League: NBA, North-West Division
Team: the Utah Jazz
Position: forward
DOB: February 19 1981
Height: 206 cm
Weight: 103 kg
Achievements:
RUSSIA
Two-time Russian Champion as a member of CSKA Moscow (1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons)
MVP of the Russian Championship 1999/2000
Russian Champion – 1995 as a member of the Saint Petersburg team for boys born in 1981 and after.
Russian Champion – 1996 as a member of the Saint Petersburg team for boys born in 1980 and after.
Youngest player in the history of the Russian Superleague (15 years old)
MVP of the Adidas abc All-Star Camp – 1997 for the best Russian players born in 1980 and 1981.
Russian All-Star Game participant in 1999 and 2000.
Winner of the Slam Dunk Contest at the Russian All-Star Game in 1999.
EUROPE
MVP of the World Championships for Young Men in 1999.
Silver Medalist at the European Championships for Junior Men in 1999. MVP of the tournament.
Silver Medalist at the All-World Youth Games – 1998.
Youngest participant ever of the European All-Star Game (18 years, 10 months and 10 days)
Participant in the Final Four of the FIBA Euroleague in 2000/01 Season.
Named best basketball player in Europe for the 2000/01 Season by Basket News.
NBA
Youngest European player in the history of basketball selected in the NBA Draft (18 years, 4 months, and 12 days).
Named to the All-Tournament Team of the Rocky Mountain Revue – 2001.
Participant in the NBA Rookie All-Star Game – 2001/02.
Andrei Kirilenko began his basketball career with Spartak St. Petersburg (Russia) in 1996-97 at the age of 15. As the youngest player ever in the Russian League, played in just three games, but proved his mettle when he earned MVP honors as a 16-year-old in the 1997 European Junior Championships after averaging 19.5 points per game (ppg), 10.2 rebounds per game (rbg) and 3.9 steals per game (spg).
He saw action in 41 games in 1997-98 for Spartak and earned a spot in the Russian League All-Star Game, where he scored 12 points for the West squad and won the Slam Dunk Competition. In 1998-99, joined the CSKA team in Russia, posting 12.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 2.1 apg in 26 regular season games, and 5.3 ppg and 1.4 rpg in seven games in the European Club Competition.
During the 1999-2000 regular season, he averaged 13.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg and 2.5 apg in 37 regular season games, 11.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg in 19 games during the European Club competition and led the team to the Russian National Championship and to the NEBL (Northern European Basketball League) Championship title. Kirilenko competed for the Russian Olympic Team during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, seeing action in all seven games (three starts) and averaging 9.4 ppg and 5.0 rpg in only 22.7 minutes per game. He had his best game vs. Spain, scoring 16 points and grabbing a team-high nine rebounds in 34 minutes, and posted 11 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes for Russian (which finished 3-4) in an 85-70 quarterfinal loss to the United States.
During 2000-01, Kirilenko played 20 games for CSKA during the regular season ppg, 8.6 rpg), 22 games in the European Club competition (13.9 ppg, 9.2 rpg, .575 FG%), and 12 games in the NEBL (12.9 ppg, 9.7 rpg). Kirilenko was selected by Utah Jazz in the 1st round (24th overall) of the 1999 NBA Draft and the season 2001-02 was the first for Kirilenko in NBA. He made his first NBA start against Indiana and responded with a double-double, scoring 13 points, with 10 rebounds. Kirilenko finished the season as one of the top rookies in the league, averaging 10.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.94 blocks per game (bpg) and 1.4 spg. Andrei finished the season among rookie leaders in nine of the ten categories. He tied a Jazz rookie record, playing in all 82 games on the season and starting 40 times. Kirilenko recorded 46 games of double-figure scoring with four games of 20+ points. Andrei was selected to play in the Schick Rookie Game during All-Star Weekend and recorded four points in 15 minutes. He played for the Russian National Team in the World Championships in August, but suffered a sprained left ankle and was limited to just three games.
In 2002-03 Andrei played in 80 of the 82 games on the season and registered 52 double-figure scoring games with six games of 20+ points. Kirilenko participated on the sophomore team in the Got Milk Rookie Challenge during the NBA All-Star Weekend in Atlanta, scoring 13 points, with five rebounds, two steals and one block in 27 minutes.
Kirilenko completed the 2003-04 season as the team’s leader in scoring (16.2), rebounding (8.1), steals (1.92), blocked shots (2.76) and in minutes played per game (37.1). He finished third in the league in blocks and fourth in steals and was fifth in the league’s balloting for the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. Andrei was selected to the NBA’s All-Defensive Second Team. Out of 78 games played he had 68 games in double-figures including 23 games of 20+ points and two games of 30+. Kirilenko scored a career-high 31 points at Miami on February 17, 2004. Andrei was named NBA Western Conference Player of the Week twice during the season and was selected by the coaches to play in the 2004 NBA All-Star Game, where he played 12 minutes and scored 2 points, with 1 rebound and 1 block. He finished fourth in the balloting for NBA’s most Improved Player, trailing only the winner Zach Randolph of Portland, Carlos Boozer of Cleveland and James Posey of the Memphis Grizzlies.
The season 2004-2005 was a season of injuries for Kirilenko as he played in just 41 games and missed as many due to a sprained right knee, a sprained right ankle and a broken left wrist. Andrei scored in double figures in 35 of 41 games, with 20+ points 11 times.
2005-06 was a far more successful season for Kirilenko as he made 63 starts out of 69 games played. Jazz were 36-27 when he started, 5-14 when he didn’t (3-10 when he didn’t play). He became just 4th player in NBA history, and first since 1993-94, to average 15+ points, 8+ rebounds, 4+ assists and 3+ blocks in single season. Kirilenko scored in double-figures 54 times, scoring 20+ on 21 occasions. Andrei played a career-high 49 minutes in OT win at Detroit.
