Sofoklis Schortsanitis ( Greek: Σοφοκλής Σχορτσανίτης; born 22 June 1985) is a Cameroonian-Greek former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and Olympian. An All-EuroLeague First Team selection in 2011, Schortsanitis won the EuroLeague title in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and reached the EuroLeague Final in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, while playing for Olympiacos and Maccabi, respectively. He was a member of the Greece men's national basketball team that captured silver medal honours in the 2006 FIBA World Championship and a bronze medal in the EuroBasket 2009. He is nicknamed "Big Sofo" or "Baby Shaq".

Early years

Born in his native port town of Tiko,

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, Schortsanitis moved to his father's native country of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

with his mother when he was very young. He has a younger brother called Alexandros. Schortsanitis first took up basketball in his home city of Kavala. It was there where his parents advised him to play basketball, and Schortsanitis at first did not like the sport. But eventually the game grew on him, he was always practicing. Eventually, a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

/ coach discovered his talent, and pushed him into the sport.

Professional career

Schortsanitis began playing professional basketball with Iraklis in the 2000–01 Greek League season. Starting in the 2002–03 Greek League season when he was 17, he averaged 11.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per league game. His performance record would be a failure in Cantù's 2003–04 season, in the Italian League; he lacked maturity and experience. He would return to Greece to play in the 2004–05 season with the Greek club Aris.

Olympiacos

In the 2005–06 season, Schortsanitis was transferred to Olympiacos. He became a vital member of the team that reached the EuroLeague quarterfinals, and his performances impressed Panagiotis Giannakis, who picked him for the Greece men's national basketball team at the end of the season. During the following two years, Schortsanitis failed to achieve consistency, and his chronic weight issues reemerged, to the point that he spent almost the entire 2007–08 season dealing with them. He came back in shape for the 2008–09 season, and helped Olympiacos reach the EuroLeague Final Four. In the 2009–10 season, he made another step towards consistency, displaying his most mature performances with Olympiacos, on the club's way to the EuroLeague Final, which they lost to Juan Carlos Navarro's and Ricky Rubio's

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 86–68.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On 5 August 2010, Schortsanitis signed a two-year deal with the then five-time EuroLeague champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League. His presence alongside Jeremy Pargo, Chuck Eidson, and Doron Perkins helped the team reach the 2011 EuroLeague Final, where they eventually lost to Dimitris Diamantidis' Panathinaikos, by a score of 78–70. Schortsanitis averaged 12 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1 assist per game throughout the EuroLeague 2010–11 season, earning an All-EuroLeague First Team selection. In the 2011–12 season, Schortsanitis fought a chronic knee injury, which affected his performance during the season, and left him unable to participate with the national team that summer. Nevertheless, he helped Maccabi reach the EuroLeague quarterfinals, where they were topped by Panathinaikos, losing the series, 3–2.

Panathinaikos

On 4 July 2012, Schortsanitis signed a three-year contract with the Greek club Panathinaikos, worth €1.5 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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. He reportedly turned down significantly more lucrative offers from Baskonia Vitoria and

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

, among others, to return to Greece and fulfill his desire to play for Panathinaikos. In July 2013, Panathinaikos announced that Schortsanitis would not continue play for the club.

Second stint with Maccabi

On 10 July 2013, Schortsanitis returned to Maccabi after one season in Panathinaikos, and signed a three-year contract with the defending Israeli Premier League champions. In his comeback season with Maccabi, the club won

the finals ''The Finals'' is a free-to-play first-person shooter, developed and published by Embark Studios. The game focuses on team-based matches on maps with a destructible environment, where players (who are divided into a number of distinct classes) ...

of that season's EuroLeague, which was the first EuroLeague championship won in Schortsanitis' career. Over 29 games played in the EuroLeague that season, he averaged 9.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, in 14.2 minutes per game of playing time.

Crvena zvezda

On 2 August 2015, Schortsanitis signed a one-year contract with the Serbian club

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. On 28 October 2015, he parted ways with Zvezda. In 6 games played with the club in the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

's 2015–16 season, he averaged 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

PAOK

On 2 November 2015, Schortsanitis signed with the Greek club

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

, for the rest of the season. With PAOK, he averaged 13.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, in the European-wide 2nd-tier level EuroCup's 2015–16 season.

Apollon Patras

In December 2016, Schortsanitis joined the Greek club

Apollon Patras :''The first version of this article has been based in the text of :el:Α.Σ. Απόλλων of the :el:Κύρια Σελίδα, Greek Wikipedia published under the GFDL.'' A.S. Apollon Patras (Greek language, Greek:''A.Σ. Απόλλων Πατ ...

. However, on 28 December, he suffered a serious injury, as he ruptured his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

, during one of the team's practices. The injury caused him to then miss the entire remainder of the Greek Basket League 2016–17 season, and he was thus not able to play in any games with Apollon.

Aries Trikala

On 18 October 2017, Schortsanitis returned to action, and joined Aries Trikala of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

, for the 2017–18 season. On 6 January 2018, he made his debut in a 76–86 loss to Rethymno Cretan Kings, recording 6 points and one rebound, off the bench.

Ionikos Nikaias

On 24 July 2019, Schortsanitis signed with

Ionikos Nikaias Ionikos Nikaias (full name Athlitikos Omilos Ionikos Nikaias, A.O. Ionikos Nikaias / ) is a Greek sports club, multi-sports club that is based in the suburban town of Nikaia, Attica, Nikaia within the Piraeus agglomeration. It was founded in 1965, ...

for the Greek Basket League 2019–20 season.

NBA draft rights

Schortsanitis drew interest from the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

in the summer of 2006, after having been originally selected in the 2nd round (34th overall) of the

2003 NBA draft The 2003 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2003, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The NBA announced that 41 college and high school players and a record 31 international players had filed as early-entry candidates ...

; however, because he was still under contract with

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

at the time, he did not make a move to the NBA. In 2010, his contract with Olympiacos expired, and he elected to participate in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

with the Clippers, with an eye towards joining the team; this time, however, the Clippers were unimpressed, and he failed to secure a contract with the team. On 30 July 2012, the Los Angeles Clippers traded the draft rights of Schortsanitis to the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

in a sign-and-trade deal for

Willie Green William Julius Green (born July 28, 1981) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played professionally in the NBA with th ...

. On 15 July 2014, his draft rights were traded to the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

in exchange for Thabo Sefolosha, the rights to Georgios Printezis, and cash considerations.

Retirement

On 10 December 2020, Schortsanitis announced his retirement from playing pro club basketball. Thus, making him one of the eleven players from the

Class to have never played in the

National team career

Greek youth national teams

Schortsanitis was on the squad of the Under-16 national team that played at the 2001 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the squad of the Under-18 national team that won a bronze medal at the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, and the squad of the Under-19 national team that won a bronze medal at the 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Cup. Schortsanitis was on the squad of the junior national team that won the gold medal at the 2002 Albert Schweitzer Under-18 World Tournament, where he was also named the MVP of the tournament.

Greece national team

Play at friendly games and qualifiers were Schortsanitis' introduction to being on the senior Greek national team, before making his first appearance at a major

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

competition at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, which was held in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He helped

to win the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

, after they defeated

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

, by a score of 101–95, in the semifinals. Schortsanitis scored 14 points, in 17 minutes in the game. He also played with Greece at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. At the 2009 EuroBasket, which was held in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, Schortsanitis' performance was decisive in Greece winning the tournament's bronze medal game against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, as he scored 23 points on a 78% field goal shooting percentage, while grabbing six rebounds, blocking two shots, and managing to draw 12 fouls. He also played at the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the List of men's national basketball teams, men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 Septem ...

Player profile

Schortsanitis is a classic, "old school" style center that plays in the low post on offence, and that defends the rim and painted lane area of the court on defense. Schortsanitis was measured at the 2003 NBA pre-draft camp at a height of tall barefoot, tall with shoes on, and with a wingspan. His official playing weight was listed as 380 pounds (172 kg).

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4", Olympiacos , 22 , , 1 , , 19.1 , , .618 , , , , .632 , , 4.9 , , .5 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , 10.7 , , 12.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , 17 , , 1 , , 11.0 , , .655 , , , , .507 , , 1.8 , , .7 , , .4 , , .4 , , 6.6 , , 5.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , 13 , , 1 , , 8.3 , , .568 , , .000 , , .625 , , 1.8 , , .3 , , .2 , , .1 , , 4.4 , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , 19 , , 18 , , 13.3 , , .614 , , , , .486 , , 2.5 , , .6 , , .5 , , .2 , , 7.2 , , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Maccabi , 22 , , 20 , , 19.2 , , .585 , , , , .625 , , 4.1 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , .6 , , 12.0 , , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , 21 , , 14 , , 16.0 , , .595 , , , , .625 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , .4 , , 8.7 , , 8.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;", Panathinaikos , 26 , , 9 , , 12.1 , , .576 , , , , .604 , , 2.3 , , .9 , , .3 , , .1 , , 7.8 , , 6.4 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#AFE6BA;", 2013–14† , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Maccabi , 29 , , 20 , , 14.2 , , .613 , , , , .577 , , 2.6 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , .3 , , 9.6 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , 26 , , 20 , , 14.7 , , .528 , , , , .549 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .4 , , 6.7 , , 5.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 1 , , 15.2 , , .500 , , , , .500 , , .5 , , , , , , .5 , , 4.5 , , -1.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 197 , , 105 , , 14.5 , , .592 , , .000 , , .583 , , 2.9 , , .8 , , .6 , , .4 , , 8.4 , , 7.9

Awards and accomplishments

Professional career

* 6× Greek League All-Star Game: (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2020) * 2× Greek All-Star Game

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

: (2006, 2010) * Greek League Best Five: (2006) * 2×

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

Winner: (2010, 2013) * 4× Israeli State Cup Winner: (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015) * EuroLeague

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

: (

) * All-EuroLeague First Team: (

) * 3× Israeli Super League Champion: (2011, 2012, 2014) *

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

Champion: (2012) * Greek League Champion: (2013)

Greek junior national team

* 2001 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship: All-First Team Selection * 2002 Albert Schweitzer Under-18 World Tournament: * 2002 Albert Schweitzer Under-18 World Tournament:

* 2002 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship: * 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Cup:

Greek senior national team

* 2006 FIBA World Championship: * 2006 FIBA Stanković World Cup: *

FIBA EuroStar FIBA EuroStars was an annual All-Star Game showcase of the sport of European professional club basketball. It was organized by FIBA Europe. Commonly considered to be the European equivalent of the NBA All-Star Game, the FIBA EuroStars Game featu ...

: (2007) * 2009 EuroBasket: * Acropolis Tournament

Early years

Professional career

Olympiacos

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Panathinaikos

Second stint with Maccabi

Crvena zvezda

PAOK

Apollon Patras

Aries Trikala

Ionikos Nikaias

NBA draft rights

Retirement

National team career

Greek youth national teams

Greece national team

Player profile

Career statistics

EuroLeague

Awards and accomplishments

Professional career

Greek junior national team

Greek senior national team

References

External links