Vladimir Stepania Explained

Vladimir Stepania
Birth Date:8 May 1976
Birth Place:Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality:Georgian / Slovenian
Height Ft:7
Height In:0
Weight Lb:236
Draft Year:1998
Draft Round:1
Draft Pick:27
Draft Team:Seattle SuperSonics
Career Start:1995
Career End:2004
Career Position:Center
Career Number:5, 50, 11
Years1:1995–1996
Team1:Slovan
Years2:1996–1999
Team2:Union Olimpija
Years3:
Team3:Seattle SuperSonics
Team4:New Jersey Nets
Years5:
Team5:Miami Heat
Team6:Portland Trail Blazers
Highlights:
Stats League:NBA
Stat1label:Points
Stat1value:1,118 (4.1 ppg)
Stat2label:Rebounds
Stat2value:1,180 (4.4 rpg)
Stat3label:Blocks
Stat3value:144 (0.5 bpg)

Vladimir Stepania (born 8 May 1976) is a retired Georgian professional basketball player. He played at the center position.

Professional career

After starting to play basketball in his native country, Stepania played several years in Slovenia, namely with Olimpija Ljubljana, partnering with another center, Rasho Nesterović, in his first year.

Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics, late in the first round of the 1998 NBA draft, Stepania became the first Georgian player to play in the NBA. For six seasons, in which he was a backup, he represented the Sonics, the New Jersey Nets, the Miami Heat, and the Portland Trail Blazers, averaging 4.1 points (with a total of 1,118 points scored) and 4.4 rebounds per game, in 270 regular season games.

His best season was in 2002–03, with the Heat, in which he averaged 5.6 points and seven rebounds per game, battling for position in a club which had lost Alonzo Mourning for the year, with a kidney ailment; Stepania's career-high in points was 19, coming on 16 November 2001, against the Charlotte Hornets. On 19 November 2002, against the Milwaukee Bucks, he recorded a career-best 15 rebounds (on both occasions he represented the Heat).

In 2004, after a slow year with the Blazers, Stepania retired from playing professional basketball, at only 28.

National team career

Stepania was a member of the senior Georgian national basketball team.[1]

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|-| style="text-align:left;"|| style="text-align:left;"|Seattle| 23 || 6 || 13.6 || .424 || .000 || .525 || 3.3 || .5 || .4 || 1.0 || 5.5|-| style="text-align:left;"|| style="text-align:left;"|Seattle| 30 || 1 || 6.7 || .367 || .000 || .472 || 1.6 || .1 || .3 || .4 || 2.5|-| style="text-align:left;"|| style="text-align:left;"|New Jersey| 29 || 0 || 9.7 || .318 || .250 || .735 || 3.8 || .6 || .3 || .4 || 2.8|-| style="text-align:left;"|| style="text-align:left;"|Miami| 67 || 4 || 13.2 || .470 || .500 || .481 || 4.0 || .2 || .4 || .7 || 4.3|-| style="text-align:left;"|| style="text-align:left;"|Miami| 79 || 6 || 20.2 || .433 || || .530 || 7.0 || .3 || .6 || .5 || 5.6|-| style="text-align:left;"|| style="text-align:left;"|Portland| 42 || 2 || 10.8 || .417 || || .611 || 3.0 || .5 || .3 || .4 || 2.6|- class="sortbottom"| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career| 270 || 19 || 13.8 || .425 || .133 || .536 || 4.4 || .3 || .4 || .5 || 4.1

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/p/rpp//q/Vladimer%20STEPANIA/pid/13078/_//players.html Vladimer STEPANIA (GEO) participated in 4 FIBA / FIBA Zones events.