Christian Drejer

From Hoopedia

Christian Drejer (born December 8, 1982 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish professional basketball player who currently plays for Lottomatica Virtus Roma and is a former player of SISU Copenhagen, the University of Florida, Winterthur FCB and Virtus Bologna. He is also a Danish national team player. He was drafted in the second round of the 2004 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets with the 51st pick. He is the first Dane ever drafted by the NBA. This pick was not without controversy as many had been questioning his character due to the fact he quit the Florida Gators basketball team halfway through the previous season. He has never played in the NBA.

At the age of 19 Drejer had a national breakthrough in his first season in the best Danish league, Basketligaen, averaging above 31 ppg for his hometown team, SISU Copenhagen.

His performances in both the Danish league and in international games made him a prospect for several US colleges and he could almost make his pick. He ended up choosing the University of Florida Gators. His first year in college was almost abysmal. The Gators were supposed to be contenders for the NCAA Division I title with Drejer as one of the team leaders. But injuries put Drejer on the sideline for a long time, and he never showed his full potential in his freshman year.

In the 2003-04 season Drejer got a lot more minutes but never got his confidence back to the level he had prior to going abroad. The Gators had another mediocre season and in the spring of 2004 Spain's leading team F.C. Barcelona, approached Drejer and offered him a million dollar contract. Drejer decided to follow the dream of playing professionally and left the Gators in mid-season--a decision that he might later have regretted, since it adversely affected his reputation in the United States. Many people thought he had wasted his chance ever to play in the NBA.

On Draft Day 2004, however, he was drafted in the 2nd round by the New Jersey Nets. Some thought that Drejer could be a 2nd round steal, but the Nets never signed Drejer, who went back to Barcelona where he already had won the Spanish Championship and played in the Euroleague.

In the summer of 2005 New Jersey Nets decided to take a second look at Drejer and invited him to play in the Summer League. He failed, averaging only 2.6 ppg and has since then not been considered NBA material.

He might however still have a fine international career ahead of him. In 2005 he joined Italian team Virtus Bologna and was a key player in a fine 2006-07 season: The team reached The Final Four in EuroCup, where Christian Drejer earned a spot in the EuroCup All-Star game, and were runner-ups in The Italian Championship.

In the summer of 2007 Christian Drejer switched to Lottomatica Virtus Roma.