David Joseph Simon (born August 9, 1982) is an American 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. He played his collegiate basketball for IPFW.

College career

In his first year as a college player, he averaged 10.6 points per game and 5.8 rebounds. At the end of the year he injured his left knee and went for surgery, but fully recovered for the next season. Before the second season at IPFW, he was ranked as the nation's second-best college center, behind

Emeka Okafor Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi Okafor (born September 28, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Okafor attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas and the University of Connecticut, where in 2004 he won a national championship. ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. He was named "Pre-Season Independent Player of the Year". Simon was also an All-American Candidate. He declared for the

2004 NBA draft The 2004 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2004, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was broadcast live on ESPN at 7:00 pm ( EDT). In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur colle ...

without

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

, but tore the ACL on his right knee during the Chicago Pre-Draft Camp and withdrew his name from the early entries into the draft and returned to school. He finished his last college season averaging 16.6 points and 6.9 rebounds.

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2002-03 , style="text-align:left;", IPFW , 30 , , NA , , 23.1 , , .580 , , .000 , , .651 , , 5.8 , , .7 , , .4 , , 1.3 , , 10.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003-04 , style="text-align:left;", IPFW , 28 , , NA , , 31.4 , , .584 , , 1.000 , , .648 , , 9.8 , , 1.6 , , .8 , , 1.9 , , 18.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004-05 , style="text-align:left;", IPFW , 25 , , NA , , 32.1 , , .523 , , .077 , , .633 , , 6.9 , , 2.0 , , .8 , , 1.9 , , 16.6 , -class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 83 , , NA , , 28.6 , , .560 , , .200 , , .643 , , 7.5 , , 1.4 , , .7 , , 1.7 , , 14.9

Professional career

Simon played for the Timberwolves at 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 ...

and at the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

mini camp. On 10 October 2005, Simon signed with

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n club

Lukoil Academic BC Academic Metropol Region () is a reestablished Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. In April 2022, Academic has been reborn and rebranded by the new owners, the German-Bulgarian ex-professional basketball players ...

which participated in the

ULEB Cup EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketbal ...

. In the mid of the season he said

I needed game like this one, to play well and show I can do well. After the end of ULEB Cup I would like to stay here and hopefully everything will be ok. For now I want to concentrate and play well in ULEB and Bulgarian championship as well.

In the Bulgarian league he averaged 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, while in the ULEB Cup he averaged 7.6 points and 7.8 rebounds for 25 minutes on the floor. In 2006 he signed for

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n club Standart Samarskiy Region and stayed for one season. Over 14 games in the

Russian Super League The Russian Superleague (, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was considered the second-best league in the world, after the Nation ...

, he averaged 11.1 points and 6.9 rebounds (7th in the league). However, he left the team midseason to go to France and Standart finished 13th and relegated into lower league. He then played for French teams, both members of

LNB Pro A LNB may refer to: Sport * Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, a professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol, an Argentine basketball league * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol (Paraguay), Liga Nacional de Básquetb ...

League,

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

and

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

till 2010. For Dijon he played one game in Eurocup, where he scored 18 points, while for Strasbourg he played in

EuroChallenge FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run by FIBA Europe. It is not to be confus ...

, the 3rd tier level transnational men's professional club

competition in Europe. Over 6 games he averaged 17.8 points and 8.3 rebounds. In 2010, he signed with the

Anyang KGC The Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters () is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League, based at Anyang Gymnasium in the city of Anyang. The club has won four KBL championship titles ( 2011–12, 2016–17, 2020–21, and 2 ...

of the

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League () or simply KBL is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular s ...

where he would go on to make his first All-Star team. In August 2011, Simon signed a one-year deal with Radnički Kragujevac. He was named

Adriatic League MVP The ABA League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual ABA League award given since the inaugural season to the best performing player of the regular season. The League is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that ...

and was the league's top scorer, averaging 19.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. On 11 June 2012, Simon signed a one-year contract with the

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

, along with

Andreas Glyniadakis Andreas Glyniadakis (alternate spelling: Gliniadakis, Greek: Ανδρέας Γλυνιαδάκης; born 26 August 1981) is a former Greek professional basketball player, at a height of tall. During his professional club career that started in ...

. In April 2013, he extended his contract for one more season. In 2014 he returned to the

with

Wonju DB Promy The Wonju DB Promy is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League (KBL), located in the city of Wonju. From its founding in 1996, the team has always been based in its home province of Gangwon. It has the rare distinction of b ...

, earning his second KBL All Star Bid and leading them to the Finals. The next season he signed with

Seoul SK Knights The Seoul SK Knights () is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League. The club was originally founded by Jinro Group in 1997 as Cheongju Jinro McCass. Before the official launch of the basketball club, Jinro Group filed fo ...

of the KBL, making another All Star game averaging 20.5ppg and 9rpg. On February 19, 2016, Simon was signed by

Tropang TNT The TNT Tropang 5G is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The ...

as the team's new import, replacing the suspended Ivan Johnson where he averaged 24.5ppg and 15.5rpg. In 2016 he signed with Anyang KGC back in the KBL. He led the team with 26.3ppg and 9.6rpg to a regular season championship as well as the 2016-2017 KBL Season Championship title. The next season he would earn another All Star appearance as well as the KBL Scoring title averaging 26.1ppg and 10.8rpg. In April 2018, Simon was released from Anyang shortly after the KBL implemented a rule on foreign players. The KBL allows each team to have two foreign-born players on their rosters with neither taller than 200 centimeters. Simon was two centimeters over the limit. The move was made to combat declining league attendance, however it was met with much criticism which landed him with an interview on ESPN's

Outside the Lines ''Outside the Lines'' is an American sports news and analysis program that was broadcast by ESPN from 1990 to 2022. The series featured segments with discussions and investigative journalism surrounding prominent headlines and topics within spor ...

He went on to play 4 seasons, 2018-2022 in the Japanese

B.League The B.League is a men's professional basketball league in Japan. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that was operated by the FIBA-affi ...

for

Kyoto Hannaryz The Kyoto Hannaryz (京都ハンナリーズ ''Kyōto Hannarīzu'') are a Japanese basketball team playing in Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a popul ...

, being top 5 in scoring each of his 4 seasons. In July of 2022 he signed with the Goyang Carrot Jumpers back in the KBL. In March of 2023, he signed with Tokyo Z of the Japanese B2 League. In October of 2023, he signed with Shinshu Brave Warriors of the Japanese

European career statistics

Adriatic league

, - , align="left" , 2011–12 , align="left" , Radnički , 26 , , 26 , , 29.2 , , .637 , , .300 , , .575 , , 6.5 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 1.4 , , 19.4 , , 22.3 , -class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 26 , , 26 , , 29.2 , , .637 , , .300 , , .575 , , 6.5 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 1.4 , , 19.4 , , 22.3

References

External links