Šarūnas Jasikevičius

Šarūnas Jasikevičius

Šarūnas Jasikevičius with number 13 and Alex Abrines with number 10.
Žalgiris Kaunas
Position Head coach
League Lithuanian League
EuroLeague
Personal information
Born (1976-03-05) March 5, 1976
Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality Lithuanian
Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight 202 lb (92 kg)
Career information
High school Solanco (Quarryville, Pennsylvania)
College Maryland (1994–1998)
NBA draft 1998 / Undrafted
Playing career 1998–2014
Position Point guard
Number 3, 13, 19, 33
Coaching career 2014–present
Career history
As player:
1998–1999 Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
1999–2000 Union Olimpija Ljubljana
2000–2003 FC Barcelona
2003–2005 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2005–2007 Indiana Pacers
2007 Golden State Warriors
2007–2010 Panathinaikos Athens
2010 Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2011 Fenerbahçe Istanbul
2011–2012 Panathinaikos Athens
2012–2013 FC Barcelona
2013–2014 Žalgiris Kaunas
As coach:
2014–2016 Žalgiris Kaunas (assistant)
2016–present Žalgiris Kaunas
Career highlights and awards

As player:

As coach:

Career NBA statistics
Points 933 (6.8 ppg)
Assists 399 (2.9 apg)
Rebounds 222 (1.6 rpg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Lithuania
FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship
1994 Israel National Team
European Championship for Men '22 and Under'
1996 Turkey National Team
Summer Olympic Games
2000 Sydney National Team
EuroBasket
2003 Sweden National Team
2007 Spain National Team

Šarūnas "Šaras" Jasikevičius ([ʂɐˈrûːnɐs jɛsʲɪˈkʲæːvʲɪt͡ʃʊs]; born 5 March 1976) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and current head coach for Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian League. Standing at 6'4" (193 cm),[1] he played the point guard position. On February 9, 2015, Jasikevičius was named a EuroLeague Basketball Legend, as a reward for his stunning playing career,[2] and was honored with a ceremony on February 12, 2015.[3][4]

Jasikevičius was a two-time All-Euroleague First Team selection, the EuroLeague Final Four MVP in 2005 and a four-time triple crown winner. Moreover, he is the only player in EuroLeague history to win the competition with three different clubs. A former representative of the Lithuanian national team, he won the gold medal at the EuroBasket 2003, earning an All-Eurobasket Team selection and MVP honors in the process. He also won the bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games and the bronze medal at the EuroBasket 2007.

Early years

Jasikevičius is from Lithuania, but spent his teen years in the United States. He attended the Solanco High School in Quarryville, Pennsylvania.[5]

College career

Jasikevičius played college basketball at the University of Maryland, with the Maryland Terrapins. He played as a wing, although he remade himself into a point guard in his pro career.[6] He did not see much playing time in his first two years in college, with seniors Duane Simpkins, Johnny Rhodes, and Exree Hipp ahead of him at the wing positions. As a junior, he became a better passer and improved his defense.[7] He averaged a shade under 13 points and 4 assists in his junior and senior years.

Professional playing career

Jasikevičius made his pro debut in 1998 with Lietuvos Rytas of Vilnius and averaged 18.0 points and 5.4 assists.[8] He joined the Union Olimpija for the next season and won the Premier A Slovenian Basketball League. His season averages were down to 9.3 points and 3.4 assists per game.

Šarūnas Jasikevičius with his first EuroLeague-winning team Barcelona.

Jasikevičius played the next three seasons with FC Barcelona, and won the EuroLeague with them in 2003. He started for the championship team, and averaged 13.4 points and 3.2 assists per game. He also led the team to two Spanish League titles, and two Spanish King's Cups.

Šaras won two consecutive EuroLeague titles with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

He joined Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2003, and helped them win two EuroLeague titles, two Israeli League crowns, and two Israeli Cups.

Jasikevičius signed with the Indiana Pacers in July 2005. The deal was worth $12 million over three years. He played in the NBA in112 games (16 starts) with the Pacers in 1½ seasons, averaging 7.3 points and 3.0 assists per game.

On 17 January 2007, Jasikevičius was traded to the Golden State Warriors, along with Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, and Josh Powell, in exchange for Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Jr., Ike Diogu, and Keith McLeod.[9] He did not become a part of the rotation in Golden State. He averaged 4.3 points and 2.3 assists per game in 26 games (2 starts), in only 11.9 minutes per game. Jasikevičius was bought out by the Warriors on 20 September 2007.[10]

On 25 September 2007, Jasikevičius signed with Panathinaikos. The deal reportedly was worth €7 million euros net income over two years (7.7 million including his buyout).[11] With Panathinaikos, he won the EuroLeague again in 2009.[12] Jasikevičius became the only player in basketball history to win the EuroLeague with three different teams.[13] He also won three Greek League titles and three Greek Cups with Panathinaikos. In 2009, he signed a contract extension worth € 3.5 million euros net income with Panathinaikos.[14] He underwent a knee surgery that same year, and after 5 months of rehabilitation, he returned to the court with limited playing time.

In November 2010, he signed a one-year contract with Lietuvos Rytas of the Lithuanian League.[15]
In January 2011, Fenerbahçe, bought-out his contract with Lietuvos Rytas, and he signed a one-year contract with them.[16]

In September 2011, he signed a new contract with Panathinaikos.[17] At age 36, he was named the Greek Cup Final MVP, as he helped Panathinaikos to victory against Olympiacos, in a game that finished with a score of 71-70.[18] Despite rumors that he would join Žalgiris,[19] in July 2012, Jasikevičius signed with his former team, FC Barcelona.[20] During the fifth Liga ACB finals game against Real Madrid, Jasikevičius scored 23 points, and dished out 2 assists in 19 minutes of game action. However, it wasn't enough, as Real won the game 79 to 71.[21]

On 1 July 2013, it was announced that Barcelona had parted ways with Jasikevičius.[22] In September, he returned home to Kaunas, signing with Žalgiris.[23] On September 30, 2013, he debuted with Žalgiris, during a game against Unics Kazan, scoring 6 points and dishing out 4 assists.[24] He retired after the season, and joined the Žalgiris coaching staff.[25]

Professional coaching career

On 29 July 2014, Jasikevičius announced his retirement from basketball, and was appointed to an assistant coach position with Žalgiris Kaunas.[26] After the firing of head coach Gintaras Krapikas during the 2015–16 season, Jasikevičius became the team's interim head coach.[27] On 13 January 2016, it was announced that he was appointed as their new head coach.[28]

On 22 January 2016, he accomplished his first EuroLeague victory as a head coach, when Žalgiris shockingly crushed the previous season's runners-up, Olympiacos, by a score of 75–55, at Žalgiris Arena.[29] On October 26, 2016, just before the first game versus his former long-time head coach Željko Obradović, Željko said: "I knew that he will be a good coach and in the future - one of the best in Europe".[30]

Lithuanian national team

Šarūnas Jasikevičius, during the bronze medalists meeting, in Vilnius.

Jasikevičius won two gold medals with the Lithuanian youth teams in 1994 and 1996.[31]

He started his senior international career in 1997, when he played for Lithuania's senior national team at EuroBasket 1997. Jasikevičius was a member of the Lithuanian national team which won bronze medals at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. He averaged 14.0 points and 5.1 assists, and scored a tournament-high 27 points, in a semi-finals loss to the United States.[32]

Jasikevičius also led Lithuania to a EuroBasket 2003 title. He was named the tournament MVP, after averaging 14.0 points and 8.2 assists.[33]

Jasikevičius also helped Lithuania win bronze medals at the EuroBasket 2007. He averaged 10.4 points and 5.6 assists, and scored a tournament-high 18 points against Turkey, on 3 September 2007.[34]

As of 2012, he was the only Lithuanian basketball player to participate in the Olympics four times in a row. He retired from the Lithuanian national team following the 2012 Olympics.[35] In his whole career as a Lithuania national basketball team member, he averaged 10 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game.

Šarūnas Jasikevičius, wearing the Maccabi Tel Aviv jersey, in 2004.
Šaras as a Panathinaikos member

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

† Denotes seasons in which Jasikevičius won the EuroLeague
Led the league

EuroLeague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2000–01 FC Barcelona 9 8 28.2 .398 .327 .900 2.3 5.6 1.0 .1 14.0 14.1
2001–02 FC Barcelona 18 16 23.5 .504 .449 .872 2.1 3.4 .9 .1 11.6 10.2
2002–03† FC Barcelona 21 15 26.4 .423 .378 .959 1.8 3.2 .7 .0 13.4 10.8
2003–04† Maccabi Tel Aviv 21 20 29.7 .477 .448 .925 1.6 4.8 .7 .0 16.0 16.3
2004–05† Maccabi Tel Aviv 24 23 31.7 .431 .399 .941 2.7 5.3 .9 .1 15.7 16.6
2007–08 Panathinaikos 20 5 23.5 .485 .408 .938 1.6 2.9 .7 .0 13.2 12.9
2008–09† Panathinaikos 22 4 20.1 .450 .389 .886 1.5 3.0 .6 .1 9.6 8.1
2009–10 Panathinaikos 7 0 15.8 .400 .000 .700 1.1 2.1 .3 .0 4.4 2.6
2010–11 Lietuvos rytas 6 0 19.4 .437 .375 .909 1.3 4.3 .2 .0 7.3 7.0
2010–11 Fenerbahçe 6 1 15.4 .407 .375 .800 1.0 1.5 .2 .0 4.8 1.5
2011–12 Panathinaikos 21 1 15.4 .517 .385 .875 1.3 2.5 .6 .0 7.2 6.3
2012–13 FC Barcelona 31 3 14.6 .450 .340 .933 .8 2.0 .3 .1 4.9 4.4
2013–14 Žalgiris 20 1 16.8 .409 .404 1.000 1.1 3.1 .4 .1 6.7 5.3
Career 226 97 22.0 .452 .394 .927 1.6 3.4 .6 .0 10.4 9.6

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2005–06 Indiana 75 15 20.8 .396 .364 .910 2.0 3.0 .5 .1 7.3
2006–07 Indiana 37 1 17.9 .412 .372 .922 1.3 3.0 .4 .0 7.4
2006–07 Golden State 26 2 11.9 .366 .273 .871 .8 2.3 .5 .0 4.3
Career 138 18 18.3 .397 .355 .908 1.6 2.9 .5 .0 6.8

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2006 Indiana 6 0 11.0 .368 .222 .500 1.0 1.0 .0 .2 2.8
2007 Golden State 4 0 1.5 .000 .000 .500 .0 .5 .0 .0 .3
Career 10 0 7.2 .350 .222 .500 .6 .8 .0 .1 1.8

Personal life

In 2006, Jasikevičius married Linor Abargil, the winner of the Miss World 1998 beauty pageant.[36] They divorced in 2008.

In 2009 he met Anna Douka in an Athens bar. Currently the pair have two children: a girl named Aila, who was born in 2010,[37] and a boy named Lukas, who was born in 2012.[38]

Šarunas' younger brother, Vytenis Jasikevičius, is also a professional basketball player.

In 2015 his biographical book Laimėti neužtenka (English: To win is not enough) was published in Italian, Greek and Lithuanian languages.[39] The English version is planned in the near future as well. Furthermore, the interest is also shown by the Spanish and Israeli publishing houses.[40]

Honors and awards

Šaras (FB Ülker)

Club career

Individual

References

  1. ↑ Sarunas Jasikevicius - Player profile.
  2. ↑ Sarunas Jasikevicius to be honored as Euroleague Basketball Legend (English)
  3. ↑ Real ruin Jasikevicius´ Euroleague legend induction, Barca bounce back.
  4. ↑ Š.Jasikevičius oficialiai pripažintas Eurolygos legenda (VIDEO) (Lithuanian)
  5. ↑ Jasikevicius’ Quest
  6. ↑ http://www.interbasket.net/players/jasikevicius.htm Jasikevicius Has Continental Flair, Ex-Terp One of Europe's Best Guards By Tim Warren Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, 14 September 2003;
  7. ↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/college/events/1998/tournament/men/spotlight/jasikevicius.html Sarunas Jasikevicius, Maryland
  8. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius gameplay as a member of Lietuvos Rytas in 1998 (until 3:40)
  9. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/transactions?team=gsw&year=2007 Golden State Warriors Transactions 2006-07
  10. ↑ Warriors Request Waivers On Sarunas Jasikevicius.
  11. ↑ Greens land Jasikevicius, too.
  12. ↑ http://en.basketball.doudiz.com/competition-summary/788168.html Euroleague Summary
  13. ↑ Euroleague.net PANATHINAIKOS keeps Jasikevicius.
  14. ↑ Talkbasket.com Jasikevicius stays put at Panathinaikos.
  15. ↑ Lietuvos Rytas brings home Jasikevicius.
  16. ↑ FENERBAHCE ULKER: Saras agrees to terms.
  17. ↑ GREENS, Saras together again.
  18. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius led Panathinaikos to victory against Olympiacos in Greek Cup (Lithuanian)
  19. ↑ Š.Jasikevičius: My biggest dream was to play in Žalgiris (Lithuanian)
  20. ↑ Euroleague.net FC BARCELONA, Saras together again.
  21. ↑ Best season game for Šarunas Jasikevičius wasn't enough to win ACB title
  22. ↑ "Barcelona part ways with Jasikevicius, Mavrokefalides, Wallace". Sportando. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  23. ↑ "ZALGIRIS KAUNAS brings home Saras!". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  24. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius debuted in Žalgiris (Lithuanian)
  25. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius is retiring and will become G. Krapikas assistant (Lithuanian)
  26. ↑ "'El Mago' Jasikevicius anuncia su retirada". marca.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  27. ↑ "Zalgiris and head coach Krapikas part ways". BC Žalgiris. 9 January 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  28. ↑ "Sarunas Jasikevicius is the new Zalgiris head coach". BC Žalgiris. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  29. ↑ "Pirmoji Šaro pergalė Eurolygoje: nepasiduodantis "Žalgiris" patiesė "Olympiakos"". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  30. ↑ Urbonas, Donatas. "Šarūnas Jasikevičius – kaip iš akies luptas krepšinio genijus". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  31. ↑ "Sarunas Jasikevicius". FIBAEurope.com. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  32. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius Biography and Statistics.
  33. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius: 2002/2003 Europos vyrų čempionatas.
  34. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius: 2006/2007 Europos vyrų čempionatas.
  35. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius and Rimantas Kaukėnas retired from Lithuania national men's basketball team
  36. ↑ Saras, Baston Hope to Rekindle Title Chemistry. by Conrad Brunner, 6 October 2006.
  37. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius became a dad
  38. ↑ Šarūnas Jasikevičius named his son Šarūnas
  39. ↑ "SARUNAS JASIKEVICIUS-WIN NOT ENOUGH". Petrolioshop.com. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  40. ↑ "Šarūno Jasikevičiaus biografinė knyga – jau knygynuose: "Turėtų patikti ir nesidomintiems krepšiniu"". Žmonės.lt. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
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