Giuseppe "Peppe" Poeta (born September 12, 1985) is an Italian 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 current head coach of Germani Brescia of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

(LBA). During his professional career, he played the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position.

Professional career

Poeta joined local club Pallacanestro Salerno in the lower divisions, playing 5 seasons before joining Prima Veroli of the third division. With Veroli he scored 51 points in a 7 November 2005 114–105 victory against

Forlì Forlì ( ; ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is, together with Cesena, the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena.The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the east of the Montone river, ...

. He moved to first division

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Teramo Basket Teramo Basket was a professional basketball club that is based in Teramo, Italy. Established in 1960, Teramo played in the Serie A (basketball), Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), Italy's top league, for 10 years before they were moved to the Serie B. Th ...

in 2006. During the 2008-09 season he led the team, coached by former Salerno coach Andrea Capobianco , to the league play-offs. He then joined

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

where he had two successful seasons, reaching the play-offs twice and being appointed captain. However, after a difficult 2012-13 season where the team finished two places above last place the management decided to change the side, appointing young Matteo Imbrò as the starting point guard. Poeta found himself frozen out of the team, rescinding his contract in November 2013. It was to prove a blessing in disguise as it allowed him to join Laboral Kutxa Vitoria, a team playing in the competitive

Liga ACB 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 ...

and Europe's elite

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 ...

, as

Thomas Heurtel Thomas David Heurtel (; born 10 April 1989) is a French professional basketball player for Básquet Coruña, Leyma Coruña of the Spanish Liga ACB. Standing at , he plays at the point guard position. Professional career France (2007–2010) Heurt ...

's substitute. His debut for the side on 12 January 2014 saw him score 13 points in the last quarter against

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

to earn a victory. He joined another Liga ACB side for the 2014–15 season, signing with La Bruixa d'Or Manresa. However, an injury that kept him sidelined for most of the season would see him play only six games. In July 2015, Poeta returned to Italy, signing a one-year deal with

Dolomiti Energia Trento Aquila Basket Trento, also known for sponsorship reasons as Dolomiti Energia Trento, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Trent, Trentino. It was founded in 1995 as an amalgamation of two local clubs, going from the amateur divisi ...

. On 29 June 2016, Poeta signed with

Auxilium Torino Auxilium Pallacanestro Torino was an Italian professional basketball club in Turin, Piedmont. It competed in the first division of Italian basketball, the Lega Basket Serie A for the last time in the 2018–19 season. The club won one trophy, th ...

for the 2016–17 season. On February 18, 2018, Poeta went to win the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

edition of the

Italian Basketball Cup The Italian Basketball Cup (Italian: Coppa Italiana di Pallacanestro), or Coppa Italia, is an annual professional basketball competition between pro clubs from the Italian Basketball League (LBA). It is Italy's first-tier cup competition, and is ...

with Fiat Torino by beating

Germani Basket Brescia The Pallacanestro Brescia, better known for sponsorship reasons as Germani Brescia, is an Italian professional basketball team, based in Brescia, Lombardy. Founded in 2009, the team plays in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) since the 2016–17 seaso ...

69–67 in the Finals. On June 24, 2019, he has signed with

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

of the Italian

(LBA). However, at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

and Poeta parted ways, and on August 5, 2020, he signed a 1+1 contract with

Vanoli Cremona Guerino Vanoli Basket, also known as Vanoli Cremona, is a professional basketball team of the city of Cremona. The team played in the Lega Basket Serie A, LBA, the top Italian basketball league, for 12 years until 2021. From 1999 to 2011 the soci ...

International career

After being called up for the first time in 2007, Poeta established himself in the Italian national team fold. He was part of the Italy squad for

EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France men's national basketball ...

though he had a limited impact, with 4 points in less than 6 minutes on average. Poeta was called up to the preliminary Italy squad for

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

, but he did not make the final cut.

Coaching career

From the summer of 2022 he joined Coach

Ettore Messina Ettore Messina (born 30 September 1959) is an Italian professional basketball coach who is the head coach of Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He has won four EuroLeague championships as a head coach. Messina is regarded a ...

's staff at

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

with whom he won the scudetto in 2023 and 2024. As a coach, he is also assistant to the

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

with which he participated in the 2022 European Championships , at the 2023 World Cup and currently together with CT Pozzecco he is preparing the expedition that will take part in the Pre-Olympic which will be held in Puerto Rico from 2 to 7 July. On June 17, 2024, he started his head coaching career by signing Germani Brescia of the Italian

(LBA).

Personal

His first participation in basketball was as a scorekeeper for home town club Polisportiva Battipagliese where his father Franco was a press officer. He later played for the team at youth level.

References

External links

Serie A profile
Retrieved 22 July 2015
EuroCup profile
Retrieved 22 July 2015
Liga ACB profile
Retrieved 22 July 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Poeta, Giuseppe 1985 births Living people 21st-century Italian sportsmen Aquila Basket Trento players Auxilium Pallacanestro Torino players Bàsquet Manresa players Italian expatriate basketball people in Spain Italian men's basketball players Lega Basket Serie A players Liga ACB players Pallacanestro Reggiana players People from Battipaglia Point guards Saski Baskonia players Sportspeople from the Province of Salerno Teramo Basket players Vanoli Cremona players Veroli Basket players Virtus Bologna players