Marco Belinelli

Marco Belinelli
No. 3 – San Antonio Spurs
Position Shooting guard / Small forward
League NBA
Personal information
Born March 25, 1986
San Giovanni in Persiceto, Italy
Nationality Italian
Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight 195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 18th overall
Selected by the Golden State Warriors
Pro career 2001–present
Career history
2001–2003 Virtus Bologna (Italy)
2003–2007 Fortitudo Bologna (Italy)
2007–2009 Golden State Warriors
2009–2010 Toronto Raptors
2010–2012 New Orleans Hornets
2012–2013 Chicago Bulls
2013–present San Antonio Spurs
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Marco Stefano Belinelli (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko beliˈnɛlli]; born March 25, 1986) is an Italian professional basketball shooting guard who plays with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected 18th overall in the 2007 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors and became the first Italian-born player to win an NBA championship when he won one as a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.

Professional career

Europe

Prior to his NBA career, Belinelli played for Italy's Virtus Bologna and Fortitudo Bologna in the Italian Lega A and the Euroleague. At the age of nineteen, in the 2005, he won the Italian League in the series against Olimpia Milano, ended 3–1 for Fortitudo Bologna.

Italian national team

Belinelli playing for Italy

Belinelli has also played for the Italian national team. He competed at the 2006 FIBA World Championship and scored 25 points against the United States national team in preliminary round play, and averaged 13.5 points per game for the rest of the tournament.

Golden State Warriors

After being selected #18 in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, Belinelli scored 37 points in his first NBA Summer League game against the New Orleans Hornets, going 14-on-20 from the field, including 5-on-7 from behind the arc,[1] adding 5 boards, 2 assists and 1 steal to help the Warriors earn a 110–102 win. His performance is tied for second for the highest scoring game ever in Vegas summer league history, behind Keith Bogans' 38 scored as a member of the Orlando Magic in 2004. Belinelli finished his Summer League scoring an average of 22.8 points per game in 4 games with the Warriors, before flying back to Italy to be part of the Italian national team for EuroBasket 2007. In his sophomore year in NBA, he has been improving his presence in terms of minutes per game, points per game, and assists. On December 19, 2008, he scored 27 points, in a game the Warriors lost to Atlanta Hawks.

Toronto Raptors

Belinelli as a Toronto Raptor in 2009.

On July 30, 2009, he was traded to the Toronto Raptors for Devean George,[2] joining Italian national squad teammate Andrea Bargnani. He played his first NBA game as a starter for Toronto on February 2, 2010 against the Indiana Pacers.

New Orleans Hornets

On August 11, 2010, he was traded to the New Orleans Hornets for Julian Wright.[3]

After 2010–11 season, he became a restricted free agent. On December 13, 2011, he signed the $3.4 million qualifying offer to stay with the Hornets for one more year.[4]

Chicago Bulls

On July 24, 2012, Belinelli signed with the Chicago Bulls.[5] Since joining the Bulls, Belinelli developed a reputation of being a clutch player, hitting shots that include a game winning shot against the Celtics in overtime while falling down, a go-ahead layup against the Detroit Pistons after Joakim Noah saved the ball from going out of bounds, a game-winning lay-up with 20 seconds remaining against the Brooklyn Nets, and a 3 pointer to give the Bulls a 1-point lead with 5 seconds remaining in a game vs. the Utah Jazz. Belinelli and Joakim Noah each scored 24 points in a game 7 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs.[6]

San Antonio Spurs

On July 11, 2013, Belinelli signed with the San Antonio Spurs.[7]

On January 2, 2014, Belinelli scored a career-high 32 points in a 101-105 loss to the New York Knicks.[8]

Belinelli also won the Three-Point Shootout at the 2014 NBA All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, beating Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards at the second attempt in the final after Beal equaled Belinelli's score in the initial final round.

In his first season with the Spurs, Belinelli posted career-highs percentage-wise on field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and free-throw percentage.

In Game 3 of the 2014 NBA Finals against the defending champion Miami Heat, Belinelli hit a crucial 3 pointer in the third quarter that put San Antonio's lead back to double digits after a ferocious Heat rally that evaporated San Antonio's 21 point half-time lead to a mere 7 points. Upon winning the 2014 NBA Finals, he became the first Italian player to win an NBA championship.

NBA 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.

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2007–08 Golden State 33 0 7.3 .387 .390 .778 .4 .5 .2 .0 2.9
2008–09 Golden State 42 23 21.0 .442 .397 .769 1.7 2.1 .9 .0 8.9
2009–10 Toronto 66 1 17.0 .406 .380 .835 1.4 1.3 .6 .1 7.1
2010–11 New Orleans 80 69 24.5 .437 .414 .784 1.9 1.2 .5 .1 10.5
2011–12 New Orleans 66 55 29.8 .417 .377 .783 2.6 1.5 .7 .1 11.8
2012–13 Chicago 73 27 25.8 .395 .357 .839 1.9 2.0 .6 .1 9.6
2013–14 San Antonio 80 25 25.2 .485 .430 .847 2.8 2.2 .6 .1 11.4
Career 440 200 22.9 .431 .395 .815 2.0 1.6 .6 .1 9.5

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011 New Orleans 6 6 28.8 .365 .308 1.000 .8 .7 .8 .0 9.7
2013 Chicago 12 7 27.1 .411 .340 .879 2.9 2.6 .4 .0 11.1
2014 San Antonio 23 0 15.5 .444 .421 .955 2.3 .8 .1 .0 5.4
Career 41 13 20.8 .413 .360 .915 2.2 1.3 .3 .0 7.7

See also

References

  1. ↑ NBA.com : Summer League 2007
  2. ↑ "Raptors Acquire Belinelli From Golden State". NBA.com. 2009-07-30. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
  3. ↑ "HORNETS ACQUIRE BELINELLI". NBA.com. 2010-08-11. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  4. ↑ "MARCO BELINELLI SIGNS QUALIFYING OFFER". NBA.com. 2011-12-13. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
  5. ↑ "Bulls sign guard Belinelli, formerly of Hornets". NBA.com (Turner Sports Interactive, Inc.). July 24, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  6. ↑ Bulls at Nets, May 4, 2013
  7. ↑ Spurs Sign Marco Belinelli
  8. ↑ Carmelo Anthony, Knicks stun Spurs in San Antonio

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marco Belinelli.