Efthimios "Efthimis" Rentzias (alternate spellings: Efthymios, Efthymis;

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Ευθύμιος "Ευθύμης" Ρεντζιάς; born January 11, 1976) is a retired Greek 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. During his pro club career, he was most notably a member of the Spanish League's

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, and 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 ...

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

. At a height of 2.12 m (6'11 ") tall, he played at the center position. He was inducted into the

Greek Basket League Hall of Fame The Greek Basketball League Hall of Fame, or Hellenic Basketball Association (HEBA) Hall of Fame (), is a Hall of Fame (HOF) that recognizes and honors the best basketball players and head coaches in the history of Greece's top-tier level profes ...

in 2022.

Professional career

Europe

Rentzias played his first club basketball with the amateur youth teams of Danaos Trikalon, a local team from

Trikala Trikala () is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala (regional unit), Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios. According to the Greek Natio ...

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 ...

. After that, he began his professional club career at the age of 17, with PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek League, in the 1993–94 season. With PAOK, he won the championship of the now defunct European-wide third-level competition, the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

, in the 1993–94 season, and the

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 ...

title, in the 1994–95 season. He later transferred to the

Spanish ACB League The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

club Barcelona Bàsquet, for the 1997–98 season. With Barcelona, Rentzias won his second FIBA Korać Cup championship, in the 1998–99 season. With Barcelona, he also won 2 Spanish League championships, in the 1998–99 and 2000–01 seasons. In his last year with Barcelona (2001–02), Rentzias averaged 9.2 points and 3.5 rebounds, in 17.3 minutes per game, in 51 games played, in both the Spanish League (ACB) and in Europe's premier club basketball competition, the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. He shot 61.6 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from three-point range, and 71.4 percent from the foul line.

NBA

Rentzias was selected with the 23rd overall pick by the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

, in the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th NBA draft, draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996–97 NBA season, 1996, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns s ...

, while still under contract with

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

. Rentzias opted not to play in the

at that time. On 29 September 1997, Rentzias' player draft rights were traded by the Denver Nuggets, along with a future

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2nd-round draft pick ( Hanno Möttölä was later selected), 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 exchange for

Priest Lauderdale Priest Lauderdale (born August 31, 1973) is an American-Bulgarian former professional basketball player. College career Lauderdale attended high school at Carver Military Academy, in Chicago, Illinois. After high school, Lauderdale played coll ...

. On 26 June 2002, Rentzias was traded by the

, to the

, in exchange for a future

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2nd-round draft pick (

Royal Ivey Royal Terence Ivey ( ; born December 20, 1981) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also the head coach of the South ...

was later selected), and a future

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2nd-round draft pick ( Daniel Gibson was later selected). Rentzias then played in the NBA, with the 76ers, during the 2002–03 season. He played in 35 regular season games, and averaged 1.5 points per game. At that time, he was just the second Greek-born basketball player to have played for an NBA team. On 8 August 2003, Renztias was waived by the 76ers.

Return to Europe

After leaving the

, Rentzias subsequently played with Ülkerspor, of the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

Montepaschi Siena Mens Sana Basketball Siena, also known as simply Mens Sana, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Siena. It is a section of the sports club Polisportiva Mens Sana, founded in 1871. Under the name Montepaschi Siena, derived from spon ...

, of the Italian A League, and Forum Valladolid, of the

. Rentzias had plans to come back to

, where he wanted to finish his playing career. Unfortunately, in August 2006, he announced his retirement from playing pro club basketball at the age of 30, because of injury problems.

National team career

Greek junior national team

Rentzias was a part of the Greek junior national basketball teams. With Greece's junior national teams, he won the silver medal at the

1991 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship The 1991 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship (known at that time as 1991 European Championship for Cadets) was the 11th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. The cities of Kastoria, Komotini and Thessaloniki, in Greece, hosted the tourna ...

and the gold medal at the 1993 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. Rentzias was named the MVP of the 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, after he helped Greece to win the tournament's gold medal, scoring 33 points and grabbing 21 rebounds in the final against Australia. In the process, Greece beat (by a score of 98–78) an Under-19 U.S.A. Team that featured future

players like

Vince Carter Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. (born January 26, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who played for 22 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, b ...

Trajan Langdon Trajan Shaka Langdon (born May 13, 1976) is an American basketball executive and former professional player. He is the current president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A and shooti ...

Stephon Marbury Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who was also the head coach for the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) from 2019–2023. After his freshman year ...

, and

Samaki Walker Samaki Ijuma Walker (born February 25, 1976) is an American retired professional basketball power forward and center (basketball), center. Walker played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball, Louisville Cardinals and wa ...

.FIBA.com Game: GREECE vs USA (Group B) Date: 18 July 1995.
/ref> During that period of time, Rentzias was considered to be one of the most talented young European basketball players.

Greek senior national team

Rentzias was also a member of the senior men's Greek national team, from 1992 to 2003, and with Greece, he competed at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games. At that time, that was the just the second ever appearance by

's senior men's basketball team in a

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

, and their first since the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympic Games. He averaged 5.0 points and 4.1 rebounds, in 12 minutes per game, over seven games played in the 1996 Olympic Games tournament. He also played with Greece at the following 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 ...

tournaments: the

1994 FIBA World Championship The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the 12th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Canada from August 4 to 14, 1994. The tournament was held at SkyDome ...

, the

1995 FIBA EuroBasket The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics – ...

, the 1997 FIBA EuroBasket, the

1998 FIBA World Championship The 1998 FIBA World Championship was the 13th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), and hosted in Greece ...

, the 2001 FIBA EuroBasket, and the 2003 FIBA EuroBasket. On an individual level, Rentzias was the MVP of the Acropolis Tournament in 1998.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

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Awards and accomplishments

Pro career

*2×

Champion: (1994, 1999) *

Winner: (1995) *2× Greek League All-Star (1996 I, 1996 II) *2× Spanish League Champion: (1999, 2001) *

Spanish Cup The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

Winner: (2001) * Turkish Supercup Winner: (2003) *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

Winner: (2004) *

Italian Supercup The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous sea ...

Winner: (2004) * Greek League Hall of Fame: (2022)

Greek junior national team

: * 1993 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship: * 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Cup: * 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Cup: All-Tournament Team * 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Cup:

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: ...

Greek senior national team

* Acropolis Tournament MVP: (1998)

References

External links

* *
FIBA.com profile

Euroleague.net profile

Italian League profile

Spanish League profile

Hellenic Basketball Federation profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rentzias, Efthimios 1976 births Living people 1998 FIBA World Championship players Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics CB Valladolid players Centers (basketball) Denver Nuggets draft picks Greek expatriate basketball people in Italy FC Barcelona Bàsquet players Greek men's basketball players Greek Basket League players Greek expatriate basketball people in the United States Greek expatriate basketball people in Spain Greek expatriate basketball people in Turkey Liga ACB players Mens Sana Basket players NBA players from Greece Olympic basketball players for Greece P.A.O.K. BC players Philadelphia 76ers players Basketball players from Trikala Ülker G.S.K. basketball players 1994 FIBA World Championship players