Darius Songaila

Darius Songaila

Songaila playing for Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
Žalgiris Kaunas
Position Assistant coach
League Lithuanian Basketball League
Euroleague
Personal information
Born (1978-02-14) February 14, 1978
Marijampolė, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality Lithuanian
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 248 lb (112 kg)
Career information
High school New Hampton School
(New Hampton, New Hampshire)
College Wake Forest (1998–2002)
NBA draft 2002 / Round: 2 / Pick: 50th overall
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Playing career 2002–2015
Position Power forward / Center
Number 9, 25
Coaching career 2015–present
Career history
As player:
2002–2003 CSKA Moscow
2003–2005 Sacramento Kings
2005–2006 Chicago Bulls
2006–2009 Washington Wizards
2009–2010 New Orleans Hornets
2010–2011 Philadelphia 76ers
2011–2012 Galatasaray
2012 Blancos de Rueda Valladolid
2012–2013 Donetsk
2013–2014 Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2014–2015 Žalgiris Kaunas
As coach:
2015–present Žalgiris Kaunas (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 3,415 (6.9 ppg)
Rebounds 1,689 (3.4 rpg)
Assists 589 (1.2 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Lithuania
Summer Olympic Games
2000 Sydney National Team
European Championships
2003 Sweden National team
2007 Spain National team

Darius Songaila (born February 14, 1978) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and currently assistant coach for Žalgiris Kaunas. He has represented the Lithuania national team. He played at the power forward and center positions.

Early years

Darius Songaila started his basketball career with Lietuvos rytas Marijampolė in second-tier Lithuanian league, the LKAL in 1995.[1] In 1997 he moved to USA where he attended the New Hampton School in New Hampton, New Hampshire. Songaila played the Nike Hoop Summit in 1998. He was also named to the All-European Under-22 Championship 2nd Team.

College career

Darius Songaila played college basketball at Wake Forest University. He was named 3rd Team All-ACC in 2000 and 2nd-Team All-ACC in 2002. He was also named Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press as a senior.

Professional career

Songaila defending LeBron James
Songaila during his tenure with the Washington Wizards

Songaila was selected with the 50th pick of the 2002 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics, who eventually dealt his rights to the Sacramento Kings.[2]

He joined CSKA Moscow for the 2002–03 season and won the Russian Basketball Super League. He signed with the Kings in June 2003, and averaged 6.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 154 games (28 starts) over two seasons.

Songaila signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bulls in September 2005. He had his most successful season yet with the Bulls, averaging 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 62 games (7 starts). However, he suffered an ankle injury in March 2006 and missed the final 20 games.

On July 17, 2006, Songaila signed with the Washington Wizards. The deal reportedly was worth 23 million dollars over five years.[3] He missed the first 45 games after a surgery for a herniated disc and averaged 7.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 37 games (1 start).

Songaila eventually became a big part of the Wizards' bench and an occasional starter. He averaged 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in 2007–08. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Songaila became a starter because of the injuries suffered by teammates Brendan Haywood and Andray Blatche. He started a career-high 29 games and averaged 7.4 points and 2.9 rebounds.

On June 23, 2009, he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves along with Oleksiy Pecherov, Etan Thomas, and a first-round draft pick for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.[4]

On September 9, 2009, he was traded to the New Orleans Hornets along with Bobby Brown in exchange for Antonio Daniels and a 2014 second-round pick.[5]

On September 23, 2010, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers along with rookie forward Craig Brackins in exchange for Willie Green and Jason Smith.[6] Songaila had career lows with the 76ers, notably in points (1.6 ppg). With the 2010–11 NBA season coming to an end, he became an unrestricted free agent.

In July 2011 he signed a one-year contract with Galatasaray in Turkey worth $1.5 million.[7]

In March 2012, several weeks after leaving Galatasaray, Songaila signed with Blancos de Rueda Valladolid. Later that year, he signed with BC Donetsk.[8]

On October 8, 2013, he signed with Lietuvos rytas Vilnius for one season.[9] On July 22, 2014, he signed a one-year deal with Žalgiris Kaunas.[10]

At the end of the season, he retired from the professional basketball.[11]

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Sacramento 73 7 13.4 .487 .000 .807 3.1 .7 .6 .2 4.6
2004–05 Sacramento 81 21 20.6 .527 .000 .847 4.2 1.4 .6 .2 7.5
2005–06 Chicago 62 7 21.4 .481 .400 .817 4.0 1.4 .6 .3 9.2
2006–07 Washington 37 1 18.9 .524 .000 .852 3.6 1.0 .5 .3 7.6
2007–08 Washington 80 13 19.4 .458 .000 .918 3.4 1.7 .7 .2 6.2
2008–09 Washington 77 29 19.8 .532 .000 .889 2.9 1.2 .8 .3 7.4
2009–10 New Orleans 75 1 18.8 .494 .167 .811 3.1 .9 .8 .2 7.2
2010–11 Philadelphia 10 0 7.1 .467 .000 .500 1.0 0.2 .0 .0 1.6
Career 495 79 18.6 .499 .158 .844 3.4 1.2 .7 .2 6.9

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004 Sacramento 7 0 12.1 .625 .000 1.000 1.9 .3 .0 .1 3.7
2005 Sacramento 5 0 15.0 .421 .000 .800 2.8 .6 .4 .2 4.0
2007 Washington 4 0 22.5 .488 .000 1.000 3.3 1.0 .8 .0 10.8
2008 Washington 5 0 15.4 .421 .000 .867 2.6 .8 .2 .0 5.8
Career 21 0 15.6 .484 .000 .897 2.5 .6 .3 .1 5.6
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.

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 CSKA Moscow 18 16 21.6 .475 .286 .847 3.9 1.1 .6 .2 12.8 10.8
2011–12 Galatasaray 10 10 15.3 .455 .000 .714 2.8 .4 .4 .0 6.5 3.3
2013–14 Lietuvos rytas 10 8 21.9 .473 .000 .667 4.8 1.3 .7 .1 8.2 8.0
2014–15 Žalgiris 24 2 14.5 .492 .000 .778 2.5 .9 .6 .1 5.8 4.5
Career 62 36 17.8 .477 .286 .794 3.3 1.0 .6 .1 8.3 6.7

Coaching career

Žalgiris Kaunas

On August 5, 2015 Songaila was appointed as an assistant coach for Žalgiris Kaunas.[12][13][14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Songaila started his career in Lietuvos Rytas Marijampolė, krepsinis.net (Lithuanian)
  2. ↑ "NBA Draft Board". nba.com. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
  3. ↑ "Agent: Songaila signs 5-year, $23M deal with Wizards".
  4. ↑ "Source: Foye, Miller head to Wiz". 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  5. ↑ "HORNETS ACQUIRE SONGAILA, BROWN FROM TIMBERWOLVES". NBA.com. 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  6. ↑ "Rookie Craig Brackins traded to 76ers". 2010-09-23. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  7. ↑ Galatasaray lands big man Songaila
  8. ↑ Darius Songaila signs in Ukraine
  9. ↑ Lietuvos Rytas signs Darius Songaila (Lithuanian)
  10. ↑ "Zalgiris Kaunas announces Songaila". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Darius Songaila baigia profesionalaus krepšininko karjerą". ve.lt (in Lithuanian). 7 June 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "Suformuotas Kauno „Žalgirio" trenerių štabas – su Dariumi Songaila ir Šarūnu Jasikevičiumi" (in Lithuanian). 15min.lt. August 5, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Songaila Calls It A Day, Turns To Coaching". FIBA Europe. August 5, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Zalgiris names Saras head coach through 2018". Euroleague.net. August 5, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
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