Shawn James (born September 10, 1983) is a Guyanese-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. Standing at , he played at the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

positions. In 2010–11, he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premier League. In 2013 he was the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Defensive Player of the Year The Israeli Basketball Premier League Defensive Player of the Year, or Israeli Basketball Super League Defensive Player of the Year, is an award given to the best defensive player of each season of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, which is th ...

, and named to the

All-EuroLeague Second Team The All-EuroLeague Team is an award for Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, that is given to the league's top ten basketball players for each season, since the 2000–01 season. During the FIBA era of the EuroLeague, players were honor ...

College career

After playing in Brooklyn's Redirection High School, he transferred to Notre Dame Prep in Massachusetts to develop his game under coach Bill Barton, who would become his assistant coach later in college. After a decent season, only two Division I schools believed in his potential, hometown's St. Francis and Boston's

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

, he chose the latter. This proved to be a wise pick for the Huskies, James' 136 blocks in 2004-2005 broke the school's season record, also ranking him second in the nation. His scoring, field goal accuracy and rebounding allowed him to record two triple doubles on the way to

America East The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research u ...

Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year awards. The next season he did even better, breaking the NCAA record for blocks per game in a season with 6.53, he had more blocks than 316 of 326 Division I teams, also averaging 12.4 points and 7.9 rebounds (with two more triple doubles) he was again Defensive Player of the Year, this time in the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

. When coach

Ron Everhart Ronald Cochran Everhart (born January 11, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who is currently an assistant coach at West Virginia University. Born in Fairmont, West Virginia, he was previously head coach at Duquesne University, Nor ...

moved to Duquesne for the next season, James followed him there, under NCAA transfer rules he had to sit out the 2007 season, which he would have had to do in all cases as he was injured following the shooting (see above). He came back the following season having seemingly shrugged off his injury, breaking the school record for blocks in a season with 111 (for perspective he beat

Derrick Alston Derrick Samuel Alston Sr. (born August 20, 1972) is an American former basketball player who is the head coach for the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League. Early life Born in The Bronx, New York, Alston played basketball at Hoboken High Schoo ...

's previous record of 60) and led the team in scoring and rebounding as part of the Duke's first winning season in 14 years, earning a spot on the

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

Defensive Team. At the end of the season he declared himself for early entry in the 2008 NBA draft and later signed with an agent, forfeiting his senior year at a university that he left under acrimonious circumstances after his lawsuit and accusations towards Everhart (see above). He finished his college career with 443 blocks that put him 9th in the all time ranking for blocks, his five triple doubles were one short of tying the NCCA record.

Duquesne shootings

On 17 September 2006, James and four other Duquesne teammates Sam Ashaolu, Stuart Baldonado, Aaron Jackson and Kojo Mensah were the victims of an unprovoked shooting on the university's Pittsburgh campus. Ashaolu was shot in the head and neck, Mensah in the shoulder and arm, Baldonado through his back into his elbow, James in his left foot whilst Jackson was only grazed on the wrist by a bullet. The shooter William B. Holmes II pleaded guilty to the shootings and was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison whilst the other gunman, Derek Lee, was sentenced to up to 14 years in prison, former university student Brittany Jones was sentenced to two years of probation for helping her armed friends enter the student dance where the shootings took place. The altercation started after a woman who came to the party with them flirted with one of the players. James later sued

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...

in June 2008, alleging that they failed to provide adequate security on campus and that coach Everhart had made him play injured, all of which restricted his professional career opportunities. The lawsuit, as the similar ones lodged by Ashaolu, Baldonado and Mensah, was dismissed by a federal judge.

Professional career

2008–11: Bnei Hasharon

After going

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in the 2008 NBA draft, on 9 June 2008, he signed his first professional contract, a two-year deal with Israeli League side

Bnei Hasharon Bnei Herzliya Basket (, lit. ''Sons of Herzliya''), is a professional basketball club that is based in Herzliya, in the Sharon district in Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. It ...

. Having started the season injured, he slowly started to adapt to the European game and despite limited playing time he led the league in blocks in a team that was eliminated in the first round of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. After repeating the feat the next season, and improving his stats in all areas to have the third-best valuation in the league, he signed a one-year extension to his contract. The next season, he exploded into the spotlight, again dominating the league for blocks but also for rebounds, which, coupled with good shooting accuracy and solid scoring, made him the best valued player in the league, although not being named MVP. In 2010–11, he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premier League.

2011–14: Maccabi Tel Aviv

In May 2011, he signed a two-year contract with

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

, moving from the club that never passed the first match up in the playoffs to league champion and European powerhouse. The contract was reportedly worth $350,000 per season. His first season with Maccabi allowed him to play against Europe's best in the EuroLeague where they reached the quarter finals. On a team level it was a good season, winning the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

, his first trophy, the Israeli League and the

Israeli Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

. On a personal level his playing time diminished as did his stats, although he still managed to top the league in blocks. He had yet another good 2012–13 season, once again he led the Israeli league in blocks which led to being named the

. He was also part of the All-BSL 1st team, even whilst Maccabi lost their title for the first time in 3 years. However, it was in the EuroLeague that he would shine, starting in the majority of his team's games, leading the completion in blocks per game, second in rebounding and fourth in PIR on the way to an

selection. Signing a new four-year deal, fan favorite James was even appointed captain, the first non-Israeli captain in the history of the club. In a cruel twist of fate, he got injured halfway through the next season, the ruptured disk in his back requiring surgery and ending his season, he had to watch from the sidelines as Maccabi won the European title for the first time in nearly 10 years. With the departure of coach

David Blatt David Michael Blatt ( he, דוד מיכאל בלאט; born May 22, 1959), is an Israeli-American professional basketball executive. He is also a former coach and player. Blatt played point guard at Princeton University from 1977 to 1981 and p ...

to the

NBA 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 St ...

and in all probability because of his injury history, he was released by the club on 28 July 2014, ending a fruitful three-year collaboration.

2014–15: Olimpia Milano

A few days later, on 31 July 2014, he signed a two-year deal with rival EuroLeague team

EA7 Emporio Armani Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

of the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

. Throughout the season he struggled to regain his past form, seeing limited playing time and generally coming short of the expectations from team and fans: in August he reached an agreement with EA7 Emporio Armani Milano for the early termination of his contract.

2015–18

In August 2015, he signed a one-year deal with

Bilbao Basket Club Basket Bilbao Berri S.A.D., commonly known as Bilbao Basket (), also known as Surne Bilbao Basket for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Bilbao, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Bilba ...

. On December 4, 2015, he parted ways with

. Two days later

Olympiacos Piraeus Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

signed James, paying his release fee. His contract was terminated by mutual consent on January 23, 2016. On February 27, 2016, he signed with

Eskişehir Basket Eskişehir Basket was a professional basketball team based in the city of Eskişehir in Turkey. Their home arena was the Anadolu Üniversitesi Sport Hall with a capacity of 5,000 seats. Founded in 2006, the club played in the highest tier Basket ...

in Turkish

TBL Part of the troff suite of Unix document layout tools, tbl is a preprocessor that formats tables in preparation for processing with troff/nroff. Overview Mike Lesk is the original author of tbl. Like the main troff program, it uses command li ...

(second division) for the rest of the season. On September 3, 2016, James signed with Montenegrin club Budućnost Podgorica for the 2016–17 season. On December 28, 2016, he parted ways with Budućnost.

Personal life

The son of Gordon and Marva James, he has seven siblings. Three of his brothers played basketball professionally or at college level. The youngest brother

Delroy James Delroy James (born June 4, 1987) is a Guyanese-born, naturalized American professional basketball player who plays for Real Estelí Baloncesto of the BCL Americas. At a height of 2.03 m (6'8") tall, and a weight of 105 kg (232 lbs.), he ...

played with

club

Enel Brindisi New Basket Brindisi, for sponsorship reasons named Happy Casa Brindisi or shortly Brindisi, is a professional Italian basketball based in Brindisi, Apulia. It plays in the first division LBA in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 2004, the well-s ...

, older brother Gordon has played professionally in Japan and Latin America, whilst younger brother Lex played for St. Francis without going pro. He has another brother Devaun and three sisters, Teceeta, Enola, and Minette Graves. Shawn moved with his parents and most of his siblings to

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in 1990 from his native

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, there he discovered basketball, having mostly dallied with cricket before, he only started seriously playing the game at 17 after a growth spurt. He is married to former

Northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

player Melissa Kowalski who he met at the university, they have two children, twin sons Brooklyn and Brayden."Shawn James will not Continue with Maccabi."
'

'', 28 July 2014. Retrieved on 18 March 2015.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 14 , , 1 , , 8.4 , , .448 , , .000 , , .667 , , 2.4 , , .2 , , .3 , , .9 , , 2.6 , , 2.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 27 , , 22 , , 24.2 , , .627 , , .000 , , .740 , , 6.5 , , 1.0 , , .9 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 1.9 , , 11.5 , , 16.6 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;", 2013–14† , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 10 , , 5 , , 17.5 , , .683 , , 1.000 , , .611 , , 3.3 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , 1.5 , , 9.8 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

Milano Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city has ...

, 18 , , 2 , , 12.8 , , .532 , , .000 , , .440 , , 3.2 , , .4 , , .4 , , .9 , , 3.4 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

, 5 , , 0 , , 6.2 , , .500 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.6 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 3.4 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 74 , , 30 , , ?, , .614 , , .125 , , .664 , , 4.1 , , .7 , , .6 , , 1.3 , , 7.1 , , ?

References

External links

Shawn James
at fiba.com
Shawn James
at euroleague.net

at goduquesne.com

at gorhody.com {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Shawn 1983 births Living people ABA League players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Montenegro American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American sportspeople of Guyanese descent American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York City Bilbao Basket players Bnei HaSharon players Boulazac Basket Dordogne players Centers (basketball) Duquesne Dukes men's basketball players Eskişehir Basket players Guyanese men's basketball players Israeli Basketball Premier League players KK Budućnost players Liga ACB players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Northeastern Huskies men's basketball players Olimpia Milano players Olympiacos B.C. players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Brooklyn