Nikoloz Tskitishvili

Nikoloz Tskitishvili

Tskitishvili in 2010
No. 22 – Al Manama
Position Power forward / Center
League Bahraini Premier League
Personal information
Born (1983-04-14) April 14, 1983
Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality Georgian
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2002 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5th overall
Selected by the Denver Nuggets
Playing career 1997–present
Career history
1997–1999 Sukhumi
1999–2001 KD Slovan
2002 Benetton Treviso
2002–2005 Denver Nuggets
2005 Golden State Warriors
2005–2006 Minnesota Timberwolves
2006 Phoenix Suns
2007 Caja San Fernando
2007–2008 Siviglia Wear Teramo
2008–2009 Alta Gestión Fuenlabrada
2009 Panionios
2009–2010 Alta Gestión Fuenlabrada
2010–2011 Lagun Aro GBC
2011–2012 Mahram Tehran
2012 Foolad Mahan Isfahan
2012–2013 Champville
2013–2014 Al Sharjah
2014–2015 Champville
2015 Link Tochigi Brex
2015–2016 Champville
2016 Chemidor Tehran
2016–present Al Manama
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Georgian: ნიკოლოზ ცქიტიშვილი; born April 14, 1983) is a Georgian professional basketball player. He is a 7'0", 245 lb. forward-center, who was selected fifth overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 2002 NBA draft. Tskitishvili has also played for the Georgian national basketball team.

Professional career

From January to July 2002 he played in Italy for Benetton Treviso, winning the Italian Championship under Mike D'Antoni. He played in 13 games, averaging 6.6 points per game (with a high of 15).

On February 25, 2005, Tskitishvili was traded by the Nuggets to the Golden State Warriors along with Rodney White, in exchange for Eduardo Nájera, Luis Flores, and a 2007 future first-round pick. In three seasons with the Nuggets, Tskitishvili averaged 3.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, and shot 30 percent from the field while appearing in 143 total games.

After playing just 12 games for the Warriors, he signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves after playing on their summer league team. He was traded half way through the 2005-06 season to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for a second-round draft pick. On June 30, 2006, Tskitishvili was claimed off of waivers by the Portland Trail Blazers. He was waived five days later, after the team announced they would re-sign center Joel Przybilla. On October 2, 2006, Tskitishvili was signed by the New York Knicks and was waived on October 25.

With career averages of 2.9 points and 1.8 rebounds per game over his first four NBA seasons,[1] Tskitishvili is widely considered to be a major draft bust. ESPN writer Bill Simmons claimed that Tskitishvili is "the worst-case scenario for any foreign pick" in the NBA.[2] Columnist David Schoenfield of ESPN's Page 2 ranked Tskitishvili 30th on his "100 worst draft picks ever" in 2006,[3] and in 2008 ESPN's Adam Reisinger rated Tskitishvili the worst NBA draft lottery pick ever selected at 5th overall.[4]

Tskitishvili won a championship in 2012 with Mahram in Iran's Superleague after stints in the Italian and Spanish leagues. He started the 2012-13 season with Iran's Foolad Mahan Esfahan, but was released in November 2012. The next month, he signed with Champville from Lebanon’s Division A and posted 17.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game for 27 games.[5] On 27 October 2014 he signed for a second stint with Champville.[6]

On September 25, 2015, Tskitishvili signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, returning to the NBA after a nine-year absence.[7] However, he was later waived by the Clippers on October 3, 2015.[8] On October 11, he signed with the Fujian Sturgeons of the Chinese Basketball Association.[9] However, he left the team before the season began and signed with Link Tochigi Brex on November 2.[10] On December 24, he left Tochigi Brex after averaging eight points and four rebounds per game.[11] The next day, he returned to Champville.[12] On April 3, 2016, he left Champville and signed with Chemidor Tehran of the Iranian League.[13]

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  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2002–03 Denver 81 16 16.3 .293 .243 .738 2.2 1.1 0.4 0.4 3.9
2003–04 Denver 39 0 7.9 .328 .273 .793 1.6 0.3 0.2 0.2 2.7
2004–05 Denver 23 0 6.9 .294 .000 .571 1.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 1.5
2004–05 Golden State 12 0 5.2 .304 .200 .000 1.0 0.5 0.0 0.3 1.3
2005–06 Minnesota 5 0 2.6 .250 .000 .500 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6
2005–06 Phoenix 12 0 7.2 .364 .333 .667 1.7 0.3 0.1 0.2 2.8
Career 172 16 11.3 .304 .235 .730 1.8 0.7 0.3 0.2 2.9

References

  1. ↑ "NBA.com player profile". NBA.com. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Welcome to the next decade of discontent". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 29, 2007.
  3. ↑ "The 100 Worst Draft Picks Ever". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ "They didn't win the lottery with these picks". ESPN.com. June 26, 2008. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Nikoloz Tskitishvili joins Al Sharjah". Court-Side.com. September 30, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Lebanese team Champville signing Nikoloz Tskitishvili". Sportando.com. October 27, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  7. ↑ "L.A. CLIPPERS SIGN MBAH A MOUTE AND TSKITISHVILI". NBA.com. September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  8. ↑ "L.A. CLIPPERS WAIVE TSKITISHVILI". NBA.com. October 3, 2015. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Fujian lands Nikoloz Tskitishvili". Asia-Basket.com. October 11, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Tochigi Brex signs Nikoloz Tskitishvili". Asia-Basket.com. November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Nikoloz Tskitishvili leaves Tochigi Brex". Sportando.com. December 24, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Nikoloz Tskitishvili officially inks with Champville". Sportando.com. December 25, 2015. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Iran’s Chemidor signs Georgian Nikoloz Tskitishvili". New.TehranTimes.com. April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
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