Thabo Sefolosha
Thabo Sefolosha Patrick ( born May 2, 1984 in Vevey, Canton of Vaud ) is a Swiss professional basketball player. He plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Thabo Sefolosha is the first Swiss in the NBA.
Childhood and youth
Sefolosha is the son of a South African musician and a Swiss artist. Scouts were aware of the exceptional talent early on. Especially his performance as a rookie in the first Swiss league and his appearances in the national team made Sefolosha early on a talent with NBA potential. However, it was also becoming increasingly clear that Thabo needed a new challenge, he found this at Élan Sportif Chalonnaise, a basketball club from the French top.
Time in France and Italy
During his time in Chalon -sur -Saône Thabo Sefolosha was initially hardly minutes of the game and later turned the U -21 crew. With time, however, he prevailed, and with his move to the Italian first division Pallacanestro Biella appeared the young Swiss more and more on the radar of American scouts.
NBA
At the age of 22 years, Sefolosha provided for the NBA Draft 2006 which was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 13th place, who passed it immediately to the Chicago Bulls for Rodney Carney, a transfer fee and a 2007 second-round draft pick. In his rookie season Sefolosha denied at first 71 season games, including four in the starting five, and scored as the fourth guard behind Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Chris Duhon at an average of 12 minutes operating time 3.6 points per game. The Bulls reached the playoffs, where they beat the reigning champion Miami Heat in four games, but then subject against the Detroit Pistons in six games. In his second season, he scored in 69 games this season (22 from the start ) 6.7 points per game in nearly 21 minutes average game time. But the Bulls missed the playoffs.
In his third season (2008/ 09) Sefolosha middle of the season has been transferred from the Bulls to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Bulls received in return for Thabo Sefolosha a first-round draft law for 2009. Sefolosha benefited from this change by playing in the team all-star Kevin Durant in the starting five, to 8.5 points and five rebounds per game improved and Durant with hard defensive work was continuously back. The following season the team of coach Scott Brooks with 50 games of the season reached the playoffs, where Sefolosha scored "only" an average of six points, but his defense in the NBA All-Defensive Second Team was selected. The team retired but in the first round to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers from. In the 2010/11 season the Thunder won 55 games and reached the final of the Western Conference, but resigned again in the playoffs against the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks from. During the lockout in the NBA in 2011 Sefolosha made a brief appearance at Fenerbahçe Ülker. He played his first game for FB Ulker on October 10, 2011 against Caja Laboral and his last game on December 1, 2011 against Olympiakos.