Frédéric Weis (born 22 June 1977) is a French former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player.

Professional career

During his pro career, Weis played with

Unicaja Málaga Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after th ...

and Iurbentia Bilbao of the

Spanish ACB League The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

, PAOK Thessaloniki in the Greek League, and Limoges in the French League. On 28 January 2009 Iurbentia Bilbao waived him, after he missed 3 games in a row, due to his health, and on 13 February he signed with ViveMenorca. He was drafted by the New York Knicks, with the 15th pick in the first round, of the 1999 NBA draft, but he did not sign with them, and never played in the NBA. The draft pick angered many Knicks fans, because

Ron Artest Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

, who had grown up in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, and played for St. John's University, was still available. Artest was taken with the next pick by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

. Weis took part in the NBA Summer League, and then declined to sign a rookie contract, being convinced by his agent - who was also a minority owner of Weis's team, Limoges - to return to France. Weis ended up never playing in an NBA game, later stating that in spite of his interest in going to North America, the Knicks never directly contacted him about returning. On 29 August 2008 Weis's draft rights were traded from the New York Knicks, to the Houston Rockets, for Patrick Ewing Jr. In March 2011 he announced his retirement.

National team career

Weis won the silver medal at the

2000 Summer Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, with the senior

French national basketball team The France men's national basketball team (french: Équipe de France de basketball) represents France in international basketball and is administered by the French Federation of Basketball. France is currently ranked fifth in the FIBA World Ra ...

. With France's national team he played at the following EuroBaskets: the

1999 EuroBasket The 1999 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1999, was the 31st FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2000 Olympic Tournament, giving a berth ...

, the

2001 EuroBasket The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a b ...

, the

2005 EuroBasket The 2005 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2005, was the 34th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. It also served as Europe qualifier for the 2006 FIBA World Championship, giving a berth ...

, and the

2007 EuroBasket The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to th ...

. At the 2005 EuroBasket, Weis won the bronze medal with his national team. He also played with France's national team at the

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

.Frédéric WEIS (FRA) participated in 13 FIBA / FIBA Zones events.
/ref>

"''Le dunk de la mort''"

Weis is known for having been

posterized Posterized is North American slang derived from an action in the game of basketball, in which the offensive player " dunks" over a defending player in a play that is spectacular and athletic enough to warrant reproduction in a printed poster. Th ...

by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Vince Carter Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. (born January 26, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who serves as a basketball analyst for ESPN. He primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, but occasionally played Powe ...

, during a basketball game between the U.S. and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the

on 25 September 2000. After getting the ball off a steal, the 6'6" (1.98 m) Carter drove to the basket and spread his legs as he jumped over the 7'2" (2.18 m) Weis before dunking the ball ferociously. The French media dubbed the slam ''"le dunk de la mort"'': "the dunk of death". The U.S. won the game 106–94. In an

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

story published on the 15th anniversary of the dunk, Weis said that Carter "deserves to make history. Sadly for me, I was on the video, too. I learned people can fly."

Personal life

In 2002, Weis' wife, Celia, gave birth to a son, Enzo, while Weis was playing in Spain. After Enzo was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, Weis spiraled into

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

and depression, and Celia took their son and returned to France. In 2008, Weis drove to a

rest stop A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway serv ...

in Biarritz, and attempted suicide, by intentionally overdosing on

sleeping pills Hypnotic (from Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), or soporific drugs, commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of (and umbrella term for) psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep (or surgical anesthesiaWhen used in anesthesia ...

. After surviving the attempt, Weis eventually quit drinking and reconciled with his wife. Following his retirement from basketball, Weis and Celia began operating a tobacco shop and bar in Limoges. He is also a television analyst for French league games.

References

External links

Vince Carter dunks on Frederic Weis at the 2000 OlympicsEuroleague.net ProfileSpanish League Profile

French League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weis, Frederic 1977 births Living people 2006 FIBA World Championship players Baloncesto Málaga players Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Bilbao Basket players Centers (basketball) Centre Fédéral de Basket-ball players French expatriate basketball people in Greece French expatriate basketball people in Spain French men's basketball players Greek Basket League players Liga ACB players Limoges CSP players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Menorca Bàsquet players New York Knicks draft picks Olympic basketball players of France Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for France P.A.O.K. BC players People from Thionville Sportspeople from Moselle (department)