Ioannis Bourousis

Ioannis Bourousis

Bourousis celebrating Greece's win against Turkey (76–74) in EuroBasket 2009
No. 9 – Laboral Kutxa Baskonia
Position Center
League Liga ACB
Euroleague
Personal information
Born (1983-11-17) November 17, 1983
Karditsa, Greece
Nationality Greek
Listed height 6 ft 10.6 in (2.10 m)
Listed weight 270 lb (122 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2005 / Undrafted
Playing career 2001–present
Career history
2001–2006 AEK Athens
2006 FC Barcelona
2006–2011 Olympiacos
2011–2013 EA7 Milano
2013–2015 Real Madrid
2015–present Laboral Kutxa
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing Greece Greece
EuroBasket
2005 Serbia & Montenegro National Team
2009 Poland National Team
FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship
2002 Lithuania Team

Ioannis Bourousis (Greek: Γιάννης Μπουρούσης; born November 17, 1983) is a Greek professional basketball player who current plays for Laboral Kutxa Baskonia of the Liga ACB. He is a 6 ft 10¾ in (2.10 m)[1], 270 lb (122 kg) center. A two-time All-Euroleague First Team selection (2009, 2016), Bourousis has been compared to FIBA Hall of Fame center Vlade Divac by San Antonio Spurs' head coach Gregg Popovich.[2]

Professional career

Bourousis originally began his athletic career training to be a professional swimmer, but he grew too tall for the sport and instead took up playing basketball, at the age of 18. He began his professional career in the year 2001 with AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League. In 2006, he transferred to FC Barcelona of the Spanish ACB League. Later that same year, he joined the Greek Euroleague club Olympiacos.

In 2009, he was offered a 3-year $12 million contract[3] by the NBA club the San Antonio Spurs.[4] However, he turned down San Antonio's offer, and instead signed a 3-year contract extension with Olympiacos worth €5.1 million euros net income.[5][6] The contract contained a €1 million euros buyout amount, which could only be used to sign with an NBA team.[7] After 5 years with Olympiacos, the club decided to terminate his contract.

In the summer of 2011, just weeks before signing with Olimpia Milano, Bourousis was involved in a doping-related media controversy in Greece, after an unrelated football match-fixing probe of his (then future) father-in-law, Makis Psomiadis.[8][9] However, Bourousis was quickly cleared of any suspected wrongdoing, after he submitted to drug testing for FIBA protocols, which are overseen by the World Anti-Doping Agency, in order to be cleared to play with Greece's national team at FIBA EuroBasket 2011.[10][11]

On July 6, 2011, Bourousis then agreed to a two-year contract with the Italian A League club Olimpia Milano.[12] In July 2013, Bourousis signed a contract with the Spanish League club Real Madrid.[13][14] With Real Madrid, Bourousis won the Spanish Supercup in 2013 and the Spanish King's Cup 2014. In the summer of 2014, Real Madrid picked team option to keep him in the club for one more season.[15]

In the 2014–15 season, Bourousis won the Euroleague 2014–15 season championship, after his team Real Madrid, defeated his former team, Olympiacos, by a score of 78–59 at the 2015 Euroleague Final Four.[16] Real Madrid also eventually finished the season winning the 2014–15 Spanish League championship, after a 3–0 series score in the ACB Finals against Barcelona. With that trophy, they won the triple crown.[17]

In September 2015, Bourousis signed a contract with the Spanish team Laboral Kutxa Baskonia.[18] On December 30, 2015, he was named Player of the Month after being three times MVP of the week in the first half of the 2015–16 ACB season.[19] He repeated again as Player of the Month in January 2016, after averaging 18.5 points per game and 7 rebounds per game, including 24 points scored in the win against Real Madrid.[20]

Greek national team

Bourousis was a member of the junior Greek national basketball team that won the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship in Lithuania. He was on the men's Greek national basketball team that won the EuroBasket 2005 in Serbia, and played an instrumental role as Greece won the bronze medal at the EuroBasket 2009. He was also a member of the Greek national teams that finished fourth in the EuroBasket 2007, and fifth in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

During an international friendly game between the national teams of Greece and Serbia, during the 2010 Acropolis Tournament, the Serbian player, Nenad Krstić, hit Bourousis on the head with a chair. "I thought he was a fan attacking me", Krstić declared the next day. Bourousis first pressed charges against Krstić and decided to sue, but he quickly changed his mind and dropped them.

Bourousis was also a member of the Greek national teams that competed at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the EuroBasket 2011. He also played at the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the EuroBasket 2013, the 2014 FIBA World Cup, and the EuroBasket 2015.

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 Bourousis won the Euroleague

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 AEK Athens 3 0 6.0 .429 .000 1.000 2.0 .0 .0 .0 2.7 .0
2003–04 12 0 7.9 .500 .000 .429 2.2 .3 .3 .3 1.8 2.2
2004–05 18 0 11.0 .510 .167 .500 3.7 .3 .4 .4 3.4 4.6
2005–06 11 8 23.3 .438 .333 .833 7.2 .3 .5 .5 8.5 9.5
2006–07 Olympiacos 19 13 16.0 .678 .409 .727 5.7 .8 1.1 .7 8.6 12.7
2007–08 21 10 19.4 .500 .432 .769 5.2 .5 .5 1.2 5.8 9.0
2008–09 22 7 21.3 .591 .259 .625 7.4 .7 .7 .5 12.5 16.1
2009–10 17 2 16.4 .531 .471 .765 4.8 .7 .9 .6 8.8 10.9
2010–11 18 11 17.5 .530 .367 .678 6.6 .7 .6 1.3 10.7 14.2
2011–12 Olimpia Milano 15 14 22.4 .466 .176 .688 6.4 .5 .7 .7 9.0 10.6
2012–13 9 8 24.1 .573 .385 .745 8.3 1.1 .7 .7 14.0 18.9
2013–14 Real Madrid 29 29 21.0 .524 .353 .817 5.9 .9 .4 .8 8.3 12.1
2014–15† 28 10 11.8 .505 .200 .727 3.3 .9 .5 .4 5.0 6.8
Career 222 112 17.2 .534 .345 .716 5.4 .7 .6 .7 7.8 10.4

Domestic leagues

Season Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001–02 AEK Athens GBL 3 1.7 .667 -- .667 1.3 .0 .0 .0 2.0
2002–03 8 4.3 .429 -- -- 1.1 .1 .0 .0 .8
2003–04 20 12.1 .714 -- .682 4.2 .2 .5 .1 5.3
2004–05 24 11.3 .580 .333 .649 3.9 .4 .2 .3 4.7
2005–06 25 25.5 .558 .321 .765 8.4 .6 1.3 1.0 10.5
FC Barcelona ACB 3 3.7 .333 -- -- 1.0 .3 .3 .0 .7
2006–07 Olympiacos GBL 24 18.3 .610 .357 .775 7.2 .8 .7 1.1 9.8
2007–08 25 19.9 .660 .405 .745 7.5 1.2 .6 1.2 9.0
2008–09 32 20.9 .617 .439 .742 7.5 .9 .7 .9 11.9
2009–10 26 17.9 .560 .200 .743 5.3 1.1 .8 .7 9.7
2010–11 30 20.6 .636 .333 .817 6.6 1.2 1.0 1.1 11.7
2011–12 Olimpia Milano Lega A 43 19.0 .622 .347 .755 5.8 1.0 .5 .7 11.6
2012–13 34 20.5 .631 .322 .769 6.8 1.1 .7 .6 11.5
2013–14 Real Madrid ACB 40 18.7 .591 .236 .831 4.6 .7 .7 .5 6.9
2014–15 31 14.6 .544 .313 .733 3.7 .9 .4 .4 5.2

Awards and accomplishments

Pro career

References

  1. ↑ Official Player Profile, 2.10 m in height. Euroleague.net.
  2. ↑ MySanAntonio.com Greek center envisions future with the Spurs.
  3. ↑ RedPlanet.gr Πρόταση των Σπερς σε Μπουρούση (Greek).
  4. ↑ MySanAntonio.com Greek center envisions future with the Spurs.
  5. ↑ Ioannis Bourousis re-signs with Olympiacos (Lithuanian)}. Krepsinis.net. Retrieved on 2011-06-01.
  6. ↑ Euroleague.net OLYMPIACOS: Three more years for Bourousis. Admin.euroleague.net. Retrieved on 2011-06-01.
  7. ↑ (Greek) – Στο στόχαστρο της Οκλαχόμα ο Μπουρούσης (Greek)}. Redplanet.gr. Retrieved on 2011-06-01.
  8. ↑ Ekathimerini.com Bourousis caught up in doping scandal.
  9. ↑ Interbasket.net Greece: Ioannis Bourousis caught in Doping Scandal.
  10. ↑ RedPlanet.gr "Καθαρός" ο Μπουρούσης (Greek).
  11. ↑ Pianetabasket.com Ioannis Bourousis è "pulito", firma un biennale con Milano! (Italian).
  12. ↑ Milano inks Bourousis for two years.
  13. ↑ Euroleague.net REAL MADRID inks experienced big man Bourousis.
  14. ↑ "Real Madrid announced Ioannis Bourousis". Sportando. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  15. ↑ "Ioannis Bourousis to stay with Real Madrid one more season". sportando.com. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "Real Madrid is Euroleague champion for record ninth time!". euroleague.net. 17 May 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "Real Madrid make it 4 out of 4". marca.com (in Spanish). 24 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "Ioannis Bourousis, new Laboral Kutxa Baskonia Player". baskonia.com. September 27, 2015.
  19. ↑ "MVP Movistar+ del mes de Diciembre" (in Spanish). ACB.com. 29 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  20. ↑ "Ioannis Bourousis, MVP Movistar+ de Enero" (in Spanish). ACB.com. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.

External links

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