Recently, Slovenian player Beno Udrih announced his retirement on social media: "I entered the NBA from a small town in Slovenia and won 2 championships in this league in 13 years. It was something I had never dared to dream of. It took me two years to accept the fact that I couldn't keep playing. ”
Yuduri also said that every player dies twice, the first time when you say goodbye to the sport. NBA stars, including Tobias Harris, Big Whiteside and Boban, all paid tribute to the veteran in the comments section. Although his playing career is over, Yuduri will not stay away from basketball, and he works as a player development coach at the Pelicans.
Old fans are no strangers to Yuduri, and some media have translated him as Uduly, Yudri, Udri, and they are all one person anyway. Born on July 5, 1982, Yuduri, 39, faded out of the NBA since the end of the 2016-17 season. Yudhuri has only announced his retirement until now because he knows he will never return to the professional arena.
When you think of Slovenian stars, you think of Doncic, you think of the Dragic brothers. In fact, Yuduri was the first Slovenian defender to gain a foothold in the NBA. In the 2004 draft, Yuduri was selected by the Spurs with the 28th pick in the first round, with Tony Allen with the 25th pick that year, Kevin Martin in 26 and Vujasic in 27.
In December 2004, Yuduri was named the Best Rookie in the West and was selected for the Rookie Challenge. He was lucky enough to play next to GDP, and he won the NBA championship with the Spurs in his rookie season. In 2004-05, he averaged 5.9 points, 1 rebound and 1.9 assists per game, shooting 40.8 percent from three-point range, which was also a pass for the No. 28 pick.
In the summer of 2007, Yuduri swept the Cavaliers with the Spurs in the Finals, winning his second championship of his career. But he played less time than he did in his rookie season, sending Yudhury to the Timberwolves in the 2007 offseason. But the Timberwolves didn't leave him behind, they cut him off, and that's when the Kings took the shot.
On 3 November 2007, the Kings signed Yuduri, who made the jump to starter in Sacramento, averaging 32 minutes per game. In 2007-08, he averaged 12.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from three-point range. There are some fans, probably Yuduri, whom I met that year.
His outstanding performance impressed the Kings, and in the 2008 offseason the team gave Yuduri a five-year, $32 million contract. He averaged double-digit points per game for the next three seasons, and averaged 13.7 points per game in 2010-11. He has a stable mid-range jumper, but his physical fitness is average and his confrontation ability is not good.
Over the next few seasons, Yuduri moved to the Bucks, Magic, Knicks, Grizzlies, Heat and Pistons. He played in 831 regular-season games in his career, averaging 8.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. After leaving the NBA in 2017, he returned to play in the Europa League, but he still hopes to return to the league one day.
Yuduri is another member of the Slovenian men's national basketball team, which he played with in the Men's Basketball World Championships in 2006. The final game of the Chinese men's basketball team group stage was against Slovenia, and in the last 5.8 seconds of the last quarter, the Chinese men's basketball team fell behind by 2 points 75-77, and Wang Shipeng went to the front of the field to suppress the whistle.
Everyone looks closely, there are two defensive players in front of Wang Shipeng, one of them jumps up the cover, and the other No. 9 player who has lost his balance and took a step back is Yuduri.
In the end, the Chinese team narrowly defeated the opponent 78-77 and successfully scored in the round of 16! The statistic coach of that game was also found, with Yuduri scoring just six points and four assists on 2-of-7 shooting. In addition to this game, Yuduri performed well at that World Championship, averaging 11.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
What memories do you have about Yuduri?