Nikoloz Tskitishvili
Nikoloz Zkitischwili (Georgian ნიკოლოზ ცქიტიშვილი; born April 14, 1983 in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR) is a Georgian professional basketball player. Zkitischwili, known even in its English spelling as Nikoloz Tskitishvili, was in his youth a great talent and was selected in the 2002 NBA Draft early fifth. In the U.S. professional league NBA he never could the expectations placed in him meet and therefore is in the eyes of individual commentators as a prime example of a "draft bust", which on the lottery form of the draft can be obtained freely translated as " lottery rivets ". After the end of his NBA career in 2006 Zkitischwili played predominantly in the Spanish ACB League last until 2011 at Lagun Aro GBC San Sebastian. In the season 2012/13 he moved to beginning of the season from the Iranian Super League in Lebanon to Champ Ville.
In 1999 Zkitischwili than 16 years from the basketball club Sukhumi, who plays for the separatist conflicts in Abkhazia in 1992 in Tbilisi, the KD Slovan in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana. Two and a half years later he moved in January 2002 to the European top club Benetton Treviso, in their team for European standards notch occupied himself as 18 -year-old won more than ten minutes operating time per game. With Treviso 2002 he became Italian champion and was also used in the highest European League ULEB Euro League 2001 / 02, in which the club was eliminated in the semifinals against the national competitors children Bologna. In the following training camps in the summer Zkitischwili could attract the interest of NBA scouts and thereby convince yourself that it chose the Denver Nuggets in fifth place in the following Entry Draft.
Unlike American youth players who change usually only after four years of collegiate career in the NCAA with over 23 years in the NBA, the Denver Nuggets held the 19 -year-old Zkitischwili mature enough to include him in the squad of their professional team. However, unlike Dirk Nowitzki, who had a similar career, he was able to prevail in the NBA ever. In February 2005, the Nuggets gave Zkitischwili from the Golden State Warriors. In the following season 2005/ 06 he played with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoenix Suns. At the end of the season after an average of 11.3 minutes and 2.9 points per game his NBA career was over.
In 2006, Zkitischwili in the Spanish ACB league to Caja San Fernando Sevilla. After a year he moved back to the Italian Serie A club from Teramo. In both clubs he came to little more than 10 minutes operating time per game. In 2008 he moved back to Spain and played for Alta Gestión from Fuenlabrada, with whom he barely a place in the play-offs at the Spanish Championship missed that he had not achieved in previous seasons in Spain and Italy with its clubs. Thereupon he still moved to the end of the 2008 /09 in the Greek A1 Ethniki, where he retired with Panionios Athens in the first round of the Championship play-offs. After another year in Fuenlabrada, where only about the descent could be avoided in the 2009/10 season, he played in the 2010/11 season in the Basque Lagun Aro GBC San Sebastián in which he already left end of March 2011.
In 2010, the Georgian national team failed to qualify for a European Championship finals for the first time. In the European Championship finals in 2011 in Lithuania was reached after two preliminary round wins the second round of the twelve best teams, but in the one remained winless and retired. After the European Championship finals Zkitischwili played at Mahram Tehran in the Iranian Super League, with whom he won the 2012 championship. For the following season, he moved to league rivals Foolad Mahan, however, broke this contract at the end of November 2012 and moved to Lebanon to Champ Ville, where he plays with the known inter alia from the basketball league Reyshawn Terry, who with the Brose Baskets 2011 German Champion been.