Damir Markota
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Position | Power forward/small forward |
|---|---|
| Height | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) |
| Weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
| League | Lithuanian Basketball League |
| Team | Zalgiris Kaunas |
| Born | December 26, 1985 Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Nationality |  Croatian / Swedish |
| Draft | 2nd round, 59th overall, 2006 San Antonio Spurs |
| Pro career | 2001–present |
| Former teams | KK Zabok (2001-2002) Sanac Karlovac (2002-2003) Cibona Zagreb (2003-2006) Milwaukee Bucks (2006-2007) Spartak St. Petersburg (2007-2008) Zalgiris Kaunas (2008- |
Damir Markota Omerhodžić, known as Šveđo (born December 26, 1985, in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), is a Croatian/Swedish professional basketball player.
Markota escaped from Bosnia during the war and settled in Sweden, where he began to practice basketball. He played together with Maciej Lampe in Stockholm, until moving to Croatia when he was 14, after being invited to play in the Croatian league. Markota signed with KK Cibona, but was loaned to Zabok and Karlovac Šanac until the end of 2002/03. He received Croatian citizenship (holding Swedish citizenship as well), declining an offer to play for the Swedish national basketball team.
Markota was known as a party animal with a bad attitude when he entered the 2004 NBA Draft, but later withdrew his name from consideration.[citation needed] In the next two years, he worked hard to repair his image, which resulted in an invitation to the Croatian national team. In addition to that, he changed his last name to "Markota" (his mother's maiden name) in 2004.
He was eventually chosen by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft, 59th overall, then immediately traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. During the summer of 2006, the Bucks signed Markota to a multi-year contract after the Spurs traded his draft rights for the higher of the Bucks' two 2007 NBA Draft second-round picks.
In February 2007, the Bucks assigned Markota to Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, in order to further improve his play.[1] On September 7, 2007 Markota was waived by the Bucks[2] and signed with Russian team Spartak St. Petersburg on a two-year contract two days later.[3]However, in early 2008, Markota switched to Lithuania powerhouse Zalgiris Kaunas.[4]
His style of play has been compared to Vladimir Radmanovic.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Milwaukee Bucks Assign Rookie Forward Damir Markota to Tulsa 66ers of NBA Develoment League - NBA D-League
- ^ Bucks request waivers on Damir Markota. Dated September 7, 2007
- ^ Баскетбольный клуб "Спартак" (Санкт-Петербург) (Russian)
- ^ Profile at zalgiris.lt (Lithuanian)
- ^ DraftExpress Profile: Damir Markota
born in Dubrovnik, Croatia
[edit] External links
- Damir Markota Info Page at NBA.com
- Damir Markota Statistics at Basketball-Reference.com
- HoopsWorld global story April 7, 2007
- NBA.com 2006 Draft profile
- Draftexpress 2006 Draft profile
