Eric Boateng

Eric Yamoah Boateng ( born November 20, 1985 in London ) is a British professional basketball player of Ghanaian descent. After studying in the United States Boateng played one year in the NBA Development League, before he returned to Europe in 2011 and last played in the Greek A1 Ethniki for GS Peristeri. With the British national Boateng participated in his hometown of London at the European Championship finals in 2011 and at the 2012 Olympic Games. He subsequently transferred to the German Basketball Bundesliga for the New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig from.

Career

Boateng came late to basketball at age 14 and moved to an American high school in Delaware, where he was appointed as the end of school for "High School Player of the Year" of the state and to the " McDonald 's All- American Boys Game" in 2005 was invited to compete in a selection of the twelve best high school players a year group from the U.S. East and West against each other. He was then taken up by the well-known for its basketball team Duke University in Durham (North Carolina) to study, where he played for the Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA. Here he was, however, not cope well and had little playing time for the winner of the 2006 Conference, but was eliminated in the second round of the "Sweet Sixteen" of the NCAA Men 's Division I Basketball Championship. Therefore, he left the Duke University and after a year at Arizona State University in Tempe (Arizona ), whose high school teams Sun Devils played in the then Pac -10 Conference. He succeeded Herb Sendek, the coach of the regional rival Wolfpack of North Carolina State University, who also moved to Arizona State in 2006. Due to the change of university Boateng had to sit according to a year from championship games to the regulations of the NCAA. Despite his less than promising premiere at the College Boateng was appointed as a promising young talent from the start in 2006 the newly formed British National Basketball Team, which had been re-formed on the occasion of the awarding of the 2012 Olympics to London. With the national team to Boateng initially failed to qualify for the circle of the best national teams of FIBA Europe in the Division A once. Arizona States coach Sendek could revive the basketball program of the new Sun Devils, who traditionally are otherwise heavily in American football and basketball are in the shadow of the regional rival the University of Arizona Wildcats, including by winning James Harden for the Sun Devils. In the first game of the year Boateng be successfully reproduced the qualification for the "post season", as it was invited to the 2008 National Invitation Tournament. After the final defeat in the championship tournament of the Conference they reached the second round in the national finals of the NCAA in 2009. After the loss of Harden, who left early in the most highly doped U.S. professional league NBA, could not repeat these successes in 2010.

After finishing his studies in 2010 Boateng was not selected in the NBA Draft, but could recommend for a pre-contract with the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Summer League in the jersey of the New York Knicks. There it was deleted before the season starts from the final season squad and released into the at that time the " farm team " Idaho Stampede in the NBA Development League. In January 2011, Boateng moved within the league to the Austin Toros. After Boateng was in 2009 as one of the last players out of the final squad of British national who had first qualified for a final round of the European basketball championships, painted, he was with the renewed participation in the European Championship finals in 2011 with it. The British left with two wins from five games of the first round. In the season 2011/12 Boateng joined in November 2011, the Greek first division GS Peristeri in a suburb of the capital, Athens. After the first seven games of the contract was terminated again in January 2012 after an injury Boateng. Despite the early season to end Boateng could play in the Olympic squad of British national who had 2012 qualified automatically as host of the Olympic Games. At the Olympic basketball tournament in his hometown Boateng was used in three games, of which most of the time high in the final victory over China, where he scored ten points and six rebounds in 14 minutes of operating time. However, the only victory in five group games could not prevent the early elimination of the host of the tournament, while Boateng's former teammate James Harden could defend with the favored U.S. Selection Olympic victory.

For the 2012/13 season Boateng joined the German first division NewYorker Phantoms who pledged for a sample contract for the entire season. For the 2013/2014 season Boateng received in Braunschweig a new contract after previously a new head coach took over the team. Boateng took part in the summer at various workouts from NBA teams and was invited in October 2013 into the training camp of the Los Angeles Lakers. He then played in November and December 2013 in Argentina for Club La Union Formosa. Finally, in January 2014, he got a contract with the French club tradition and Premier returnees Élan Béarnais from Pau.