George Zidek
Jiří Zídek ( born August 2, 1973 in Zlín, Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czech professional basketball player. The married father of a family, who played after studying in the U.S. in the American professional league NBA, is known in the English-speaking world as George Zidek.
Career
Jiří Zídek began his career with the youth team Sparta Prague. His professional debut in the Czechoslovak Championship 1st League, he gave the same basketball club in the season 1989/90 ( he was 56 point) and played there also the Championship 1990/91 ( he was 37 point). Both seasons Sparta Prague was the Czechoslovak Basketball runner-up.
While studying at UCLA from 1991 to 1995 Zidek played for the high school team Bruins, who are the most successful basketball team in the NCAA. In his senior year in 1995 the Bruins with Zidek won the first championship since the era of coach John Wooden in the 60s and 70s. During the subsequent Draft elected him to the Charlotte Hornets 22 position for which he played the next two seasons in the NBA. In his first season he was selected for the NBA Rookie All-Star Game, to where the best professional newcomers to the NBA. In the 1997/98 season he played for the Denver Nuggets, as well as a few games for the Seattle SuperSonics.
In 1998 he returned to Europe and played in Lithuania for Zalgiris Kaunas, with whom he won the European Champions Cup in 1999 in the first year. MVP in the biggest success of the club was Tyus Edney, played with the Zidek already with the UCLA Bruins in the College and the NCAA championship won. After Zidek 2000 was active for a few games in Turkey, he moved to Spain to Real Madrid. After one season, he moved again and played in the German Basketball Bundesliga for Alba Berlin. Here he was with the club during the 2001 /02 National Basketball League season win the league and cup victory. The following season he played in Poland, where, however, reached only to the Polish vice-championship with Trefl Sopot. In the following two seasons, he played in his home country and was with CEZ Nymburk Czech national champion twice. After a knee surgery he ended 2006 due to persistent knee problems his active career final.
Family
His father Jiří Zídek Sr. was in the 1969 squad Slavia Prague, as these have won the European Cup Winners' Cup. Thus the Zideks are the only known father and son pair, which could at least win a European Cup in basketball.
Achievements
- NCAA Division I champion in 1995
- European Cup Champion 1999
- Lithuanian Champion 1999
- German champions and cup winners 2002
- Polish Vice- Champion 2003
- Czech Champion 2004 and 2005