Kosta Koufos

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Kosta Koufos
Kosta Koufos in 2010.
No. 41   Denver Nuggets
Center
Personal information
Date of birth February 24, 1989 (1989-02-24) (age 22)
Place of birth Canton, Ohio
Nationality American / Greek
High school GlenOak
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 265 lb (120 kg)
Career information
College Ohio State (2007–2008)
NBA Draft 2008 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23rd overall
Selected by the Utah Jazz
Pro career 2008–present
Career history
2008–2010 Utah Jazz
2009, 2010 →Utah Flash (D-League)
2010–2011 Minnesota Timberwolves
2011–present Denver Nuggets
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Konstantine Demetrios "Kosta" Koufos (Greek: Κώστας Κουφός, Kostas Koufos) (born February 24, 1989) is a Greek-American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets. He was selected by the Utah Jazz with the 23rd overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Koufos played college basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes for one year before declaring for the 2008 NBA Draft.

Koufos holds dual citizenship of both the United States and Greece. He plays for the senior Greek national basketball team.

Contents

[edit] High school career

Koufos attended GlenOak High School in Canton, Ohio. He was a McDonald's All-American as a senior, and he was ranked the #3 center of the 2007 high school class by Rivals.com.[1] He also played for the AAU team sponsored by LeBron James.

In 2007, Koufos finished second to Buckeye teammate Jon Diebler in the Mr. Ohio Basketball voting. During his senior season with GlenOak, Koufos was named the Division I player of the year and was also named First-Team All-State. He also earned First-Team Northeast Inland All-District honors.

The 2007 McDonald's and EA Sports All-American, Koufos averaged 25.9 points per game, 15.4 rebounds per game and 5.2 blocked shots per game. He was instrumental in GlenOak snapping Canton McKinley's 41-game win streak in January 2007, when he posted 32 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks to help the Golden Eagles edge the Bulldogs, 56–55, in overtime. The next day, Koufos recorded 32 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks against Detroit Country Day, to lead GlenOak to its ninth consecutive victory.

As a junior, Koufos averaged 24 points per game, 11.1 rebounds per game, and four blocked shots per game and he was named Second-Team All-State. In April 2007, Koufos was a member of the Royal team in the Jordan All-American Classic at Madison Square Garden.

[edit] College career

In 2007, Koufos joined the Ohio State Buckeyes, where he replaced Greg Oden at center.[2] He was named the MVP of the 2008 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) after leading the Buckeyes to the championship by defeating the UMass Minutemen by a score of 92–85.

Over the course of his year at Ohio State, Koufos averaged 14.4 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, and 1.8 blocked shots per game.

[edit] Pro career

On April 21, 2008, Koufos declared himself eligible for the 2008 NBA Draft, but initially chose not to hire an agent; this would have allowed him to return to Ohio State if he withdrew from the draft on or before the June 16 withdrawal deadline. However, at the same time, it was speculated that he would leave the Buckeyes anyway to sign a professional contract in Greece.[3] He turned down a 3 year €5 million euros net income contract offer from Olympiacos Piraeus[4], a Greek A1 League basketball club.[5] On May 8, the Canton Repository reported that Koufos signed with Cleveland-based agent Mark Termini, thereby ending his college eligibility.[6]

Koufos was selected by the NBA team Utah Jazz with the 23rd overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. In March 2009, the Jazz assigned him to the NBA D-League club the Utah Flash.[7] However, after the Flash's first playoff game, the Jazz recalled him from the D-League in time for the playoffs due to an injury to Jazz starting center Mehmet Okur.[8]

Koufos was re-assigned to the Flash on March 8, 2010,[9] and recalled on March 22, 2010.[10] On July 14, 2010, Koufos was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a deal involving Al Jefferson.[11]

On February 22, 2011, Koufos was traded to the Denver Nuggets in a three-way blockbuster deal which also involved New York Knicks that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York.[12]

[edit] Greek national team

Medal record
Men's Basketball
Competitor for  Greece
FIBA European Championship
Bronze 2009 Poland National Team

Koufos was a member of the junior Greek national under-18 team at the 2007 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship in Spain. He led his team to the final game and although Greece lost to Serbia, Koufos won the tournament's MVP award after leading the competition in points, rebounds and blocked shots.[13] Koufos is considered to be one of the top Greek basketball center talents.

In 2009, he debuted with the senior Greek national basketball team and competed at the EuroBasket 2009, where he won a bronze medal.

[edit] Awards and accomplishments

[edit] Personal

Koufos is the son of Katerina and the late Alex Koufos. He has one brother, Vasilios, and a sister, Maria.

[edit] NBA career statistics

[edit] Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2008–09 Utah 48 7 11.8 .508 .000 .706 2.9 .4 .2 .6 4.7
2009–10 Utah 36 0 4.8 .468 .000 .600 1.3 .2 .1 .1 1.5
2010–11 Minnesota 39 1 8.6 .435 .000 .500 2.5 .2 .5 .6 2.7
2010–11 Denver 11 1 8.9 .500 .000 .632 3.0 .0 .2 .4 4.9
Career 134 9 8.7 .482 .000 .633 2.3 .2 .2 .4 3.3

[edit] Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10 Utah 9 0 3.4 .400 .000 .000 1.0 .0 .0 .1 .9
2010–11 Denver 1 0 2.0 1.000 .000 .000 .0 .0 .0 .0 2.0
Career 10 0 3.2 .455 .000 .000 .9 .0 .0 .1 1.0

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rivals.com 2007 center ranking.
  2. ^ SportingNews: Koufos is Ohio State's Oden encore.
  3. ^ Goodman, Jeff (2008-04-21). "Buckeyes' Koufos will declare, won't hire agent". FoxSports.com. http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/8056224/Buckeyes'-Koufos-will-declare,-won't-hire-agent. Retrieved 2008-04-22. 
  4. ^ Basketcentral.it Koufos rejected offer from Olympiakos last summer.
  5. ^ Collegebasketball.rivals.com : Koufos is Ohio State's Oden encore.
  6. ^ Koufos hires Cleveland-based agent.
  7. ^ Jazz Assigns Koufos to D-League.
  8. ^ Utah Jazz: With Okur's status uncertain, Jazz recall Koufos. April 18, 2009.
  9. ^ Jazz Re-Assign Koufos To D-League.
  10. ^ Utah Jazz: Okur will return, Kirilenko won't against Celtics.
  11. ^ "Wolves Acquire First-Round Draft Picks and Kosta Koufos". NBA.com. 2010-07-13. http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/Wolves_Acquire_First_Round_Draft_Picks_and_Kosta_Koufos_2010_07_13.html. Retrieved 2010-07-14. 
  12. ^ "Nuggets acquire five players, three picks in three-team trade". NBA.com. 2011-02-22. http://www.nba.com/nuggets/news/nuggets_trade_02_22_2011.html. Retrieved 2011-02-23. 
  13. ^ FIBA Europe: Koufos Named MVP.

[edit] External links
First round
Second round

1 Hamilton  | 3 Lawson  | 5 Fernández  | 6 Afflalo | 7 Harrington | 8 Gallinari | 10 Stone | 11 Andersen | 13 Brewer  | 24 Miller | 25 Mozgov | 31 Nenê | 35 Faried  | 41 Koufos

Head coach: Karl | Assistant coaches: Hunt | Welch | Iske
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