Matthew Nielsen

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Matt Nielsen
MNielsen.jpg
Nielsen during his tenure with Valencia
Perth Wildcats
Position Assistant coach
League NBL
Personal information
Born (1978-02-03) 3 February 1978 (age 46)
Sydney, New South Wales
Nationality Australian
Listed height 208 cm (6 ft 10 in)
Listed weight 106 kg (234 lb)
Career information
High school St Marys
(Sydney, New South Wales)
NBA draft 2000 / Undrafted
Playing career 1995–2013
Position Power forward
Coaching career 2015–present
Career history
As player:
1995; 1997–2004 Sydney Kings
2004–2005 PAOK Thessaloniki
2005–2008 Lietuvos Rytas
2008–2010 Valencia
2010–2011 Olympiacos Piraeus
2011–2013 Khimki
As coach:
2015–present Perth Wildcats (asst.)
Career highlights and awards

Matthew Peter "Matt" Nielsen (born 3 February 1978) is an Australian former professional basketball player who is currently serving as an assistant coach for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL).

Early life

Born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Penrith, Nielsen attended St Marys Senior High School where, three times a week, he needed permission to leave early in order to train with the Sydney Kings as a development player.[1] As a 17-year-old in 1995, Nielsen appeared in two games for the Kings before moving to Canberra in 1996 to attend the Australian Institute of Sport. There, he played alongside future Boomers teammate David Andersen.[2]

Professional career

In 1997, Nielsen returned to the Sydney Kings and won the NBL Rookie of the Year Award. He played a further seven seasons with the Kings and helped the club win championships in 2003 and 2004. In 244 career games for the Kings over nine seasons, he averaged 17.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.[3]

In 2004, Nielsen began a decorative European career playing for PAOK Thessaloniki in Greece, Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania, Valencia in Spain,[4] Olympiacos Piraeus also in Greece, and Khimki in Russia.[5]

On 10 October 2013, Nielsen was named in the Sydney Kings 25th Anniversary Team.[6]

Coaching career

During the 2013–14 NBL season, Nielsen served as a big-man coach for the Perth Wildcats.[7][8]

In 2014, Nielsen joined the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff in a player development role, on a contract that ran through to the end of the 2015 NBA Summer League.[9][10]

On 29 July 2015, Nielsen returned to the Perth Wildcats, signing with the club as an assistant coach for the 2015–16 NBL season.[11]

Australian national team

Nielsen won the gold medal at the 1997 FIBA Under-21 World Championship with Australia's junior national team. He has also been a member of the senior men's Australian national basketball team. With Australia's senior national team, he won gold medals at the 2001 Goodwill Games, the 2003 FIBA Oceanian Championship, and the 2005 FIBA Oceania Championship.

During the Boomers 2012 Olympic campaign, Australian Football League player Scott Pendlebury noted Nielsen's athletic ability and mentioned that he could have played in Australian Football League had he not chosen to play basketball.[12]

Euroleague 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  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.

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2005–06 Lietuvos Rytas 19 13 25.8 .464 .357 .703 5.2 1.7 1.1 .3 12.4 13.6
2007–08 Lietuvos Rytas 13 13 24.1 .495 .250 .805 4.8 1.5 .8 .5 9.9 12.2
2010–11 Olympiacos Piraeus 14 9 16.0 .386 .143 .750 2.9 .6 .6 .1 4.4 3.9
2012-13 Khimki 15 2 11.5 .462 .000 .500 1.7 1.6 .3 .3 1.7 3.1
Career 61 37 19.6 .459 .261 .729 3.7 1.4 .7 .3 7.4 8.5

References

  1. ↑ The Kings and I: captain Nielsen reaches club record
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Player statistics for Matthew Nielsen
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ MightyMite Sydney Kings announce 25th Anniversary Team
  7. ↑ Damo's Dish: The Black Tape
  8. ↑ The Knightmare a defensive dream for Perth
  9. ↑ NBA: Plenty of Aussies calling San Antonio Spurs home
  10. ↑ Wildcats could sign long-time Boomer
  11. ↑ Matt Nielsen appointed lead assistant coach
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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