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Vitaly Potapenko

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Mykolayovych and the family name is Potapenko.

Vitalii Mykolayovych Potapenko[1] (/poʊˈtɑːpɛŋkoʊ/ poh-TAH-peng-koh,[2] Ukrainian: Віталій Миколайович Потапенко; born March 21, 1975) is a Ukrainian professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wright State Raiders and was selected 12th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1996 NBA draft, also the last pick before Kobe Bryant. Nicknamed "the Ukraine Train",[1] he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics, the Seattle SuperSonics, and the Sacramento Kings of the NBA, as well as MMT Estudiantes in the Spanish ACB.[3][4]

Since retiring as a player, Potapenko has been serving as an assistant coach for several teams, among them the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Indiana Pacers, the Dakota Wizards,[5] and the Santa Cruz Warriors and later as an assistant director of player development for the Cleveland Cavaliers,[6] helping them win their first ever NBA championship.

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
1996–97 Cleveland 80 3 15.5 .440 .500 .736 2.7 .5 .3 .4 5.8
1997–98 Cleveland 80 0 17.7 .480 .000 .708 3.9 .7 .3 .4 7.1
1998–99 Cleveland 17 12 27.5 .437 .000 .673 5.5 .9 .6 .9 8.4
1998–99 Boston 33 32 28.1 .521 – .547 7.2 1.8 .7 .6 10.8
1999–00 Boston 79 72 22.7 .499 .000 .681 6.3 1.0 .5 .4 9.2
2000–01 Boston 82 7 23.2 .476 – .728 6.0 .8 .6 .3 7.5
2001–02 Boston 79 9 17.0 .455 – .742 4.4 .4 .5 .2 4.6
2002–03 Seattle 26 2 15.4 .441 – .759 3.4 .2 .3 .3 4.6
2003–04 Seattle 65 39 21.8 .489 – .641 4.4 .8 .3 .4 7.1
2004–05 Seattle 33 1 10.2 .517 – .871 2.4 .3 .2 .1 3.5
2005–06 Seattle 24 12 13.4 .500 – .588 2.6 .3 .1 .1 3.1
2005–06 Sacramento 9 0 3.5 .714 – – .2 .2 .0 .0 1.1
2006–07 Sacramento 3 0 4.3 .000 – – .7 .0 .0 .0 .0
Career 610 189 19.0 .479 .167 .694 4.5 .7 .4 .3 6.5

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1998 Cleveland 4 0 17.5 .400 – .500 2.8 .8 .5 .0 4.3
2005 Seattle 5 0 7.4 .500 – – 1.4 .0 .0 .0 2.0
2006 Sacramento 4 0 2.4 .500 – – .3 .0 .3 .0 1.0
Career 13 0 9.0 .448 – .500 1.5 .2 .2 .0 2.4

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Vitaly Potapenko Bio". NBA. Archived from the original on April 5, 2008.
  2. ^ "2023-24 start of season NBA pronunciation guide" (Press release). National Basketball Association. October 24, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  3. ^ MMT Estudiantes former players
  4. ^ "What the Hell Happened to...Vitaly Potapenko?".
  5. ^ Dakota Wizards Hire Potapenko As Assistant Coach
  6. ^ "Vitaly Potapenko returning to Cleveland Cavaliers as player-development coach". June 4, 2013.