Timo Saarelainen (born August 23, 1960) is a retired Finnish basketball player. He was a member of the

Finnish national basketball team The Finland men's national basketball team ( fi, Suomen koripallomaajoukkue, sv, Finlands herrlandslag i basket) represents Finland in international basketball competition. The national team is governed by Basketball Finland. Finland has playe ...

for seven years and was a star college player at Brigham Young University (BYU) in the United States. Saarelainen, a 6'6" small forward from Helsinki, played for Finland's national teams from 1978 to 1984, competing for Finland in the qualifying tournaments for the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and 1984 Olympics. He was Finland's leading scorer for four years. He came to the United States in 1980 to pursue his degree at BYU. While there he went to two NCAA tournaments and as a senior in 1985 was named the Western Athletic Conference player of the year. That season he averaged 22

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

and 4.5

rebounds per game 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

for the Cougars. For his BYU career, Saarelainen scored 932 points in 100 games. Following his BYU career, Saarelainen was selected in the fifth round of the

1985 NBA draft The 1985 NBA Draft took place on June 18, 1985. It was also the first NBA draft of the "lottery" era. It was also around this time where the league decreased the amount of rounds the draft spent, with the previous few years lasting up to 10 roun ...

by the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

, but did not play in the league. Saarelainen played six seasons for Helsingin NMKY of Korisliiga, Finland's top professional league.

References

External links

Finnish League profileFinnish National team record
1960 births Living people Basketball players from Helsinki BYU Cougars men's basketball players Finnish men's basketball players Finnish expatriate basketball people in the United States Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Small forwards {{Finland-basketball-bio-stub