1994; and with Barcelona Basquet in 1999.
Greek Cup Champion: with PAOK in 1995.
2x Spanish League Champion: with Barcelona Basquet: in 1999 and 2001.
Spanish Cup Champion: with Barcelona Basquet in 2001.

External links

v t e 1996 NBA Draft

First round	Allen Iverson Marcus Camby Shareef Abdur-Rahim Stephon Marbury Ray Allen Antoine Walker Lorenzen Wright Kerry Kittles Samaki Walker Erick Dampier Todd Fuller Vitaly Potapenko Kobe Bryant Predrag Stojaković Steve Nash Tony Delk Jermaine O'Neal John Wallace Walter McCarty Žydrūnas Ilgauskas Dontae' Jones Roy Rogers Efthimios Rentzias Derek Fisher Martin Müürsepp Jerome Williams Brian Evans Priest Lauderdale Travis Knight

Second round	Othella Harrington Mark Hendrickson Ryan Minor Moochie Norris Shawn Harvey Joseph Blair Doron Sheffer Jeff McInnis Steve Hamer Russ Millard Marcus Mann Jason Sasser Randy Livingston Ben Davis Malik Rose Joe Vogel Marcus Brown Ron Riley Jamie Feick Amal McCaskill Terrell Bell Chris Robinson Mark Pope Jeff Nordgaard Shandon Anderson Ronnie Henderson Reggie Geary Drew Barry Darnell Robinson

v t e FIBA Under-19 World Championship MVP

Toni Kukoc (1987) Dejan Bodiroga (1991) Efthimios Rentzias (1995) Andrey Kirilenko (1999) Andrew Bogut (2003) Milan Mačvan (2007) Mario Delaš (2009) Jonas Valančiūnas (2011) Aaron Gordon (2013)

v t e Greece squad – 1994 FIBA World Championship – 4th place

4 Boudouris 5 Patavoukas 6 Giannakis 7 Bakatsias 8 Sigalas 9 Galakteros 10 Milonas 11 Tsekos 12 Papapetrou 13 Fasoulas 14 Rentzias 15 Christodoulou Coach: Dendrinos

v t e Greece squad – 1996 Summer Olympics – 5th place

4 Bakatsias 5 Patavoukas 6 Giannakis 7 Papanikolaou 8 Sigalas 9 Kakiousis 10 Alvertis 11 Oikonomou 12 Angelidis 13 Fasoulas 14 Rentzias 15 Christodoulou Coach: Dendrinos

v t e Greece squad – 1998 FIBA World Championship – 4th place

4 Kalaitzis 5 Balogiannis 6 Boudouris 7 Papanikolaou 8 Sigalas 9 Koronios 10 Alvertis 11 Oikonomou 12 Tsakalidis 13 Fasoulas 14 Rentzias 15 Karagoutis Coach: Giannakis

v t e Greece squad – EuroBasket 2003 – 5th place

4 Diamantidis 5 Chatzivrettas 6 Papaloukas 7 Papanikolaou 8 Sigalas 9 Fotsis 10 Alvertis 11 Dikoudis 12 Tsakalidis 13 Harissis 14 Rentzias 15 Kakiouzis Coach: Ioannidis

Persondata
Name	Rentzias, Efthimios
Alternative names
Short description	Professional basketball player
Date of birth	January 11, 1976
Place of birth	Trikala, Greece
Date of death
Place of death

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