Sasha Kaun
File:Sasha Kaun at all-star PBL game 2011 (1).JPG
Kaun at the all-star PBL game in 2011
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No. 14 – Cleveland Cavaliers | |||||||||||||
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Position | Center | ||||||||||||
League | NBA | ||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||
Born | Tomsk, Russian SFSR, USSR |
May 8, 1985 ||||||||||||
Nationality | Russian | ||||||||||||
Listed height | 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) | ||||||||||||
Listed weight | 260 lb (118 kg) | ||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||
High school | Florida Air Academy (Melbourne, Florida) |
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College | Kansas (2004–2008) | ||||||||||||
NBA draft | 2008 / Round: 2 / Pick: 56th overall | ||||||||||||
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics | |||||||||||||
Playing career | 2008–present | ||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||
2008–2015 | CSKA Moscow | ||||||||||||
2015–present | Cleveland Cavaliers | ||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Medals
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Alexander "Sasha" Olegovich Kaun (Russian: Александр Олегович Каун, born May 8, 1985) is a Russian professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball in the United States with the University of Kansas for four seasons, and was part of the 2007–08 national championship team.
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High school and college career
In high school at the Florida Air Academy, Kaun averaged 13.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game as a junior and 15.3 points and 12.6 rebounds per game as a senior. He led his team to a 23-0 record and to the Florida state championships. During the fall of 2003, he elected to play college basketball for Bill Self at the University of Kansas. Duke and Michigan State also recruited him heavily.
During his freshman season with the Kansas Jayhawks, he played in 27 games, starting twice. In his sophomore season he helped the Jayhawks to an 80-68 win against the Texas Longhorns, which made the Jayhawks the 2006 Big 12 Conference champions. During his senior year, he was the back-up center for the Jayhawks and with them he won the 2008 NCAA Championship. He graduated with a degree in computer science and was selected to the Academic All Big 12 Basketball Team three times, in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Professional career
Kaun was drafted 56th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. He was the final draft pick in Sonics history, before the franchise moved to Oklahoma City. His NBA draft rights were then traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for cash considerations.[1]
He signed a three-year contract worth €2,700,000 with the Russian team CSKA Moscow in 2008.[2][3] On May 23, 2012, Kaun re-signed his contract with CSKA, staying three more seasons with the team.[4]
In the 2014–15 season, CSKA Moscow has managed to advance to the Euroleague Final Four for fourth straight season, after eliminating Panathinaikos for the second straight season in the quarter-final series with 3–1.[5] However, in the semifinal game, despite being dubbed by media as an absolute favorite to advance, once again lost to Olympiacos. The final score was 70–68, after an Olympiacos comeback in 4th quarter, led by Vassilis Spanoulis.[6] CSKA Moscow eventually won the third place after defeating Fenerbahçe with 86–80.[7] In his "contract year", Kaun had the best season since coming in the club, starting in all 30 games played in the Euroleague and averaging career-high 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds on 69.1% shooting from the field.
After winning his fifth VTB United League championship with CSKA, there were some reports that Kaun had retired from the professional basketball.[8][9] A day later, Kaun denied these reports, adding that he is done playing basketball in Europe, however.[10]
On September 9, 2015, Kaun signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers.[11] He made his debut for the Cavaliers on October 28, recording one rebound, one assist, one steal and one block in a 106–76 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.[12]
Russian national team
Kaun was also a member of the senior Russian national basketball team, and was part of the team that won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Personal life
Kaun is married to Taylor Kaun née Blue, a former soccer player at the University of Kansas.[13]
Career statistics
Legend | |||||||
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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 | PIR | Performance Index Rating | ||
Bold | Career high |
Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.
Led the league |
Euroleague
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
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2008–09 | CSKA Moscow | 10 | 0 | 5.1 | .429 | .000 | .417 | 1.5 | .1 | .0 | .3 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
2009–10 | CSKA Moscow | 21 | 17 | 22.4 | .713 | .000 | .569 | 4.6 | .6 | .4 | 1.0 | 9.1 | 11.5 |
2011–12 | CSKA Moscow | 21 | 4 | 11.4 | .712 | .000 | .516 | 2.0 | .1 | .4 | .2 | 4.3 | 4.0 |
2012–13 | CSKA Moscow | 30 | 27 | 20.8 | .716 | .000 | .520 | 4.0 | .5 | .4 | 1.2 | 8.1 | 10.8 |
2013–14 | CSKA Moscow | 30 | 16 | 18.4 | .701 | .000 | .590 | 3.5 | .5 | .8 | .8 | 8.4 | 11.2 |
2014–15 | CSKA Moscow | 30 | 30 | 20.1 | .691 | .000 | .673 | 4.5 | .5 | .4 | .9 | 9.9 | 13.7 |
Career | 143 | 94 | 17.8 | .702 | .000 | .581 | 3.6 | .4 | .5 | .8 | 7.6 | 9.8 |
References
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- ↑ Love leads Cavaliers past Grizzlies 106-76
- ↑ Pluto, Terry. Cleveland Cavaliers can thank Danny Ferry for the addition of Sasha Kaun -- Terry Pluto, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 25, 2015.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sasha Kaun. |
- Sasha Kaun at draftexpress.com
- Sasha Kaun at eurobasket.com
- Sasha Kaun at euroleague.net
- Sasha Kaun at kuathletics.cstv.com
- Alexander Kaun at vtb-league.com
- Alexander Kaun Interview at sport-express.ru (Russian)
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- Use mdy dates from August 2012
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles containing Russian-language text
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Articles with Russian-language external links
- 1985 births
- Living people
- Basketball players at the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Final Four
- Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Centers (basketball)
- Cleveland Cavaliers players
- Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players
- Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- National Basketball Association players from Russia
- Olympic basketball players of Russia
- Olympic bronze medalists for Russia
- Olympic medalists in basketball
- PBC CSKA Moscow players
- People from Tomsk
- Russian basketball players
- Russian expatriate basketball people in the United States
- Seattle SuperSonics draft picks