Matthew Nielsen
![]() Nielsen in March 2017 | |
Austin Spurs | |
---|---|
Position | Assistant coach |
League | NBA G League |
Personal information | |
Born | Sydney, New South Wales | 3 February 1978
Nationality | Australian |
Listed height | 208 cm (6 ft 10 in) |
Listed weight | 106 kg (234 lb) |
Career information | |
High school | St Marys (Sydney, New South Wales) |
NBA draft | 2000: undrafted |
Playing career | 1995–2013 |
Position | Power forward |
Coaching career | 2015–present |
Career history | |
As player: | |
1995; 1997–2004 | Sydney Kings |
2004–2005 | PAOK Thessaloniki |
2005–2008 | Lietuvos Rytas |
2008–2010 | Valencia |
2010–2011 | Olympiacos Piraeus |
2011–2013 | Khimki |
As coach: | |
2015–2019 | Perth Wildcats (asst.) |
2019–present | Austin Spurs (asst.) |
Career highlights and awards | |
As player:
As coach:
| |
Medals |
Matthew Peter Nielsen (born 3 February 1978) is an Australian former professional basketball player who is currently an assistant coach for the Austin Spurs of the NBA G League. Between 2015 and 2019, he served as an assistant coach for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL).
Early life
Born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Penrith, Nielsen attended St Marys Senior High School where, three times a week, he needed permission to leave early in order to train with the Sydney Kings as a development player.[1] As a 17-year-old in 1995, Nielsen appeared in two games for the Kings before moving to Canberra in 1996 to attend the Australian Institute of Sport.[2]
Professional career
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/MNielsen.jpg/170px-MNielsen.jpg)
In 1997, Nielsen returned to the Sydney Kings and won the NBL Rookie of the Year Award. He played a further seven seasons with the Kings and helped the club win championships in 2003 and 2004. In 244 career games for the Kings over nine seasons, he averaged 17.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.[3]
In 2004, Nielsen began a decorative European career playing for PAOK Thessaloniki in Greece, Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania, Valencia in Spain,[4] Olympiacos Piraeus also in Greece, and Khimki in Russia.[5]
On 10 October 2013, Nielsen was named in the Sydney Kings 25th Anniversary Team.[6]
Coaching career
During the 2013–14 NBL season, Nielsen served as a big-man coach for the Perth Wildcats.[7][8]
In 2014, Nielsen joined the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff in a player development role, on a contract that ran through to the end of the 2015 NBA Summer League.[9][10]
On 29 July 2015, Nielsen returned to the Perth Wildcats, signing with the club as an assistant coach ahead of the 2015–16 NBL season.[11] On 10 April 2019, after three championships in four seasons, Nielsen parted ways with the Wildcats in order to pursue coaching opportunities in the United States.[12]
On 5 November 2019 the Austin Spurs announced that they had named Nielsen as assistant coach.[13]
Australian national team
Nielsen won the gold medal at the 1997 FIBA Under-21 World Championship with Australia's junior national team. He was also a member of the senior men's Australian national basketball team. With Australia's senior national team, he won gold medals at the 2001 Goodwill Games, the 2003 FIBA Oceanian Championship, and the 2005 FIBA Oceania Championship.
During the Boomers 2012 Olympic campaign, Australian Football League player Scott Pendlebury noted Nielsen's athletic ability, and mentioned that he could have played in Australian Football League, had he not chosen to play basketball.[14]
EuroLeague career statistics
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 | PIR | Performance Index Rating |
Bold | Career high |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005–06 | Lietuvos Rytas | 19 | 13 | 25.8 | .464 | .357 | .703 | 5.2 | 1.7 | 1.1 | .3 | 12.4 | 13.6 |
2007–08 | Lietuvos Rytas | 13 | 13 | 24.1 | .495 | .250 | .805 | 4.8 | 1.5 | .8 | .5 | 9.9 | 12.2 |
2010–11 | Olympiacos Piraeus | 14 | 9 | 16.0 | .386 | .143 | .750 | 2.9 | .6 | .6 | .1 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
2012–13 | Khimki | 15 | 2 | 11.5 | .462 | .000 | .500 | 1.7 | 1.6 | .3 | .3 | 1.7 | 3.1 |
Career | 61 | 37 | 19.6 | .459 | .261 | .729 | 3.7 | 1.4 | .7 | .3 | 7.4 | 8.5 |
References
- ^ The Kings and I: captain Nielsen reaches club record
- ^ "Past Athletes". ausport.gov.au. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014.
- ^ Player statistics for Matthew Nielsen
- ^ "Valencia is Eurocup king!!!". Eurocupbasketall.com. 18 April 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
- ^ "BC Khimki lands Nielsen". Euroleague.net. 1 August 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
- ^ MightyMite Sydney Kings announce 25th Anniversary Team Archived 13 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Damo's Dish: The Black Tape Archived 16 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Knightmare a defensive dream for Perth Archived 21 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ NBA: Plenty of Aussies calling San Antonio Spurs home
- ^ Wildcats could sign long-time Boomer
- ^ Matt Nielsen appointed lead assistant coach[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Matt Nielsen Departing Perth Wildcats". NBL.com.au. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
- ^ "AUSTIN SPURS ANNOUNCE 2019-20 COACHING STAFF ADDITIONS". NBA.com. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- ^ "Scott Pendlebury says Matt Nielsen would "be awesome in the AFL"". AussieHoopla.com. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Use dmy dates from August 2012
- 1978 births
- Living people
- Australian expatriate basketball people in Greece
- Australian expatriate basketball people in Spain
- Australian men's basketball players
- Australian Institute of Sport basketball players
- Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- BC Khimki players
- BC Rytas players
- Liga ACB players
- Olympiacos B.C. players
- Olympic basketball players of Australia
- PAOK B.C. players
- Power forwards (basketball)
- Sydney Kings players
- Valencia Basket players
- 2010 FIBA World Championship players