Jānis Strēlnieks

Jānis Strēlnieks
No. 13 – Brose Baskets
Position Point guard
League Basketball Bundesliga
Eurocup
Personal information
Born September 1, 1989
Talsi, Latvia
Nationality Latvian
Listed height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Listed weight 84 kg (185 lb)
Career information
NBA draft 2011 / Undrafted
Pro career 2007–present
Career history
2007–2011 Ventspils
2011–2013 Spartak Saint Petersburg
2013–2014 Budivelnyk Kiev
2014–present Brose Baskets
Career highlights and awards
  • Latvian Basketball League champion (2009)
  • UBL champion (2014)

Jānis Strēlnieks (born September 1, 1989) is a Latvian professional basketball player, who plays the point guard position. He is currently playing for Brose Baskets and the Latvia national basketball team.[1]

Professional career

Jānis Strēlnieks started his pro career in 2007 with Latvian team BK Ventspils, where he played for four years. In 2010, he was pursued by Euroleague club Union Olimpija, then coached by Jure Zdovc, but Ventspils didn't let him go to Slovenia. After all, in November 2011, Jānis got chance to play for coach Zdovc, as then he was coaching Russian team BC Spartak Saint Petersburg,[2] that bought out his contract from Ventspils. With Spartak he spent next two seasons, where one of the highlights was making Eurocup Final Four in 2012.

In August 2013, Strēlnieks joined the Euroleague team Budivelnyk Kiev, signing a two-year contract.[3] Strēlnieks enjoyed a successful season with Budivelnyk that included winning Ukrainian championship and playing in the Euroleague for the first time. However, after the season he had to opt out of his contract due to the unstable political situation in Ukraine.[4]

In July 2014, he signed a one-year deal with Brose Baskets.[5]

His older brother, Artūrs, is also a professional basketball player.

Latvian national team

In 2007 Jānis was part of Latvian U18 team that won bronze in U18 European Championship which was held in Madrid, Spain. He made game winning basket in last seconds of regulation against Lithuania in a game for 3rd place in U18 European Championship.[6]

He has represented Latvia national team in EuroBasket 2011 and EuroBasket 2013.[7]

Euroleague career statistics

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  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season, he also played in domestic competition.

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2013–14 BC Budivelnyk 10 6 22.5 .509 .464 1.000 1.4 2.6 .9 .0 8.1 8.4
Career 10 6 22.5 .509 .464 1.000 1.4 2.6 .9 .0 8.1 8.4

References

  1. ↑ "Latvijas basketbolisti pārsteidz un pieveic Itāliju". Delfi. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "Jānis Strēlnieks pāriet uz Sanktpēterburgas 'Spartak'" (in Latvian). Delfi.lv. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  3. ↑ "BUDIVELNIK brings in playmaker Strelnieks". Euroleague.net. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Janis Strelnieks opts out of his contract with Budivelnyk". Sportando.com. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Brose Baskets puts Strelnieks at point". Eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Lithuania 72-74 Latvia FIBA Europe
  7. ↑ "Latvia Roster". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 4 September 2013.

External links