Nemanja Bjelica

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Nemanja Bjelica
230px
Bjelica with the Serbian national team in August 2015
No. 88 – Minnesota Timberwolves
Position Power forward / Small forward
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1988-05-09) May 9, 1988 (age 36)
Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality Serbian
Listed height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2010 / Round: 2 / Pick: 35th overall
Selected by the Washington Wizards
Playing career 2007–present
Career history
2007–2008 Arkadia Traiskirchen Lions
2008–2010 Crvena zvezda
2010–2013 Saski Baskonia
2013–2015 Fenerbahçe Ülker
2015–present Minnesota Timberwolves
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing Serbia Serbia
World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2014 Spain
EuroBasket
Silver medal – second place 2009 Poland
Universiade
Gold medal – first place 2009 Belgrade Team

Nemanja Bjelica (Serbian: Немања Бјелица, born May 9, 1988) is a Serbian professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the Serbian national basketball team internationally. He is a 2.09 m (6 ft 10¼ in)[1] tall power forward. His versatility and ball handling skills allow him to take the point forward role on the court.

Professional career

File:Bjelica Nemanja cropped.jpg
Bjelica playing for Red Star.

Arkadia Traiskirchen

Bjelica began his professional career in the 2007–08 season with the Arkadia Traiskirchen Lions of the Austrian League.

Crvena zvezda

After one season abroad, he returned to the Serbian team Crvena zvezda and spent two successful seasons there, under heach coach Svetislav Pešić. During the 2008–09 season, he made breakthroughs and earned place in the first lineup. He was particularly noted for his performance during the Eurocup for his outside shooting. Later in his career, Bjelica cited coach Pešić as one of the main reasons of his improvement as a player.[2] Coach Pešić trusted Bjelica with the ball and gave the 6"10 Bjelica a primary ball handler role on several occasions, developing Bjelica as a playmaker.

Bjelica was drafted by the Washington Wizards with the 35th pick of the 2010 NBA draft. His draft rights were then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.[3]

Saski Baskonia

In August 2010, he signed a five-year contract with Spanish club Saski Baskonia.[4] In his first season, he didn't see much playing time, averaging only 9 minutes per game. In his second season with Baskonia, he averaged 4.8 points per game on 56% shooting from the field and 47% for three in 13 minutes per game. His third and last season with the club was the most successful as he played 26 games, withe the averages of 9.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1 steal per game on 46% shooting from the field.

Fenerbahçe Ülker

On July 22, 2013, Bjelica signed a three-year deal with the Turkish team Fenerbahçe Ülker, led by one of Europe's greats Željko Obradović.[5][6] He cited Obradović as the main reason why he didn't go to the NBA instead.[7] In the 2013–14 season he already became one of the key Fenerbahçe Ülker players, averaging all career-highs of 10.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals over 24 Euroleague games.

The following season, Bjelica's game saw the most improvement and consistency. On March 30, 2015, he was named the Euroleague MVP for March, his first such monthly award in a career. Over 4 games played, he averaged 15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block per game.[8] In May 2015, he was chosen to the All-Euroleague First Team for the performances he put over the season.[9] Eventually, Bjelica was named the Euroleague MVP of the season.[10] Fenerbahçe also advanced to the Euroleague Final Four for the first time in team's history.[11] On May 15, 2015, however, they lost in the semifinal game to Real Madrid with 87–96.[12] Eventually, Fenerbahçe finished in 4th place after losing in third-place game to CSKA Moscow with 80–86.[13] Bjelica had his best season since coming in the club, averaging career-high 12.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Fenerbahçe, however, finished the seson without any trophy, losing in the semi-final series of the Tukish League championship to the eventual champion Pınar Karşıyaka.

On July 1, 2015, Bjelica opted out of his contract with Fenerbahçe to play in the NBA.[14]

Minnesota Timberwolves

On July 14, 2015, Bjelica signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves.[15] He made his debut for the Timberwolves in the team's season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers on October 28, recording 8 points and 5 rebounds in a 112–111 win.[16]

Serbian national team

File:Nemanja-bjelica-universiade-2009-beograd-atipiks.jpg
Bjelica has won gold medal at the 2009 Summer Universiade, which was held in Belgrade.

Bjelica played with the senior Serbian national basketball team that won the silver medal at the EuroBasket 2009. He has been a member of the Serbian national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship where Serbia was defeated 99-88 by Lithuania in the game for the bronze medal after losing to hosts, Turkey, in a highly controversial finish. He was capped for the national team of Serbia at the EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania where Serbia finished eighth.

During EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia, Bjelica became one of the veterans of a very young and incomplete Serbia squad, leading the team alongside captain Nenad Krstić and Nemanja Nedović. Serbia was eventually swept by Spain in quarterfinals, but the team has shown some good performances, particularly against Lithuania and France. He averaged 10 points, 7 rebounds and 1.9 assists on 54% shooting from the field.

He was a member of the Serbian national basketball team that won the silver medal at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup under head coach Aleksandar Đorđević. Although his three point form wasn't impressive on the tournament, he was still one of the most important players of the team, filling all sorts of roles with his handling, passing, rebounding and scoring. He ended the tournament with the averages of 11.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists.

He was a member of the team that represented Serbia at the EuroBasket 2015.[17] In the opening game, 80–70 win against Spain, he was the key player, posting 24 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. The following day, he made a game-winning shot against Germany. In the last match of the group phase he scored 19 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists against Italy. Serbia dominated in the toughest Group B with 5-0 record, and then eliminated Finland and Czech Republic in the round of 16 and quarterfinal game, respectively. However, they were stopped in the semifinal game by Lithuania with 67–64,[18] and eventually lost to the host team France in the bronze-medal game with 81–68.[19] Being one of the team leaders with Miloš Teodosić and Miroslav Raduljica, Bjelica averaged 13.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game on 56.1% shooting from the field and 37.5% from the three-point line.[20]

Personal life

Bjelica was brought up in the New Belgrade Blocks.[21] He is married to Mirjana, the wedding having taken place in June 2012.[22]

Awards and accomplishments

Club
Individual

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2010–11 Baskonia 13 2 9.0 .250 .222 .500 1.7 .5 .2 .0 1.2 0.5
2011–12 10 5 13.9 .563 .474 .750 2.1 1.0 1.3 .3 4.8 6.2
2012–13 26 9 23.1 .459 .310 .741 4.8 1.3 1.0 .3 9.9 10.1
2013–14 Fenerbahçe 24 18 25.1 .474 .416 .846 6.1 2.2 1.6 .4 10.4 13.6
2014–15 29 20 27.8 .500 .351 .684 8.5 1.9 1.3 .7 12.1 18.3
Career 102 54 22.2 .476 .358 .721 5.5 1.6 1.0 .4 9.0 11.6

References

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External links

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Template:Serbia Squad EuroBasket 2013

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