Matthew Peter Nielsen (born 3 February 1978) is an Australian 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 ...

coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

of the

National Basketball Association 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 ...

(NBA). He served as an assistant coach for the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL) from 2015 to 2019.

Early life and career

Nielsen was born in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of Penrith. He played as a junior for Newcastle Basketball Association and attended St Marys Senior High School.The Kings and I: captain Nielsen reaches club record
/ref> In 1995, Nielsen played for the Sydney Sky in the

SEABL The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was a semi-professional basketball league in Australia comprising both a men's and women's competition. The SEABL began in 1981 and operated for 38 seasons until it was disbanded in 2018. The ...

and made his NBL debut with the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

as a development player. In 1996, he moved to

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

to attend the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS). He played for the AIS in the SEABL. He was named SEABL East Youth Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996. He played six games for the Sky in 1997 and played for the Penrith Panthers in the SEABL in 2000.

Professional career

Sydney Kings

For the 1997 NBL season, Nielsen returned to the Sydney Kings and won the

NBL Rookie of the Year Award The National Basketball League Rookie of the Year was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given between 1983 and 2022 to the top rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is ...

. He played in the NBL Future Forces Game and finished third in the NBL Best Sixth Man Award in 1997. He was named in the All-NBL Second Team in 2001 and 2003 and won his first NBL championship in 2003. In the

2003–04 NBL season The 2003–04 NBL season was the 26th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 12 teams contested the league. This season marked the first NBL season that featured the New Zealand Breakers, the first New Zealand team in ...

, Nielsen was named league MVP, All-NBL First Team, grand final MVP and captained the Kings to back-to-back championships. He also led the league in scoring with an average of 23.5 points per game, was second in rebounds (10.1) and second in blocked shots (2.7). In 244 games for the Kings over nine seasons, Nielsen averaged 17.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. In 2013, he was named in the Sydney Kings 25th Anniversary Team.

Europe

In 2004, Nielsen began a decorated European career playing for PAOK Thessaloniki in Greece,

Lietuvos Rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is ...

in Lithuania,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

in Spain, Olympiacos Piraeus also in Greece, and

Khimki Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...

in Russia.

National team career

Nielsen won the gold medal at the 1997

FIBA Under-21 World Championship The FIBA Under-21 World Championship was a men's under-21-only basketball competition organized by the International Basketball Federation The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizat ...

with Australia's junior national team. He was also a member of the senior men's

Australian national basketball team The Australia men's national basketball team, nicknamed the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has placed among the world elite teams, ...

. With Australia's senior national team, he won gold medals at the

2001 Goodwill Games The 2001 Goodwill Games was the fifth and final edition of the international multi-sport event. The competition was held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, from 29 August to 9 September 2001. A total around 1300 athletes took part in 14 sporti ...

, the 2003 FIBA Oceanian Championship, and the 2005 FIBA Oceania Championship. He represented Australia at the

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 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In July 2024, Nielsen was inducted into the

Australian Basketball Hall of Fame The Australian Basketball Hall of Fame was instituted by the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1998 as the ''NBL Hall of Fame'' as part of their 20th season celebrations. The NBL initiated the Hall of Fame to recognise the outstanding players ...

Coaching career

Clubs

During the

2013–14 NBL season The 2013–14 NBL season was the 36th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 10 October 2013 and 23 March 2014, and was followed by a post-season ...

, Nielsen served as a big-man coach for the

. In 2014, Nielsen joined the

coaching staff in a player development role, on a contract that ran through to the end of the

2015 NBA Summer League The 2015 NBA Summer League consisted of three professional sports, pro basketball sports league, leagues organized by the National Basketball Association, NBA: the Orlando Magic, Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas S ...

. 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 The 2015–16 NBL season was the 38th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 7 October 2015 and 14 February 2016, followed by a post-season featur ...

. 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. On 5 November 2019, Nielsen was appointed assistant coach of the

Austin Spurs The Austin Spurs are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cedar Park, Texas, and are affiliated with the San Antonio Spurs. The team plays their home games at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The team has made the po ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

. On 10 November 2020, he was promoted to head coach of the Spurs. On 8 September 2021, Nielsen was appointed assistant coach of the

National team

On 8 December 2020, Nielsen was named as assistant coach of the Australian senior men's national team under head coach

Brian Goorjian Brian Warwick Goorjian (born 28 July 1953) is an American-Australian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL). In an NBL coaching career spanning over 20 y ...

. He was still in the position as of May 2023.

EuroLeague career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 13 , , 25.8 , , .464 , , .357 , , .703 , , 5.2 , , 1.7 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 12.4 , , 13.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;", Lietuvos Rytas , 13 , , 13 , , 24.1 , , .495 , , .250 , , .805 , , 4.8 , , 1.5 , , .8 , , .5 , , 9.9 , , 12.2 , - , 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;", Olympiacos Piraeus , 14 , , 9 , , 16.0 , , .386 , , .143 , , .750 , , 2.9 , , .6 , , .6 , , .1 , , 4.4 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;",

, 15 , , 2 , , 11.5 , , .462 , , .000 , , .500 , , 1.7 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , .3 , , 1.7 , , 3.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 61 , , 37 , , 19.6 , , .459 , , .261 , , .729 , , 3.7 , , 1.4 , , .7 , , .3 , , 7.4 , , 8.5

References

External links

NBL profile

Euroleague.net profile

ACB.com profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Matthew 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 Australian people of Danish descent 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 for Australia P.A.O.K. BC players Power forwards Sydney Kings players Valencia Basket players 2010 FIBA World Championship players Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games Basketball players from Sydney Sportsmen from New South Wales Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics