Abdul Joshua "Josh" Pittman (born July 14, 1976) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played in numerous countries throughout his career. Pittman played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

University of North Carolina at Asheville The University of North Carolina Asheville (UNC Asheville, UNCA, or simply Asheville) is a public liberal arts university in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. UNC Asheville is the designated liberal arts institution in the University of N ...

, and was named the

Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year The Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual college basketball award given to the Big South Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1985–86 season, the first year the league cond ...

twice, in 1997 and 1998. At 6'6" tall, 200-pounds, he played at the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

position. On May 2, 2018 he was named the new head coach for the Lexington Yellow Jackets in the Central Carolina Conference.

College career

Pittman, a native of

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

, stayed in his home state to play college basketball. He attended UNC Asheville between 1994–95 and 1997–98 after graduating from high school in 1994. Through his first two seasons he only accumulated approximately 400 points and had an otherwise typical college career. Then, in his

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

season with the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

championship behind Pittman's league-leading scoring average, which was also the sixth-highest average in school history. In his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

season, he averaged 18.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. For the first time in UNC Asheville history, the men's basketball team repeated as the regular season conference champions. Consequently, Pittman became just the second Big South player (at the time) to be named the conference player of the year twice. He finished his college career with 1,547 points—the most in the program's history—and his 175 steals were a then-school record as well.

Professional career

Pittman never made it to the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

, so he decided to play professionally overseas. From 1998 until December 2001 he played in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

for

Peñarol de Mar del Plata Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

. He then signed with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Bignami Castelmaggiore Bignami is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Amico Bignami (1862–1929), Italian physician and pathologist * Giovanni Bignami (1944–2017), Italian physicist *Osvaldo Bignami (1856–1936), Italian painter *Otello Bign ...

in January 2002, for whom he played 18 games. Pittman headed back to Argentina after signing with

Quilmes de Mar del Plata Club Atlético Quilmes (mostly known as Quilmes de Mar del Plata) is a sports club based in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Although other sports are practised in the club, Quilmes is mostly known for its basketball team, which cu ...

. Over the course of the next 10 years, he played for various squads in Argentina,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. In the 2012–13 basketball season, Pittman played for

Juventud Sionista Centro Juventud Sionista, or simply Sionista, is a basketball club based in Paraná, Entre Ríos, Paraná, Argentina. The team currently plays in the Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB), using the Estadio Moisés Flesler as its home arena. Players ...

in the

Liga Nacional de Básquet The Liga Nacional de Básquet (abbreviated LNB, and literally in English, "National Basketball League"), also commonly referred to as "La Liga de Básquet" ("The Basketball League"), is the top-tier level of the Argentine basketball league system ...

, Argentina's First Division.

Achievements

*Big South Conference Player of the Year (1997, 1998) *Big South 1st Team (1998) *Latinbasket.com Argentine Liga A All-Imports Team (2003, 2004, 2007) *Argentine League All-Stars Game -04 (MVP) (2005) Argentine MVP (2004) Best Foreign Player (2004) *Liga Sudamericana Champion (2004) *Latinbasket.com All-Argentine Liga A 2nd Team (2004) *Latinbasket.com All-Argentine Liga A 1st Team (2007) *Argentine Liga A All-Stars Game (2007) *Argentine Cup Winner (2006) *Argentine Liga A Regular Season Champion (2007, 2011) *Argentine Liga A Finalist (2007) *Latinbasket.com All-Mexican LNBP Honorable Mention (2009) *Argentine Liga A All-Star Game (2011-2013) *Big South HOF (2010) *UNCA HOF (2010 *East Forsyth High School HOF

References

# # # {{DEFAULTSORT:Pittman, Josh 1976 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela American men's basketball players Atenas basketball players Basketball players from Winston-Salem, North Carolina Halcones UV Córdoba players Juventud Sionista basketball players Libertad de Sunchales basketball players Obras Sanitarias basketball players Peñarol de Mar del Plata basketball players Quilmes de Mar del Plata basketball players Shooting guards UNC Asheville Bulldogs men's basketball players