In the 13 seasons of his NBA career, he played for the Jazz, Timberwolves, Nets and other three teams, averaging 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.8 blocks per game, shooting 47.4% from the field, 31.0% from three-point range and 75.4% from the free throw line.
He averaged 16.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.9 steals, 2.8 blocks per game in the peak season, and was selected once an All-Star, one first defense, two second defenses, and the highest ranking of MVPshare in the peak season was 13th.
This is the NBA career answer left by Russian basketball star Andrei Kirilenko, who is an excellent international player representative overall, and he has also touched the threshold of all-stars in the NBA, and the distance from the superstar is more obvious. In a way, he is a basketball star who was not born at the right time, and his influence in the small ball era is recognized to be even greater.
However, as one of the classic impression players of NBA fans, Andrei Kirilenko's identity as a basketball player and the rare all-round warrior attributes bring fans a deeper degree of memory points than the average fringe all-star, and his personal background and style of play are still enjoyed or reviewed by many new fans.
Any star has its own anecdotes or anecdotes, and Andrei Kirilenko is no exception. In this article, I will sort out a little bit and take stock of ten anecdotes that are not necessarily widely known to Andrei Kirilenko, so that all new and old fans who are interested in him can get to know him more fully. Of course, due to space limitations, if there is any discussion or supplement, you are welcome to leave a message in the comment area to share.
Kirilenko is the youngest foreign player in NBA history to be drafted
Fast forward to the 1999 draft, when 18 years and 3 months of European rising star Kirilenko was selected by the Jazz with the 24th pick in the first round, setting a record for the youngest foreign draft player. It wasn't until 2001 that Kirilenko came to the NBA and spent two years as a substitute for the Jazz to learn and adapt, before taking off to become an All-Star.
Second, about Kirilenko's nickname
Nickname culture is part of basketball culture, many NBA stars have their own exclusive nicknames, and [AK47] is Kirilenko's long-known nickname, and the nickname adaptation is even more enjoyable to a generation of NBA fans.
The world's first AK47 was produced in the town next door to Kirilenko's hometown, and Kirilenko's initials happened to be AK. In the early years of his career, Kirilenko's NBA teammate Quincy Lewis suggested that he should choose the No. 47 jersey in the NBA to match himself to form the [AK47] name to market, and fans around the world will be more likely to remember him. After listening to it, Kirilenko thought the idea was very good and did just that.
Third, Kirilenko has taken a top salary contract in the NBA
In today's era of fast-paced, more open attacks, and a large increase in the number of rounds, can Kirilenko get the top salary? In the basketball topic area, from time to time, you can see some fans asking questions about Kirilenko.
The answer to that question should be yes, because Kirilenko has already taken the top salary in an era that is actually not very suitable for his own development in the NBA, not to mention the current league that is incomparably suitable for his style of play.
Fast forward to the summer of 2005, when the Jazz offered Kirilenko a six-year, $86 million super contract to an All-Star. In the league salary cap at that time, Kirilenko was actually already a top salary, and the Jazz team once trained him as a young lord after the end of the Jazz double brake era. Unfortunately, Kirilenko was injured in the back and could not guarantee attendance, and the Jazz found a new double (Delong & Boozer), Sloane was better at this system of blocking and dismantling partners, and the use of AK47 was later adjusted to the position of the third boss and even the fourth.
Kirilenko took the 5X5 three times & one 5X6 in the NBA
In addition to the ability to hold the ball and shoot long-range shots, Kirilenko is excellent in the rest of the imaginable forward capabilities. Personal speed, fierce bounce, good bounce, arm length, fast single defense, nearly perfect defense, good internal cut score integrated into the system, fast stealing, good passing vision, strange and creative passing techniques.
In his heyday, Kirilenko was the benchmark of the all-round warrior, once hailed as the NBA player most likely to accomplish the feat of five doubles. In NBA history, he is the first player to make the top five in both block and steal season technical statistics.
During his career, he played 5x5 tally three times (5 in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks), and once 5x6. In the regular season against the Lakers in 2006, Kirilenko blasted out 14 points, 8 boards, 9 assists, 6 steals and 7 blocks without overtime, which was the game that best represented his style of play. After the game, zen master said incredibly: he was completely crazy, and my team members looked like fools lining up to give him steals and caps.
Kirilenko is a die-hard fan of World of Warcraft
Kirilenko, an avid fan of World of Warcraft, once claimed to have tried to play the new version of World of Warcraft at home for several days in addition to eating, drinking and sleeping during the holidays, and basketball was no longer practiced. In 2011, Kirilenko, who did not have any tattoos on his body, chose to get a large tattoo directly on his back, and the theme was his favorite character in World of Warcraft- the paladin riding on a dragon, which was funny.
Sixth, Kirilenko won the European Championship MVP
In the NBA, Kirilenko at his peak was a fringe star. However, when it came to fiba, his game influence was much stronger, and he was once rated by the media as the strongest no-ball player in FIBA.
The 2007 European Championships can be said to be the best example of the peak Kirilenko's combat strength in the FIBA arena. That year, Kirilenko took a roster of only two NBA players, broke out without being optimistic, and won the European Championship. Throughout the game, Kirilenko averaged 18 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.8 blocks per game.
In the last quarter of the knockout stage, it was basically Kirilenko who jumped out to help the team counterattack and chase points. The most impressive match of the year was the dark horse Russia's 60-59 victory over Spain's golden generation. Kirilenko, who has always been seen as a scorer, scored 19 points, directly topped the center position in the final moments, and grabbed Paul Gasol's low single on the inside with a 1-on-one pull.
In addition to the 2007 European Championships, the AK47, which was at its peak, led the team to third place and bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, the best result the Russians achieved at the Basketball Olympics after the Soviet era.
Kirilenko is the first and temporarily only non-inside player in NBA history to be crowned the Title of Cap King
Since the NBA added the title of Block King in 1973, only Kirilenko (averaging 3.3 blocks per game) in the 04-05 season & small forward is the only non-inside block king. The thing to note is that, at the pace of the league at the time, Kirilenko was probably averaging just about 80 percent of the current number of rounds per game, and the penalties for fouls were more stringent.
If you put it now, Kirilenko, as a forward player, will probably have a higher and more exaggerated number of blocks per game. In the author's impression, the thing that best reflects Kirilenko's ability to block is that he once confronted Kobe Bryant four times in 90 seconds, and then covered Kobe's shot four times in a row.
By the way, the night of Kobe Bryant's last visit to Salt Lake City coincided with Jazz's tribute night for AK, and the two met happily. In addition, the last time the two met in their lives was in 2019, when Kobe Bryant came to China as a special guest and Kirilenko came to China to participate in the 2019 China FIBA Basketball World Cup drawing ceremony as a special guest and Kirilenko as the leader of the Russian Basketball Association.
After learning that Kirilenko registered for the presidency of the Russian Basketball Association, the competitors all consciously withdrew from the election that year
Back in 2015, the Russian Basketball Association broke out an internal corruption scandal, and the position of president of the Basketball Association was to enter the re-election. Because of the scandal, the Russian Basketball Association at that time suffered a suspension from FIBA.
At the height of the Russian Basketball Association, Kirilenko, who can still continue to play in the Europa League as a player, announced his retirement, declaring that "there was a glorious era on the basketball court, and now it is time to unload the player's identity, and then I will start to reform the current situation in the Russian basketball world!" ”。 After that, he directly participated in the by-election of the president of the Russian Basketball Association.
After Kirilenko announced his candidacy, a large number of political and business celebrities came out to stand for him, and all competitors at that time, including Dmitry Doman, the general manager of the Russian national team with a great chance of being selected, announced their withdrawal before the game, which was enough to witness Kirilenko's prestige in the Russian basketball world. After taking office, Kirilenko led the establishment of a task force, restarted the investigation of several suspicious debts of the Basketball Association, sorted out the unclear accounts & expelled the original black sheep, and then vigorously developed youth basketball. In 2020, he was re-elected with an overwhelming 95% vote.
Women's tennis player Maria Kirilenko is his cousin
As a former member of the Russian Women's Tennis Pink Army, Maria Kirilenko has won a combined prize money of about $5.6 million in her career, and has reached the top 10 in the world women's singles ranking. What is not necessarily well known is that Maria Kirilenko was actually Andre Kirilenko's cousin.
Kirilenko's wife allowed him to steal food once a year
Kirilenko's wife, whose original name was Martha, also came from a family of basketball players, and her father was Andrei Lopatov of the former Soviet Union. Because of her basketball family, Martha met Kirilenko at a very young age, married in 2001 and currently has two sons and a daughter.
In the early years, Martha was a professional pop singer and a Master's degree Kochi woman, who for many years helped him behind Kirilenko's back, and followed her husband after he went to the United States to develop. In recent years, Martha has mainly engaged in the fashion industry and sports brokerage business, as well as the sports charity fund business shared by husband and wife.
Regarding the most out-of-the-loop incident of Mrs. Kirilenko's Martha, when she once said in a public interview that she allowed her husband Kirilenko to steal food once a year, and said that the more some people were forbidden to do something, the more tempting these things were for them, and successful male athletes were rebellious, and many people would have this kind of personality.
Interestingly, Kirilenko was surprised to learn that his wife pronounced it to the outside world, and said that he had never planned to do such a thing, but his wife openly said that I wanted to do it once a year. As for whether Kirilenko had ever done what Lin Dan had done, and whether his wife Martha had demanded the same standards for herself, it was not known.