Petteri Koponen

From Hoopedia

Petteri Koponen (born April 13, 1988) is a Finnish basketball player from Helsinki. He plays point guard, weighs 190 pounds (85 kg) and is 6 ft 4 inches tall (193 cm).

Finland

His first club was MaSu (Malmin Super-Koris) ("Malmi´s super-basketball"), from where he joined one of Finland's top clubs, Espoo Honka. This happened for the 2004-05 season. Under the guidance of coach Mihailo Pavicevic he quickly developed into a key component of Honka's 2006-2007 Finnish championship winning side. In his final season so far at Honka Koponen averaged 12,4 points, 2,4 rebounds and 3,7 assists. The number of assists may sound small, but in Finland assists are apparently harder to come by, because the leader had an average of only somewhat 5 assists.

He played in the World All-Star team of Nike Hoop Summit in 2007, and was considered one of their best players. He recorded 7 points and 6 assists with only one turnover.

The summer of 2006 was Koponen's coming-out party. First, he played very well in the U-20 European Championship B-level competition, leading the Finnish team to third place by losing just one game. After that he was promoted to the men's national team. He showed no fear as he played like a veteran and got to play quite a lot. His best game was against the small country of Luxembourg; he scored 19 points and handed out 7 assists.

Koponen is known for his agility, passing skills and an outstanding court vision. He is at his best when he gets to push the ball forward on a fast break and mostly makes the right decision on the fast break, whether it means giving up the ball or taking it to the rack by himself.

NBA Draft

On June 28, 2007, Koponen was taken 30th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. He was the final first-round pick in the draft in 2007. Philadelphia then traded Koponen to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for their number 42 pick, Vanderbilt University swingman Derrick Byars, and cash considerations.