Sofoklis Schortsanitis

Sofoklis Schortsanitis

Schortsanitis in 2011.
Free agent
Position	Center
Personal information
Born	(1985-06-22) 22 June 1985 (age 31) Tiko, Cameroon
Nationality	Greek / Cameroonian
Listed height	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight	345 lb (156 kg)
Career information
NBA draft	2003 / Round: 2 / Pick: 34th overall
Selected by the Los Angeles Clippers
Playing career	2000–present
Career history
2000–2003	Iraklis
2003–2004	Cantù
2004–2005	Aris Thessaloniki
2005–2010	Olympiacos
2010–2012	Maccabi Tel Aviv
2012–2013	Panathinaikos
2013–2015	Maccabi Tel Aviv
2015	Crvena zvezda
2015–2016	PAOK
Career highlights and awards
EuroLeague champion (2014) All-EuroLeague First Team (2011) Albert Schweitzer Tournament MVP (2002) 2× Greek All-Star Game MVP (2006, 2010) 3× Israeli League champion (2011, 2012, 2014) 4× Israeli State Cup winner (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015) Greek League champion (2013) 2× Greek Cup winner (2010, 2013) Acropolis Tournament MVP (2010)
Medals Representing  Greece Men's Basketball Albert Schweitzer Tournament 2002 Germany National Team FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship 2002 Böblingen National Team FIBA Under-19 World Championship 2003 Thessaloniki National Team FIBA World Cup 2006 Japan National Team EuroBasket 2009 Poland National Team

Sofoklis Schortsanitis (Greek: Σοφοκλής Σχορτσανίτης) (born 22 June 1985) is a Greek-Cameroonian professional basketball player. At 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) and 156.4 kg (345 lb), he plays at the center position. He was born in Tiko, Cameroon, to a Greek father, Konstantinos, and a Cameroonian mother, Georgette.

An All-EuroLeague First Team selection in 2011, "Big Sofo" or "Baby Shaq" as he is nicknamed, won the EuroLeague title in 2014 with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and reached the EuroLeague Final on another two occasions in 2010 and 2011, while playing for Olympiacos and Maccabi respectively. He was a member of the Greek national team as they captured silver medal honours in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, and a bronze medal in the EuroBasket 2009.

Born in his native port town of Tiko, Cameroon, Sofoklis moved to his other country, Greece, with his parents, when he was very young. He has a younger brother called Alexandros. Sofoklis first took up basketball in his home city of Kavala. It was there where his parents advised him to play basketball, and Sofoklis at first didn't like the sport. But eventually the game grew on him, and he was always practicing and then progressively, he began to like it, which led to him playing it every day. Eventually, a scout/coach discovered his talent and pushed him into the sport. Schortsanitis began playing basketball at a professional level with Iraklis in the Greek League, when he was a teenager, starting in the 2000–01 season. In the 2002–03 season, he averaged 11.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in the Greek Basket League, at the age of 17. He then went on to play in the Italian League with Cantù, during the 2003–04 season, but his stay there was a failure, due to a lack of maturity and experience. Following that, he returned to Greece, and spent the 2004–05 season with the Greek club Aris.