Marco Belinelli
From Hoopedia
Marco Stefano Belinelli, nicknamed "Beli", (born March 25, 1986 in San Giovanni in Persiceto, Italy) is an Italian professional basketball player.
He is 196 cm (6' 5") tall and plays as a shooting guard, and he is considered to be one of Italy's greatest basketball talents. He was selected 18th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors.
Contents |
Career
Europe
Prior to his NBA career, Belinelli played for Italy's Virtus Bologna where he had Manu Ginobili as a teammate/master and Fortitudo Bologna in the Italian Lega A and the elite Europe-wide Euroleague.
National
Belinelli has also played for the Italy national basketball team. He competed on the 2006 FIBA World Championship and scored 25 points vs. the United States national team in preliminary round play, and averaged 13.5 points per game for the rest of the tournament.
He also took part in the 2007 European Championship in Spain; although Italy did not reach the top eight positions, Belinelli averaged 15.5 points per game.
NBA
After being selected #18 in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, Belinelli dropped 37 points in his first NBA Summer League game against the New Orleans Hornets, going 14-on-20 from the field, including 5-on-7 from behind the arc, adding 5 boards, 2 assists and 1 steal to help the Warriors earn a 110-102 win. His performace is tied for second for the highest scoring game ever in Vegas summer league history, behind Keith Bogans' 38 scored as a member of the Orlando Magic in 2004. Belinelli finished his Summer League scoring an average of 22.8 points per game in 4 game with the Warriors, before flying back to Italy to be part of the Italy national basketball team for EuroBasket 2007.
Trivia
- His favorite players are Manu Ginobili (who was his teammate in the 2001-02 season with Virtus Bologna), Kobe Bryant and his idol Michael Jordan.
