Enes Kanter (born May 20, 1992) is a Turkish basketball player who plays for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Early life[link]

Enes Kanter was born May 20, 1992 in Zürich, Switzerland,^[1] while his father Mehmet attained his M.D. from the University of Zurich. Mehmet Kanter, originally from Erciş,^[2] is currently a professor of histology at Trakya University.^[3]

Turkish basketball experience[link]

He played under Serdar Apaydın's management for Fenerbahçe Ülker youth section between 2006-08^[4] and then, during the 2008–09 season, Kanter was a seldom-used reserve for Fenerbahçe Ülker, a Turkish professional basketball team.^[5] He played in at least nine games with the team – four in the Euroleague and five in the Turkish Basketball League.^[5] Fenerbahçe and Olympiacos B.C., a Greek League basketball team, both offered Kanter professional contracts, but he declined because he wanted to play high school and college basketball in the United States.^[1]

Prep school[link]

Later, Kanter moved to the United States and played for Mountain State Academy before switching to Stoneridge Preparatory School in Simi Valley, California for the 2009–10 high school basketball season.^[6] At the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit, Kanter played for the international team, scoring 34 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.^[5] His point total was a record for the event, breaking Dirk Nowitzki's record set in the 1998 game.^[5] Both Rivals.com and Scout.com rated Kanter as a five-star prospect, the highest possible rating.^[7][8]

College career[link]

On November 23, 2009, Kanter verbally committed to play for the University of Washington Huskies.^[1] Kanter chose Washington over UCLA, USC, Indiana and UNLV.^[1] However, he re-opened his recruitment in February 2010.^[9] On April 14, 2010, Kanter signed a National Letter of Intent to play for coach John Calipari at the University of Kentucky.^[5]

He was recruited to play for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, but the NCAA declared him permanently ineligible as a collegiate athlete because he received approximately $33,000 from Fenerbahçe Ülker in excess benefits. The NCAA ruled that this amount was above and beyond what was considered acceptable.^{[10][11][12][13][14]} On January 7, 2011, the NCAA rejected Kentucky's appeal, upholding that Kanter is permanently ineligible.^[15]

NBA career[link]

Kanter was drafted 3rd overall by the Utah Jazz in the 2011 NBA Draft along with Alec Burks. "I'm so happy, I'm so excited. I know the Utah Jazz fans are crazy and I love them," he said. "I will bring the team toughness and post moves, rebounding, everything. I will try to do everything to make the playoffs."^[16]

"First of all, I felt great because it's the Utah Jazz — I have family there," Kanter said of his reaction to being selected by the Jazz. "Like Mehmet Okur play there, too, so it's kind of like my family, so I was very happy. I know he will help me a lot when I'm in Utah, and I can't wait to play with him."^[16]

On December 9, 2011, Kanter signed the rookie scale contract with the Utah Jazz.^[17] In his rookie season, Kanter averaged 4.6 points in 13.2 minutes per game.

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Playoffs[link]

Turkish national team[link]

Kanter made his debut for the Turkish national basketball team in the 2008 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in Italy. He dominated throughout the tournament, averaging 22.9 points, 16.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 34.6 minutes of action. But Jonas Valančiūnas, who had averaged 14.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 23.5 minutes, was chosen as the MVP. Kanter was named the Most Valuable Player in the 2009 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, averaging 18.6 points and 16.4 rebounds while leading Turkey's junior national team to the bronze medal.^[1] He declined to play for the senior national team in the 2010 FIBA World Championship which was being held in Turkey and the team would go on to finish 2nd place. His father claimed he did this in order not to miss the first month of classes at Kentucky.^[18]

Kanter played with the Turkish national basketball team in EuroBasket 2011. He appeared in 8 games, logging 17.8 minutes per game, and he averaged 9.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. "^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Kentucky Bio
• Draftexpress.com Profile
• ESPN TrueHoop Blog: Meet Enes Kanter
• Eurobasket.com Profile
• Enes Kanter at NBA.com
• NBADraft.net Profile
• Scout.com Profile
• Enes Kanter Biography on Fan Site

Cole Aldrich

Aldrich with the Thunder
No. 45 – Oklahoma City Thunder
Center
Personal information
Born	(1988-10-31) October 31, 1988 (age 23) Burnsville, Minnesota, United States
Nationality	American
High school	Bloomington Jefferson HS (Bloomington, Minnesota)
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
College	Kansas
NBA Draft	2010 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11th overall
Selected by the New Orleans Hornets
Pro career	2010–present
Career history
2010–present	Oklahoma City Thunder
2010–2011	→Tulsa 66ers (D-League)
Career highlights and awards
NCAA Champion (2008) Consensus NCAA All-American Second Team (2010)
Stats at NBA.com

Cole David Aldrich (born October 31, 1988) is an American basketball player who is currently playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He completed his junior year at the University of Kansas in March 2010. Aldrich was selected as a McDonald's All American in 2006.^[1] He attended Bloomington Jefferson High School. The New Orleans Hornets selected Aldrich eleventh overall in the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft.^[2]

Junior high[link]

Cole went to junior high at Bloomington Lutheran School in Bloomington, Minnesota, where he was coached by former NBA player Randy Breuer.

High school career[link]

Aldrich attended Bloomington Jefferson High School in Bloomington, Minnesota. As a senior, he was named state player of the year by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star-Tribune.^[3]

Collegiate career[link]

Freshman season[link]

During the 2007–08 season at Kansas, Aldrich's freshman season, his playing time was limited due to playing behind future NBA draft picks Darrell Arthur, Sasha Kaun, and Darnell Jackson. He averaged three rebounds and 2.8 points a game on 8.3 minutes a game during the regular season. Statistically, Aldrich's best performance was an 11-point, 11-rebound outing in a win over Texas Tech on March 3, 2008.^[4] Probably the most crucial game for Aldrich was during the Final Four game between Kansas and North Carolina on April 5, 2008, when he played only 16 minutes but managed to grab 8 rebounds and score 7 points along with blocking 4 shots while also playing effective defense against National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough, helping lead Kansas into the NCAA national championship game. They then defeated the Memphis Tigers to win their first Championship since 1988.^[5]

Sophomore season[link]

With the departure of the other Jayhawk big men to the NBA draft, Aldrich became the premier big-man going into his sophomore season. Through the first 29 games, he averaged a double-double with 15.1 points and 10.8 rebounds in 29.7 minutes of play. He grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds in an 87–78 win over Oklahoma on February 23, 2009,.^[6] On March 8, 2009, Aldrich was named to the 2008–09 Big 12 All-conference first team.^[7] On March 22, 2009 Aldrich recorded the first official triple-double in the history of Kansas basketball against Dayton in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Aldrich accumulated 13 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 blocks in a 60–43 victory.^[8] On Monday, April 13, Aldrich announced that he would return to KU for his Junior season.

Junior season[link]

He won the 2009–10 men's college basketball Academic All-American of the Year as selected by CoSIDA and presented by ESPN the Magazine.^[9] He ended his college career a perfect 55-0 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Professional career[link]

On March 29, 2010, Aldrich announced that he would forego his final season of collegiate eligibility and enter the 2010 NBA Draft. He was the 11th pick at the 2010 NBA Draft, selected by the New Orleans Hornets, who traded his rights on draft day to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On August 6, 2010, Aldrich signed a 2-year contract with the Thunder with a two year option.^[10]

On November 24, 2010, the Thunder assigned Aldrich to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA D-League.^[11] He was recalled on December 6, 2010,^[12] but sent back to Tulsa on December 30, 2010.^[13] He was again recalled on February 2, 2011, and assigned for a third time on March 30, 2011.^[14]

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

NBA D-League[link]

See also[link]

• 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

References[link]

External links[link]

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