Sofoklis Schortsanitis (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Σοφοκλής Σχορτσανίτης; born 22 June 1985) is a Greek 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 and Olympian. An

All-EuroLeague First 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 ...

selection in 2011, Schortsanitis won the EuroLeague title in

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with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and reached the

EuroLeague Final The EuroLeague Finals are the championship finals of the EuroLeague competition. The EuroLeague is the highest level tier, and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe. Title holders * ......1958 Rīgas ASK * 195 ...

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and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

, while playing for

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 numbe ...

and Maccabi, respectively. He was a member of the

Greece men's national basketball team The Greece men's national basketball team ( el, Eθνική Oμάδα Καλαθοσφαίρισης Ελλάδος) represents Greece in international basketball. They are controlled by the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the governing body for ...

that captured silver medal honours in 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 ...

and a bronze medal in the EuroBasket 2009. He is nicknamed "Big Sofo" or "Baby Shaq".

Early years

Born in his native port town of

Tiko Tiko, originally called ‘Keka’ by the Bakweris, is a town and important port in the southwest region of Cameroon. The settlement grew as a market town for Duala (or Douala) fishermen, Bakweri (Kpwe people) farmers and hunters from Molyko ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...

, Schortsanitis moved to his father's native country of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

with his mother when he was very young. He has a younger brother called Alexandros. Schortsanitis first took up basketball in his home city of

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the Egnat ...

. It was there where his parents advised him to play basketball, and Schortsanitis at first did not like the sport. But eventually the game grew on him, he was always practicing. Eventually, a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, secti ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

discovered his talent, and pushed him into the sport.

Professional career

Schortsanitis began playing professional basketball with Iraklis in the 2000–01 Greek League season. Starting in the 2002–03 Greek League season when he was 17, he averaged 11.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per league game. His performance record would be a failure with 2003-04 Cantù season, in the

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the T ...

; he lacked maturity and experience. He would return to Greece to play in the 2004–05 season with the Greek club Aris.

Olympiacos

In the 2005–06 season, Schortsanitis was transferred to

. He became a vital member of the team that reached the EuroLeague quarterfinals, and his performances impressed

Panagiotis Giannakis Panagiotis Giannakis ( el, Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης, ; born January 1, 1959), alternatively spelled Panayiotis Yiannakis or Yannakis, is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach. As a player, he was primarily a poin ...

, who picked him for the

at the end of the season. During the following two years, Schortsanitis failed to achieve consistency, and his chronic weight issues reemerged, to the point that he spent almost the entire 2007–08 season dealing with them. He came back in shape for the 2008–09 season, and helped Olympiacos reach the EuroLeague Final Four. In the 2009–10 season, he made another step towards consistency, displaying his most mature performances with Olympiacos, on the club's way to the

, which they lost to Juan Carlos Navarro's and

Ricky Rubio Ricard Rubio Vives (born 21 October 1990) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Rubio became the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish ACB League on 15 Octobe ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 86–68.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On 5 August 2010, Schortsanitis signed a two-year deal with the then five-time EuroLeague champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

. His presence alongside Jeremy Pargo,

Chuck Eidson Charles Patrick Eidson Jr. (born October 10, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. He is 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) tall and he played mainly at the small forward position. He could also play at both the point guard and shootin ...

, and

Doron Perkins Doron Perkins (born on May 6, 1983) is a former American professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach for Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. of the Euroleague. Standing at 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) he can play as either a point guard or a ...

helped the team reach the 2011 EuroLeague Final, where they eventually lost to Dimitris Diamantidis' Panathinaikos, by a score of 78–70. Schortsanitis averaged 12 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1 assist per game throughout the EuroLeague 2010–11 season, earning an

selection. In the 2011–12 season, Schortsanitis fought a chronic knee injury, which affected his performance during the season, and left him unable to participate with the national team that summer. Nevertheless, he helped Maccabi reach the EuroLeague quarterfinals, where they were topped by Panathinaikos, losing the series, 3–2.

Panathinaikos

On 4 July 2012, Schortsanitis signed a three-year contract with the Greek club Panathinaikos, worth €1.5 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

net income In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest ...

. He reportedly turned down significantly more lucrative offers from Baskonia Vitoria and Galatasaray, among others, to return to Greece and fulfill his desire to play for Panathinaikos. In July 2013, Panathinaikos announced that Schortsanitis would not continue play for the club.

Second stint with Maccabi

On 10 July 2013, Schortsanitis returned to Maccabi after one season in Panathinaikos, and signed a three-year contract with the defending

champions. In his comeback season with Maccabi, the club won the finals of that season's EuroLeague, which was the first EuroLeague championship won in Schortsanitis' career. Over 29 games played in the EuroLeague that season, he averaged 9.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, in 14.2 minutes per game of playing time.

Crvena zvezda

On 2 August 2015, Schortsanitis signed a one-year contract with the Serbian club Crvena zvezda. On 28 October 2015, he parted ways with Zvezda. In 6 games played with the club in the

ABA 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 ...

's 2015–16 season, he averaged 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

PAOK

On 2 November 2015, Schortsanitis signed with the Greek club PAOK, for the rest of the season. With PAOK, he averaged 13.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, in the European-wide 2nd-tier level EuroCup's 2015–16 season.

Apollon Patras

In December 2016, Schortsanitis joined the Greek club

Apollon Patras :''The first version of this article has been based in the text of :el:Α.Σ. Απόλλων of the Greek Wikipedia published under the GFDL.'' A.S. Apollon Patras (Greek:''A.Σ. Απόλλων Πατρών'') is a multi-sports club that is bas ...

. However, on 28 December, he suffered a serious injury, as he ruptured his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ...

, during one of the team's practices. The injury caused him to then miss the entire remainder of the Greek Basket League 2016–17 season, and he was thus not able to play in any games with Apollon.

Aries Trikala

On 18 October 2017, Schortsanitis returned to action, and joined Aries Trikala of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

, for the 2017–18 season. On 6 January 2018, he made his debut in a 76–86 loss to Rethymno Cretan Kings, recording 6 points and one rebound, off the bench.

Ionikos Nikaias

On 24 July 2019, Schortsanitis signed with

Ionikos Nikaias Ionikos Nikaias (full name Athlitikos Omilos Ionikos Nikaias, A.O. Ionikos Nikaias / el, Α.Ο. Ιωνικός Νικαίας) is a Greek multi-sports club that is based in Nikaia, Piraeus. It was founded in 1965, and it has teams in football, b ...

for the Greek Basket League 2019–20 season.

NBA draft rights

Schortsanitis drew interest from the NBA's

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

in the summer of 2006, after having been originally selected in the 2nd round (34th overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft; however, because he was still under contract with

at the time, he did not make a move to the NBA. In 2010, his contract with Olympiacos expired, and he elected to participate in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

with the Clippers, with an eye towards joining the team; this time, however, the Clippers were unimpressed, and he failed to secure a contract with the team. On 30 July 2012, the Los Angeles Clippers traded the draft rights of Schortsanitis, to the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

, in a sign-and-trade deal for

Willie Green Willie Julius Green (born July 28, 1981) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played professionally in the NBA with the ...

. On 15 July 2014, his draft rights were traded to the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

, in exchange for

Thabo Sefolosha Thabo Patrick Sefolosha (; born May 2, 1984) is a Swiss former professional basketball player. He has also played in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets, in the Turkish Basketball ...

, the rights to

Georgios Printezis Georgios Printezis (alternate spelling: Giorgos) ( el, Γεώργιος Πρίντεζης, born February 22, 1985) is a Greek former professional basketball player who spent the majority of his career with Olympiacos of the Greek Basket League an ...

, and cash considerations.

Retirement

On 10 December 2020, Schortsanitis announced his retirement. Thus, making him 1 of the 11 players from the 2003 NBA Draft Class to have never played in the NBA.

National team career

Sofoklis Schortsanitis naional team (cropped)

Greece "Under" national teams

Schortsanitis was on the squad of the Under-16 national team that played at the

2001 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship The 2001 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship (known at that time as 2001 European Championship for Cadets) was the 16th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. The city of Riga, in Latvia, hosted the tournament. Yugoslavia won the trophy f ...

, the squad of the Under-18 national team that won a bronze medal at the

2002 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 2002 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international 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 p ...

, and the squad of the Under-19 national team that won a bronze medal at the

2003 FIBA Under-19 World Cup The 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Greek: 2003 Παγκόσμιο Πρωτάθλημα FIBA Under-19) was the 7th edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship. The men's U19 youth international basketball championship organized by FIBA. I ...

. Schortsanitis was on the squad of the junior national team that won the gold medal at the 2002

Albert Schweitzer Tournament The Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST) is an international basketball competition that is played between national basketball teams of the Under-18 men age category. It takes place every two years in Mannheim, Germany, and is contested between t ...

, where he was also named the MVP of the tournament.

Greece national team

Play at friendly games and qualifiers were Schortsanitis' introduction to being on the

before making his first appearance at a major

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

competition at the

, which was held in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. He helped

to win the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

, after they defeated Team USA, 101–95, in the semifinals. Schortsanitis scored 14 points, in 17 minutes in the game. He also played with Greece at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. At the EuroBasket 2009, which was held in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, Schortsanitis' performance was decisive in Greece winning the tournament's bronze medal game against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

, as he scored 23 points on a 78% field goal shooting percentage, while grabbing six rebounds, blocking two shots, and managing to draw 12 fouls. He also played at the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...

Player profile

Schortsanitis is a classic, "old school" style

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 eccentrici ...

that plays in the low post on offence, and that defends the rim and painted lane area of the court on defense. Schortsanitis was measured at the 2003 NBA pre-draft camp at a height of tall barefoot, tall with shoes on, and with a wingspan. His official playing weight was listed as .

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 1 , , 19.1 , , .618 , , , , .632 , , 4.9 , , .5 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , 10.7 , , 12.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;", Olympiacos , 17 , , 1 , , 11.0 , , .655 , , , , .507 , , 1.8 , , .7 , , .4 , , .4 , , 6.6 , , 5.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , style="text-align:left;", Olympiacos , 13 , , 1 , , 8.3 , , .568 , , .000 , , .625 , , 1.8 , , .3 , , .2 , , .1 , , 4.4 , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;", Olympiacos , 19 , , 18 , , 13.3 , , .614 , , , , .486 , , 2.5 , , .6 , , .5 , , .2 , , 7.2 , , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 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. ...

, style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 22 , , 20 , , 19.2 , , .585 , , , , .625 , , 4.1 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , .6 , , 12.0 , , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 21 , , 14 , , 16.0 , , .595 , , , , .625 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , .4 , , 8.7 , , 8.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;", Panathinaikos , 26 , , 9 , , 12.1 , , .576 , , , , .604 , , 2.3 , , .9 , , .3 , , .1 , , 7.8 , , 6.4 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#AFE6BA;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 29 , , 20 , , 14.2 , , .613 , , , , .577 , , 2.6 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , .3 , , 9.6 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 26 , , 20 , , 14.7 , , .528 , , , , .549 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .4 , , 6.7 , , 5.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;", Crvena zvezda , 2 , , 1 , , 15.2 , , .500 , , , , .500 , , .5 , , .0 , , .0 , , .5 , , 4.5 , , -1.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 197 , , 105 , , 14.5 , , .593 , , .000 , , .583 , , 2.9 , , .8 , , .6 , , .4 , , 8.4 , , 7.9

Awards and accomplishments

Professional career

* 5× Greek League All-Star Game: (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013) * 2× Greek All-Star Game

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

: (2006, 2010) * Greek League Best Five: (2006) * 2×

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

Winner: (2010, 2013) * 4×

Israeli State 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 ...

Winner: (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015) * EuroLeague

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

: (

) *

All-EuroLeague 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 ...

First Team: (

) * 3×

Israeli Super League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

Champion: (2011, 2012, 2014) *

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 M ...

Champion: (2012) * Greek League Champion: (2013)

Greek junior national team

: All-First Team Selection * 2002

: * 2002

: *

Greek senior national team

: *

2009 EuroBasket The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

: *

Acropolis Tournament The Acropolis International Basketball Tournament (also known as the Acropolis of Athens Basketball Tournament and the Acropolis Basketball Cup) ( Greek: Τουρνουά Ακρόπολις) is an international basketball competition that is play ...

Early years

Professional career

Olympiacos

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Panathinaikos

Second stint with Maccabi

Crvena zvezda

PAOK

Apollon Patras

Aries Trikala

Ionikos Nikaias

NBA draft rights

Retirement

National team career

Greece "Under" national teams

Greece national team

Player profile

Career statistics

EuroLeague

Awards and accomplishments

Professional career

Greek junior national team

Greek senior national team

References

External links