Charlie Villanueva

Charlie Villanueva

Villanueva with the Pistons
No. 31 – Detroit Pistons
Position	Power forward
League	NBA
Personal information
Born	(1984-08-24) August 24, 1984 Queens, New York City, New York
Nationality	American / Dominican
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	232 lb (105 kg)
Career information
High school	Blair Academy (Blairstown, New Jersey)
College	Connecticut (2003–2005)
NBA Draft	2005 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7th overall
Selected by the Toronto Raptors
Pro playing career	2005–present
Career history
2005–2006	Toronto Raptors
2006–2009	Milwaukee Bucks
2009–present	Detroit Pistons
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Rookie First Team (2006) NCAA champion (2004) FIBA Americas Championship All-Tournament Second Team (2009)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men’s basketball Competitor for Dominican Republic FIBA Americas Championship Bronze 2011 Mar del Plata National team Centrobasket Silver 2010 Santo Domingo National team Competitor for United States FIBA Americas U20 Championship Gold 2004 Halifax National team

Charlie Alexander Villanueva (born August 24, 1984) is a Dominican-American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Villanueva was raised in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. He was drafted at the age of 20 as the seventh overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. He also holds Dominican citizenship and has represented the Dominican Republic national basketball team in international competition.

High school

During his freshman year, Villanueva attended Newtown High School in Queens, New York, where he was a teammate of future NBA player Smush Parker. He spent his next three years at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, where he played with another future NBA player, Luol Deng. Villanueva received All-American honors as a senior and was named New Jersey Co-Player of the Year. He entered the 2003 NBA Draft, but withdrew his eligibility so he could play basketball at the University of Connecticut. In his senior year, he was 5th place in the high school slam dunk contest, ahead of Ndudi Ebi, Travis Outlaw, and Brittany Hunter, and behind Shannon Brown, Von Wafer, J.R. Giddens, and the winner, LeBron James.

College career

Villanueva originally gave a verbal commitment to play for the University of Illinois, but after Bill Self left the Illini for the University of Kansas, Villanueva withdrew his commitment. He considered following Self to the Jayhawks, but instead opted to play for University of Connecticut.

In his freshman year at UConn, Villanueva earned Big East All-Rookie Team honors and was a key reserve member of the 2004 NCAA National Championship team. As a sophomore at UConn, he averaged 13.6 points and 8.3 rebounds, leading the team in scoring and receiving team MVP and Second Team All-Big East honors. Villanueva elected to enter the 2005 NBA Draft after two years at UConn.

NBA career

The Toronto Raptors were widely criticized for selecting Villanueva seventh overall in the 2005 NBA Draft, but he responded with a solid rookie campaign. He averaged 13 points and 6.4 rebounds in 81 games. He finished second among rookies in points and rebounds, and third in minutes and blocked shots. He also tallied 12 double-doubles and set the Raptors' rookie records for points (48) and rebounds (18) in a game. Villanueva also appeared in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and was named to the All-NBA Rookie First Team.

Villanueva was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for point guard T. J. Ford and cash considerations on June 30, 2006.

In March 2009 he was reprimanded by Bucks coach Scott Skiles for posting a message on his Twitter account during halftime of the Bucks–Celtics game.

As the season progressed Villanueva started to put up better statistics, and by the end of the year he was averaging a career high in points and rebounds (16.2 and 6.7 respectively).

In June 2009, Villanueva signed a five-year contract with the Pistons worth $35 million.

On January 2, 2013, the NBA fined him $25,000 for delivering a flagrant foul to Kings guard Isaiah Thomas the previous night. Villanueva had been ejected from the game for elbowing Thomas as Thomas drove to the basket. The NBA league office added the fine after reviewing the play.

National team

Villanueva represented the United States basketball team at youth levels. In 2009, Villanueva wanted to switch sports nationality to the Dominican Republic. Under FIBA rules, he asked USA Basketball to release him in order to switch his sports nationality. He played for the Dominican Republic national basketball team in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship.

Personal

Villanueva has alopecia universalis, a variation of alopecia areata, an autoimmune skin disease. This results in hair loss on the scalp and/or elsewhere on the body, but the disease is not otherwise life-threatening or harmful. Villanueva is a spokesman for the NAAF (National Alopecia Areata Foundation), and received the February 2006 Community Assist Award from the NBA for his work with the organization.

Villanueva is fluent in Spanish, as it is the language he speaks with his family.

Honors

• Mar 2003 – New Jersey State High School Co-Player of the Year, shared with Luol Deng
• Mar 2003 – New Jersey High School All-State Team Honor Selection
• Mar 2003 – McDonald's High School All-American
• Mar 2004 – Big East Conference All-Rookie Team
• Apr 2004 – NCAA National Championship, UConn Huskies
• Jul 2004 – USA Junior World Basketball Team Gold Medalist
• Mar 2005 – Big East All-Conference Second Team
• Jun 2005 – NBA Draft Lottery Seventh Pick
• Oct 2005 – Toronto Raptors Community MVP Award
• Nov 2005 – Toronto Raptors Community MVP Award
• Dec 2005 – Named NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month
• Feb 2006 – Selected to compete in the 2006 T-Mobile NBA All-Star Rookie Challenge in Houston
• Feb 2006 – NBA Cares Community Assist Award
• Mar 2006 – Toronto Raptors Franchise Rookie Record: Single-Game 48 Points
• Apr 2006 – Toronto Raptors Franchise Rookie Record: Single-Game 18 Rebounds
• May 2006 – NBA Rookie of the Year Runner Up, behind Chris Paul
• May 2006 – NBA All-Rookie First Team Honors
• Aug 2008 – NBA Cares Community Assist Award
• Sep 2008 - Latin Pride National Awards Outstanding Athlete

Trivia

• His idol growing up was Reggie Miller. He wears #31 as a tribute to Miller, who retired after the 2004-05 season.

NBA career statistics

Legend
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	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2005–06	Toronto	81	36	29.1	.463	.327	.706	6.4	1.1	.7	.8	13.0
2006–07	Milwaukee	39	17	25.2	.470	.337	.820	5.8	.9	.6	.3	11.8
2007–08	Milwaukee	76	31	24.1	.435	.297	.783	6.1	1.0	.4	.5	11.7
2008–09	Milwaukee	78	47	26.9	.447	.345	.838	6.7	1.8	.6	.7	16.2
2009–10	Detroit	78	16	23.7	.439	.351	.815	4.7	.7	.6	.7	11.9
2010–11	Detroit	76	11	21.9	.442	.387	.767	3.9	.6	.6	.6	11.1
2011–12	Detroit	13	0	13.8	.385	.333	.857	3.7	.5	.5	.4	7.0
2012–13	Detroit	69	0	15.8	.377	.347	.551	3.5	.8	.4	.6	6.8
Career		510	158	23.6	.441	.346	.778	5.3	1.0	.6	.6	11.8

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com
• Charlie Villanueva at Basketball-Reference.com
• Official Website of Charlie Villanueva