Efthimios "Efthimis" Rentzias (alternate spellings: Efthymios, Efthymis) (Greek: Ευθύμιος "Ευθύμης" Ρεντζιάς; born January 11, 1976) is a retired Greek professional basketball player. He was most notably a member of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. At 2.12 m[1] (6 ft 11½ in) in height, he played at the center position.
Early career
Rentzias played his first basketball for the amateur team Danaos, a local team of Trikala. He began his professional career at the age of 17 with PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek League in the 1993-94 season. With PAOK, he won the Korać Cup championship in the 1993-94 season, and the Greek Cup championship in the 1994-95 season. He was named the MVP of the 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, helping Greece to win the tournament's gold medal.[2] In the process, Greece beat (by a score of 98-78) a U.S. team that featured future NBA players like Vince Carter, Trajan Langdon, Stephon Marbury, and Samaki Walker.[3] During that period, Rentzias was considered to be one of the most talented European basketball players.
Later career
Originally selected with the 23rd overall pick by the Denver Nuggets in the 1996 NBA Draft, while under contract with PAOK, Rentzias opted not to play in the NBA at that time.
He later transferred to Barcelona Basquet for the 1997-98 season. In his last year with Barcelona (2001–02), Rentzias averaged 9.2 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game, in 17.3 minutes per contest, in 51 games, in both the Spanish League (ACB) and the Euroleague. He shot 61.6 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from three-point range, and 71.4 percent from the foul line. With Barcelona, Rentzias won his second Korać Cup championship in the 1998-99 season, and he also won 2 Spanish League championships in the 1998-99 and 2000-01 seasons.
In his only season in the NBA, during the 2002-03 campaign with the 76ers, he played in only 35 games, averaging 1.5 points per game. He was the second Greek-born basketball player at the time to ever suit up for an NBA team.
He subsequently played for Ülkerspor (Turkish League), Montepaschi Siena (Italian League), and Forum Valladolid (Spanish League).
Rentzias had plans to come back to PAOK to finish his career. Unfortunately, in August 2006, he announced his retirement from basketball at the age of 30, because of injury problems.
Greek national team
Rentzias was a part of the junior Greek national men's basketball teams. With Greece's junior national teams he won the silver medal at the 1991 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship and the gold medal at the 1993 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. With Greece's junior national team, he also won the gold medal at the 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, where he was also voted the MVP of the tournament.
Rentzias was also a member of the senior men's Greek national basketball team from 1992 to 2003, and competed in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games at Atlanta. That was the just the second ever appearance by Greece's men's basketball team in a Summer Olympics, and their first since the 1952 Summer Olympic Games. He averaged 5.0 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game, in 12 minutes per game, over seven contests in the 1996 Olympic Games.
He also played in the EuroBasket 1995, the EuroBasket 1997, the EuroBasket 2001, the EuroBasket 2003, the 1994 FIBA World Championship, and the 1998 FIBA World Championship with the Greek national squad.
Club career synopsis
Awards and accomplishments
Pro career
Greek national team
References
External links
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