Michael Wright (basketball)

Michael Wright

Position	Power forward
Height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight	238 lb (108 kg)
League	Turkish Basketball League
Team	Turk Telekom
Born	January 7, 1980 (1980-01-07) Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American / Turkish
College	Arizona
Draft	2nd round, 38th overall, 2001 New York Knicks
Pro career	2001–present
Career history	Śląsk Wrocław (2001–02) CB Granada (2002–03) Hapoel Tel Aviv (2003–04) ALBA Berlin (2004–05) BJK Cola Turka (2005–06) Jeonju KCC Egis (2006) EB Pau Orthez (2006–07) Turk Telekom (2007–09) Turów Zgorzelec (2009–10) Medical Park Trabzonspor (2010–11) Turk Telekom (2011-present)

Medal record
Men’s basketball
Competitor for United States
FIBA Americas U18 Championship
Gold	1998 Puerto Plata	Team competition
FIBA U19 World Championship
Silver	1999 Lisbon	Team competition

Michael Wright (born January 7, 1980 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American-Turkish professional basketball player, currently with Turkish team Turk Telekom. He has Turkish passport by the name Ali Karadeniz.

Wright played his high school basketball at Farragut Academy, where, as a freshman, he was part of one of the best teams in the country, which boasted future professionals Willie Farley and Ronnie Fields, as well as Boston Celtics superstar Kevin Garnett. At 2.01 m (6 ft 7 ¼ in), Wright played center after Garnett's departure, and moved to power forward in college.

At the University of Arizona, Wright started for the Wildcats in the 2001 NCAA Division I championship against the Duke Blue Devils. However, undersized for that position at the pro level^{[citation needed]}, and too slow to be a small forward,^{[citation needed]}he dropped to the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft where he was drafted by the New York Knicks.

After not joining the Knicks or any other NBA team post-draft, Wright moved overseas and switched teams almost every season. He started with Polish league champions Śląsk Wrocław, that also participated in the Euroleague, moving to Spain's CB Granada the following year.

After the team was relegated to the LEB (Spain's second division), Wright moved to Israel and signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv, and a year later with ALBA Berlin.

In 2005, Wright moved to Turkey's Beşiktaş. He started the 2006-07 season in South Korea with Jeonju KCC Egis, in October signed with French and Euroleague's EB Pau Orthez.

In May 2007 he moved back to Turkey and signed for Türk Telekom B.K.. In September 2009 he has signed a contract with Turów Zgorzelec from Poland for 2009-10 season.

In July 2011 he returned to Türk Telekom B.K. for one season with an option for a second one.

External links

• College stats
• NBA Draft profile
• Basketpedya career data
• ACB profile (Spanish)