Nick Fazekas

Nick Fazekas

No. 22 – Toshiba Brave Thunders
Position	Power forward / Center
League	Japan Basketball League
Personal information
Born	(1985-06-17) June 17, 1985 Arvada, Colorado
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (211 cm)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school	Ralston Valley (Arvada, Colorado)
College	Nevada (2003–2007)
NBA draft	2007 / Round: 2 / Pick: 34th overall
Selected by the Dallas Mavericks
Pro playing career	2007–present
Career history
2007–2008	Dallas Mavericks
2008	Los Angeles Clippers
2008–2009	Base Oostende
2009	ASVEL
2009–2010	JDA Dijon
2010–2011	Reno Bighorns
2012	Petron Blaze Boosters
2012–present	Toshiba Brave Thunders
Career highlights and awards
3x WAC Player of the Year (2005–2007) Consensus second team All-American (2007)

Nick Fazekas (born June 17, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Toshiba Brave Thunders in the Japan Basketball League.

Early career

Fazekas attended Ralston Valley High School in Arvada where he earned the statewide "Mr. Basketball-Colorado" for the 2002-03 season along with being a two-time 4A classification player of the year. As a senior he led the Mustangs to a 25-2 record and a state championship after an undefeated regular season and semi-finals appearance the previous year. During his high school career he wore number 22 and he continued to do so in college.

College career

Fazekas was signed by the University of Nevada for the 2003-04 season. From that point forward, Fazekas led the Wolf Pack to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances during his matriculation, including a run to the Sweet 16 as a freshman. He became the school's all-time leading scorer on November 18, 2006, when he surpassed the old record of 1,877 points scored by Edgar Jones in 1979. He also surpassed the single-season scoring record formerly set by Jones during the 2005-06 season. Fazekas also earned his third straight WAC Player of the Year for the 2006-07 season, a feat only matched by Utah's Keith Van Horn, for whom Fazekas was later coincidentally waived to make space on the trade that brought point guard Jason Kidd to the Mavericks.

NBA career

Fazekas was an early entrant into the 2006 NBA Draft, however he did not hire an agent, allowing him to eventually remove himself from consideration in order to play one more year of college basketball.^{[citation needed]} The next year, he was taken with the 34th pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks.

Fazekas was part of the Mavericks Summer League Team. He averaged 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds while playing an average of 17 minutes a game. On July 26, the Mavericks signed Fazekas to a one year contract. As part of the team's club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Fazekas was released by the Mavericks on February 19, 2008, to make room on the roster for Keith Van Horn, whose signing-and-trading was crucial to facilitate Dallas's trade for veteran point guard Jason Kidd from the New Jersey Nets. On February 27, 2008 he signed with the Clippers.^[1] However, on August 1, 2008, the Clippers withdrew their qualifying offer to Fazekas, leaving him as an unrestricted free agent. He was signed by the Denver Nuggets for training camp, but waived again on October 23, 2008.

He played for the Boston Celtics' 2009 Summer League team, leading the squad in scoring.

European career

After being waived by the Nuggets, Fazekas failed to find another home in NBA and decided to go overseas. On October 28, 2008, he signed with the Belgian team Base Oostende for the 2008-09 season.^[2] In January 2009, he left Base Oostende and joined the French Pro A club ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne^[3] After a stint with the Celtics summer league team, Fazekas signed with JDA Dijon, returning to the French Pro A for the 2009 season.

NBA D-League

Fazekas was selected by the Reno Bighorns with the first overall pick of the 2010 NBA Development League Draft.^[4] He was waived by the Bighorns on December 30, 2010,^[5] but rejoined the team for the 2011–12 season.^[6] In December 2011, he was waived again due to injury.^[7]

Personal

Fazekas's grandfather, Albert Fazekas, was a freedom fighter in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution who escaped from a Soviet-operated Hungarian prison after setting himself on fire to create a diversion. He soon emigrated with his wife and child to the United States. They would have two more children, one of them Nick's father Joe, after arriving in America.^[8] Joe, who is 6'10" (2.08 m) himself, briefly played professional basketball in Argentina after playing college ball at Wyoming and Idaho State.^[8] In an interview, Nick Fazekas said that he would like to become a Hungarian citizen and play for the Hungary national basketball team.^[9]

Awards

• Two-time 4A Player of the Year (2001–02, 2002–03)
• Mr. Basketball-Colorado (2002–03)
• Three-time WAC Player of the Year (2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07)
• Wooden Award Finalist (2005–06, 2006–07)
• Third AP Team All-American (2005–06)
• Second AP Team All-American (2006–07)
• First team ESPN All-American (2006–07)
• Joseph Kearney Award (2006)

NBA career statistics

Regular season

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com
• Official Nevada Bio
• College Hoop Net's Profile
• NBADraft.net Profile
• Basketpedya.com Player Profile