| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1969-03-01)March 1, 1969 (age 56) Caserta,Campania, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Listed height | 194 cm (6 ft 4 in) |
| Listed weight | 90 kg (198 lb) |
| Career information | |
| NBA draft | 1991:undrafted |
| Playing career | 1984–2014 |
| Position | Shooting guard |
| Number | 4 |
| Coaching career | 2009–present |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1984–1993 | Juvecaserta Basket |
| 1993–1995 | Fortitudo Bologna |
| 1995–1996 | Toronto Raptors |
| 1996–1997 | Scavolini Pesaro |
| 1997–1998 | Mabo Pistoia |
| 1998–2001 | Andrea Costa Imola |
| 2001–2002 | Snaidero Udine |
| 2002 | Telecom Gran Canaria |
| 2002–2003 | Andrea Costa Imola |
| 2003–2004 | Scafati Basket |
| 2004 | Lottomatica Roma |
| 2004–2005 | Andrea Costa Imola |
| 2005 | Polaris World Murcia |
| 2005–2006 | Casale Monferrato |
| 2006 | Capo d'Orlando |
| 2006–2007 | Gragnano |
| 2007–2009 | Gira Ozzano |
| 2013–2014 | Imola |
| As coach: | |
| 2009–2010 | Aquila Trento |
| 2010–2011 | Fortitudo Agrigento |
| 2013–2014 | Imola |
| 2014–2015 | Juvecaserta |
| 2015–2018 | Pistoia 2000 |
| 2018–2019 | Dinamo Sassari |
| 2019–2020 | Brescia Leonessa |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Stats at NBA.com  | |
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |
Vincenzo Esposito (Italian:[vinˈtʃɛntsoeˈspɔːzito]; born March 1, 1969) is an Italian former professionalbasketball player and coach, he lastly worked forGermani Basket Brescia of theLega Basket Serie A (LBA), in Italy. During his playing career, he played at theshooting guard position.
Esposito was the first player signed by theToronto Raptors of theNBA, also making him the first Italian signed by an NBA team. The majority of his playing career took place in Italy, where he was named theleague's most valuable player in 1999 and 2000. He also won theItalian Cup in 1988, and the Italian league championship with Juvecaserta, in 1991.
The Caserta native started his career with hometown clubJuvecaserta Basket during the 1984–85 Serie A season, at age 15.
With theCampanian club he won the 1988Italian Basketball Cup and the 1990–91Serie A championship, the club's first (and as of 2021 only) national championship, during that time the team also played in the1991–92 FIBA European League and the1992–93 FIBA Korać Cup.[1]
Esposito moved toFortitudo Bologna in 1993, playing there for two years.
Esposito had been noticed byNBA teams: theCleveland Cavaliers through scoutRudy D'Amico and theToronto Raptors throughBob Zuffelato. Though he had agreed terms with the Cavaliers, complications related to theNBA lockout meant he could only sign with the Raptors.
When he signed a multi-year deal on 25 May 1995, he was the first player ever signed by the Canadian expansion team (predating theexpansion draft and1995 NBA draft by a month).[2]
Though Esposito wasn't the first Italian to play in an NBA game – preceded byStefano Rusconi by three days – he was the first to score, on a free throw in a 15 November game against theHouston Rockets.[3]
With the Raptors'21–61 season, he played 30 games, averaging 3.9 points and 0.8 assists, in 9.4 minutes.[4]His best performance was 18 points, 2 assists, 2 offensive rebounds, and 2 turnovers, in 30 minutes, during a 6 April 1996 loss to theNew York Knicks inMadison Square Garden.[5]
Despite having two years left on his contract, and having a chance of a trade to thePhiladelphia 76ers, Esposito returned to Italy to sign withScavolini Pesaro in summer 1996.[3]Penning a contract reportedly worth at least 1 billion lire net annually (more than 500,000 in euros today), Esposito was acclaimed as a star on his return. However, Pesaro struggled in the league and the club and the player agreed to a buyout in November 1997, with the player moving toMabo Pistoia.[6][7]
He joinedAndrea Costa Imola after the 1997–98 season, and there he regained his top form, by top-scoring the league for three consecutive years, and being twice designated asleague MVP, in 1999 and 2000, and also All Star Game MVP in 1998.
He moved toSnaidero Udine in 2001, but he only stayed until January 2002, before having another experience abroad, in the SpanishLiga ACB withTelecom Gran Canaria, where he finished the season. He impressed in Spain averaging more than 20 points per game, including 45 in an April game againstValladolid.[8]
He returned to Imola, then in the second divisionLegadue, in 2002, staying there one year, and in 2003 to another Legadue teamScafati Basket .Esposito stayed there until February 2004, when the nearly 35-year-old returned to the Serie A withLottomatica Roma, to provide more depth to an injury-struck squad.[9] He played less than usual, and finished averaging 3.5 points in the league, also scoring 14 in his first (and last) careerEuroleague game, againstPau-Orthez.[10]
He returned to Imola,Legadue, for the 2004–05 season, with then a brief stay at the end of the Regular Season to play in theLEB playoffs withPolaris World Murcia.
Another return to Legadue followed in 2005, withCasale Monferrato, where he stayed until February 2006, as he signed withCapo d'Orlando for his last Serie A season.In November 2006, he joined the third divisionSerie B1 clubGragnano.He signed in 2007 with another Serie B1 team,Gira Ozzano, staying there for two years, before ending his playing career in 2009, at 40 years old.[11]
Esposito finished his 25-year playing career with 762 games played, across all teams and divisions, with 13,286 points scored, for an average of 17.43 points per game.[12]
Esposito played several years for the youth national teams of Italy, playing in the1985 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, where he won a bronze medal, and the1988 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, where he was the Team Best Scorer, as they lost in the final.[13]
He later joined the senior men'sItalian national basketball team forEuroBasket 1995, where Italy made it to the quarterfinals and he was the Team Best Scorer. Later on he played in the qualifiers forEuroBasket 1997, but he did not participate to the tournament. Following the year 2002 Esposito never played again for theItalian national basketball team.
After his retirement from playing professional basketball, Esposito started abasketball coaching career withAquila Basket Trento of the Serie A Dilettanti (the renamed third division) for the 2009–10 season, with the team finishing ninth. The next year, he coachedFortitudo Agrigento in the same division, leaving after one year.[11][14]
In July 2013, he returned to Imola, to coach the team that was still in the second division (now DNA Gold),[11] after his team only won 1 game in 13, he decided - at 44 - to return to the team as player, leaving coaching duties to his assistant.[15]
He rejoined another former club, Juvecaserta, in 2014, to serve as assistant coach toEmanuele Molin first and thenZare Markovski in the Serie A. When Markovski was dismissed in December, with Caserta at zero games won in 11 games, Esposito took over as head coach.[16] He helped them to 8 wins in the next 19 games, which gave them hope of escaping relegation, however the team lost their final game and were unable to achieve safety.[14]
Esposito would stay in the Serie A, signing a two-year deal withGiorgio Tesi Group Pistoia in June 2015.[14]In two years as the head coach of the Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia he took twice the team to the playoffs, one time to theItalian Basketball Cup, and at the end of the season 2017 he was named Italian League Coach of the Year (Lega Basket Serie A awards)
On May 22, 2018, Esposito signed a deal withBanco di Sardegna Sassari inLBA.[17]
On May 26, 2019, Esposito signed a deal withGermani Basket Brescia.[18]
Source.[4]
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–96 | Toronto | 30 | 0 | 9.4 | .360 | .232 | .795 | .5 | .8 | .2 | .0 | 3.9 |
| Career | 30 | 0 | 9.4 | .360 | .232 | .795 | .5 | .8 | .2 | .0 | 3.9 | |
