Nick Fazekas

Nick Fazekas

Position	Forward/center
Height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Born	June 17, 1985 (1985-06-17) (age 26) Arvada, Colorado
Nationality	American
College	Nevada
Draft	2nd round, 34th overall, 2007 Dallas Mavericks
Pro career	2007–present
Career history	Dallas Mavericks (2007–2008) Los Angeles Clippers (2008) Base Oostende (2008–2009) ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne (2009) JDA Dijon (2009-10) Reno Bighorns (2010)
Awards	WAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year (2005,2006,2007) 2007 All American Second Team

Nick Fazekas (born June 17, 1985 in Arvada, Colorado) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA D-League.

Early career

Fazekas attended Ralston Valley High School in Arvada where he earned the statewide "Mr. Basketball-Colorado" for the 2002-03 season along with being a two-time 4A classification player of the year. As a senior he led the Mustangs to a 25-2 record and a state championship after an undefeated regular season and semi-finals appearance the previous year. During his high school career he wore number 22 and he continued to do so in college.

College career

Fazekas was signed by the University of Nevada for the 2003-04 season. From that point forward, Fazekas led the Wolf Pack to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances during his matriculation, including a run to the Sweet 16 as a freshman. He became the school's all-time leading scorer on November 18, 2006, when he surpassed the old record of 1,877 points scored by Edgar Jones in 1979. He also surpassed the single-season scoring record formerly set by Jones during the 2005-06 season. Fazekas also earned his third straight WAC Player of the Year for the 2006-07 season, a feat only matched by Utah's Keith Van Horn, for whom Fazekas was later coincidentally waived to make space on the trade that brought point guard Jason Kidd to the Mavericks.

NBA career

Fazekas was an early entrant into the 2006 NBA Draft, however he did not hire an agent, allowing him to eventually remove himself from consideration in order to play one more year of college basketball.^{[citation needed]} The next year, he was taken with the 34th pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks.

Fazekas was part of the Mavericks Summer League Team. He averaged 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds while playing an average of 17 minutes a game. On July 26, the Mavericks signed Fazekas to a one year contract. As part of the team's club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Fazekas was released by the Mavericks on February 19, 2008, to make room on the roster for Keith Van Horn, whose signing-and-trading was crucial to facilitate Dallas's trade for veteran point guard Jason Kidd from the New Jersey Nets.On February 27, 2008 he signed with the Clippers.^[1] However, on August 1, 2008, the Clippers withdrew their qualifying offer to Fazekas, leaving him as an unrestricted free agent. He was signed by the Denver Nuggets for training camp, but waived again on October 23, 2008.

He played for the Boston Celtics' 2009 Summer League team, leading the squad in scoring.

European career

After being waived by the Nuggets, Fazekas failed to find another home in NBA and decided to go overseas. On October 28, 2008, he signed with the Belgian team Base Oostende for the 2008-09 season.^[2] In January 2009, he left Base Oostende and joined the French Pro A club ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne^[3] After a stint with the Celtics summer league team, Fazekas signed with JDA Dijon, returning to the French Pro A for the 2009 season.

NBA D-League

Fazekas was selected by the Reno Bighorns with the first overall pick of the 2010 NBA Development League Draft.^[4] He was waived by the Bighorns on December 30, 2010.^[5]

Personal

Fazekas's grandfather, Albert Fazekas, was a freedom fighter in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution who escaped from a Soviet-operated Hungarian prison after setting himself on fire to create a diversion. He soon emigrated with his wife and child to the United States. They would have two more children, one of them Nick's father Joe, after arriving in America.^[6] Joe, who is 6'10" (2.08 m) himself, briefly played professional basketball in Argentina after playing college ball at Wyoming and Idaho State.^[6] In an interview, Nick Fazekas said that he would like to become a Hungarian citizen and play for the Hungary national basketball team.^[7]

Awards

• Two-time 4A Player of the Year (2001–02, 2002–03)
• Mr. Basketball-Colorado (2002–03)
• Three-time WAC Player of the Year (2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07)
• Wooden Award Finalist (2005–06, 2006–07)
• Third AP Team All-American (2005–06)
• Second AP Team All-American (2006–07)
• First team ESPN All-American (2006–07)
• Joseph Kearney Award (2006)

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2007–08	Dallas	4	0	2.3	.400	.000	.000	.8	.0	.0	.0	1.0
2007–08	L.A. Clippers	22	0	11.8	.571	.000	.682	3.9	.6	.4	.5	4.7
Career		26	0	10.3	.561	.000	.682	3.4	.4	.3	.4	4.1

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds

References

1. ^ ESPN - Kidd trade to Mavs will cost Dallas $11 million more than original deal - NBA
2. ^ Oostende signs big man Nick Fazekas.
3. ^ Fazekas joins ASVEL.
4. ^ 2010 NBA D-League Draft.
5. ^ Bighorns waive injured Miles, Fazekas
6. ^ ^{a b} Sneddon, Steve (2005-02-08). "NBA a realistic goal for Fazekas". Reno Gazette-Journal. http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2005/02/08/91769.php?sps=rgj.com&sch=Sports&sp1=rgj&sp2=Sports&sp3=Sports&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=sports. Retrieved 2007-06-29. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ Juha, Pál (2011-10-01). ""Gyakran hallok magyar szót" - interjú az egykori NBA-kosarassal, aki magyar válogatott akar lenni". origo.hu. http://www.origo.hu/sport/kosarlabda/20110929-interju-nick-fazekas-volt-nbakosarassal-aki-magyar-valogatott-akar-lenni.html. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 

External links

• Nick Fazekas at NBA.com
• Official Nevada Bio
• College Hoop Net's Profile
• NBADraft.net Profile
• Basketpedya.com Player Profile

Persondata
Name	Fazekas, Nick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 17, 1985
Place of birth	Arvada, Colorado
Date of death
Place of death