Riccardo Pittis (born 18 December 1968 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy) is a former Italian 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. At a height of tall, he played at the

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

position. During his basketball playing career, he was nicknamed Acciughino ( English: Anchovy). He was among the 105 player nominees for the

50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors The 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008) of FIBA European Champions Cup and EuroLeague history were awarded and chosen on February 3, 2008, in Madrid, Spain. The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary since the founding of the inaugural s ...

list.

Professional career

During his pro club career, Pittis competed in the Italian League for two decades (1984–2004), playing in a total of 20 seasons. Pittis spent his whole club career playing with two teams:

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 ...

and

Pallacanestro Treviso Pallacanestro Treviso, named Benetton Basket due to a long running sponsorship by the Benetton Group and widely referred to as Benetton Treviso, is an Italian youth basketball club based in Treviso, Veneto. The club was previously a successful p ...

. With Olimpia, he won Europe's premiere basketball competition twice, as he won 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 ...

championship with the club in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

. He also won the European-wide third level

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 ...

title in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

with Olimpia. With Benetton Treviso, he won the European-wide secondary level

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

title in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. Pittis led the EuroLeague in steals a total of 4 times (1992, 1994, 1996, and 2003). He finished his club playing career with 6,637 points scored and 1,811 steals, in 708

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

in the Italian League. His total of 1,811 career steals is the Italian League's all-time record. Pittis finished his EuroLeague career with 1,481 points scored and 420 steals, in 168 games played in 9 seasons.

National team career

Pittis was a regular member of the senior Italian national team. With Italy's senior national team, he won two

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

silver medals, at the 1991 EuroBasket and the

1997 EuroBasket The 1997 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1997, was the 30th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1998 FIBA World Championship, giving a ber ...

. With Italy, he also played at the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at t ...

, the 1992 FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the

1993 EuroBasket The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

, and the

1995 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 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to e ...

.Riccardo PITTIS (ITA).
/ref> In total, he played in 118 games and scored 1,017 points, with Italy's senior national team.

Post-playing career

After he finished his professional club basketball playing career, Pittis began working as a TV sports commentator for Sky Sport in 2005. In 2010, he became the Manager of the senior

Italian national basketball team The Italy men's national basketball team () represents Italy in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). Italy has qualified for 38 EuroBasket tournaments, winning two gold medals ( ...

. In 2012, he became the

General manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Universo Treviso Basket Universo Treviso Basket (diminutive TvB), known for sponsorship reasons as NutriBullet Treviso, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Treviso, Veneto. Founded in 2012, it plays in the Italian basketball first division Lega Basket Ser ...

References

External links

FIBA Archive ProfileEuroleague.net ProfileItalian League Profile

Olimpia Milano Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittis, Riccardo 1968 births Living people Basketball players from Milan Basketball executives Italian men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Olimpia Milano players Pallacanestro Treviso players Shooting guards Small forwards Mediterranean Games medalists in basketball Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games 20th-century Italian sportsmen