Sofoklis Schortsanitis (Greek: Σοφοκλής Σχορτσανίτης; born 22 June 1985) is a Greek-Cameroonian former professionalbasketball player and Olympian.[1]
AnAll-EuroLeague First Team selection in 2011, Schortsanitis won theEuroLeague title in2014 withMaccabi Tel Aviv, and reached theEuroLeague Final in2010 and2011, while playing forOlympiacos andMaccabi, respectively. He was a member of theGreece men's national basketball team that captured silver medal honours in the2006 FIBA World Championship and a bronze medal in theEuroBasket 2009. He is nicknamed "Big Sofo" or "Baby Shaq".[2]
Born in his native port town ofTiko,Cameroon, to a Greek father and a Cameroonian mother, Schortsanitis moved toGreece with his mother at a very young age. He has a younger brother, Alexandros.[3] He grew up inKavala, where his parents encouraged him to try basketball. Initially reluctant, he disliked the sport at first, but with constant practice he gradually developed a passion for it. His emerging talent soon caught the eye of ascout/coach, who guided him into pursuing basketball seriously.
Schortsanitis began playing professional basketball withIraklis in the2000–01 Greek League season. Starting in the2002–03 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 in Cantù's 2003–04 season, in theItalian League; he lacked maturity and experience. He would return to Greece to play in the 2004–05 season with the Greek clubAris.[citation needed]
In the 2005–06 season, Schortsanitis was transferred toOlympiacos. He became a vital member of the team that reached theEuroLeague quarterfinals, and his performances impressedPanagiotis Giannakis, who picked him for theGreece men's national basketball team 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.[4] He came back in shape for the 2008–09 season, and helped Olympiacos reach theEuroLeague 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 theEuroLeague Final, which they lost toJuan Carlos Navarro's andRicky Rubio'sBarcelona, 86–68.
On 5 August 2010, Schortsanitis signed a two-year deal with the then five-timeEuroLeague champions,Maccabi Tel Aviv of theIsraeli Premier League.[5] His presence alongsideJeremy Pargo,Chuck Eidson, andDoron Perkins helped the team reach the2011 EuroLeague Final, where they eventually lost toDimitris Diamantidis'Panathinaikos, by a score of 78–70. Schortsanitis averaged 12 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1 assist per game throughout theEuroLeague 2010–11 season, earning anAll-EuroLeague First Team selection.[6]
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 theEuroLeague quarterfinals, where they were topped by Panathinaikos, losing the series, 3–2.
On 4 July 2012, Schortsanitis signed a three-year contract with the Greek clubPanathinaikos,[7] worth €1.5 millioneurosnet income.[8] He reportedly turned down significantly more lucrative offers fromBaskonia Vitoria andGalatasaray, 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.[9]
On 10 July 2013, Schortsanitis returned toMaccabi after one season inPanathinaikos, and signed a three-year contract with the defendingIsraeli Premier League champions.[10] In his comeback season with Maccabi, the club wonthe finals ofthat 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.
On 2 August 2015, Schortsanitis signed a one-year contract with the Serbian clubCrvena zvezda.[11][12] On 28 October 2015, he parted ways with Zvezda. In 6 games played with the club in theABA League's2015–16 season, he averaged 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.[13]
On 2 November 2015, Schortsanitis signed with the Greek clubPAOK, for the rest of the season.[14] With PAOK, he averaged 13.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, in theEuropean-wide 2nd-tier levelEuroCup's2015–16 season.[15]
In December 2016, Schortsanitis joined the Greek clubApollon Patras. However, on 28 December, he suffered a serious injury, as heruptured hisAchilles tendon, during one of the team's practices. The injury caused him to then miss the entire remainder of theGreek Basket League 2016–17 season, and he was thus not able to play in any games with Apollon.
On 18 October 2017, Schortsanitis returned to action, and joinedAries Trikala of theGreek Basket League, for the2017–18 season.[16] On 6 January 2018, he made his debut in a 76–86 loss toRethymno Cretan Kings, recording 6 points and one rebound, off the bench.[17][18]
On 24 July 2019, Schortsanitis signed withIonikos Nikaias for theGreek Basket League 2019–20 season.[19]
Schortsanitis drew interest from theNBA'sLos Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2006, after having been originally selected in the 2nd round (34th overall) of the2003 NBA draft; however, because he was still under contract withOlympiacos at the time, he did not make a move to the NBA.[20] In 2010, his contract with Olympiacos expired, and he elected to participate in theNBA Summer League 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 theAtlanta Hawks in asign-and-trade deal forWillie Green.[21]
On 15 July 2014, his draft rights were traded to theOklahoma City Thunder in exchange forThabo Sefolosha, the rights toGeorgios Printezis, and cash considerations.[22]
On 10 December 2020, Schortsanitis announced his retirement from playing pro club basketball. Thus, making him one of the eleven players from the2003 NBA draft Class to have never played in theNBA.[23]
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Schortsanitis was on the squad of theUnder-16 national team that played at the2001 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the squad of theUnder-18 national team that won a bronze medal at the2002 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, and the squad of theUnder-19 national team that won a bronze medal at the2003 FIBA Under-19 World Cup. Schortsanitis was on the squad of the junior national team that won the gold medal at the 2002Albert Schweitzer Under-18 World Tournament, where he was also namedthe MVP of the tournament.
Play atfriendly games and qualifiers were Schortsanitis' introduction to being on the seniorGreek national team, before making his first appearance at a majorFIBA competition at the2006 FIBA World Championship, which was held inJapan. He helpedGreece win thesilver medal, after they defeatedTeam USA, by 101–95, in the semifinals. Schortsanitis scored 14 points, in 17 minutes in the game. He also played for Greece at the2008 Summer Olympics.
At the2009 EuroBasket, which was held inPoland, Schortsanitis' performance was decisive in Greece winning the tournament's bronze medal game againstSlovenia, 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 the2010 FIBA World Championship.
Schortsanitis is a classic, "old school" stylecenter 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 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall barefoot, 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) tall with shoes on,[24] and with a 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) wingspan.[25][26]
His official playing weight was listed as 380 pounds (172 kg).
| 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 |
| † | Denotes seasons in which Schortsanitis won theEuroLeague |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 | Olympiacos | 22 | 1 | 19.1 | .618 | — | .632 | 4.9 | .5 | 1.2 | .6 | 10.7 | 12.0 |
| 2006–07 | 17 | 1 | 11.0 | .655 | — | .507 | 1.8 | .7 | .4 | .4 | 6.6 | 5.4 | |
| 2008–09 | 13 | 1 | 8.3 | .568 | .000 | .625 | 1.8 | .3 | .2 | .1 | 4.4 | 2.8 | |
| 2009–10 | 19 | 18 | 13.3 | .614 | — | .486 | 2.5 | .6 | .5 | .2 | 7.2 | 6.6 | |
| 2010–11 | Maccabi | 22 | 20 | 19.2 | .585 | — | .625 | 4.1 | 1.0 | .8 | .6 | 12.0 | 13.0 |
| 2011–12 | 21 | 14 | 16.0 | .595 | — | .625 | 3.0 | 1.0 | .6 | .4 | 8.7 | 8.6 | |
| 2012–13 | Panathinaikos | 26 | 9 | 12.1 | .576 | — | .604 | 2.3 | .9 | .3 | .1 | 7.8 | 6.4 |
| 2013–14† | Maccabi | 29 | 20 | 14.2 | .613 | — | .577 | 2.6 | 1.1 | .8 | .3 | 9.6 | 8.3 |
| 2014–15 | 26 | 20 | 14.7 | .528 | — | .549 | 2.3 | 1.0 | .3 | .4 | 6.7 | 5.9 | |
| 2015–16 | Crvena zvezda | 2 | 1 | 15.2 | .500 | — | .500 | .5 | — | — | .5 | 4.5 | -1.5 |
| Career | 197 | 105 | 14.5 | .592 | .000 | .583 | 2.9 | .8 | .6 | .4 | 8.4 | 7.9 | |
Gold
Bronze Bronze
Silver Gold Bronze
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