Loukas Mavrokefalidis

Loukas Mavrokefalidis

Mavrokefalidis warming up with AEK Athens in 2015
Free agent
Position Power forward / Center
Personal information
Born (1984-07-25) July 25, 1984
Jeseník, Czechoslovakia
Nationality Greek
Listed height 6 ft 10.75 in (2.10 m)
Listed weight 260 lb (118 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2006 / Round: 2 / Pick: 57th overall
Selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves
Playing career 2002–present
Career history
2001–2006 PAOK
2006–2007 Virtus Roma
2007 → Valencia
2007–2011 Olympiacos
2008–2009 → Maroussi
2011–2013 Spartak St. Petersburg
2013 Barcelona
2013–2015 Panathinaikos
2015–2016 AEK Athens
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men’s Basketball
Representing  Greece
FIBA U-19 World Championship
2003 Thessaloniki National Team
FIBA U-21 World Championship
2005 Mar del Plata National Team

Loukas Mavrokefalidis (alternate spelling: Mavrokefalides) (Greek: Λουκάς Μαυροκεφαλίδης; born July 25, 1984) is a Greek professional basketball player who last played for AEK Athens of the Greek League. He was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2nd round (57th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft.

Professional career

Born in Jeseník, Czechoslovakia, Mavrokefalidis started his professional career at PAOK, moving to Thessaloniki from Kilkis, where his parents come from. From the first days of his professional career, PAOK coach Bane Preljević took advantage of his height and decided to play him at the center position which, as it was proved later in his career, fit him very well.

A 2.10 m (6 ft 10¾ in) power forward-center, Mavrokefalidis played for PAOK in the Greek Basket League during the Greek League 2005–06 season, averaging 16.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He played in the Greek All-Star Game and he won the Greek League's Most Improved Player Award that year.[1] After many months of hard work, Mavrokefalidis was almost always a member of the starting five in PAOK, creating havoc to the opposition's defense with his ability to get to the rim and make easy buckets or exciting dunks. He also became a defensive force, chasing down rebounds relentlessly, something that can be shown by the 8.4 rebounds per game that he averaged during the 2005–06 season.

During the summer of 2006, Mavrokefalidis was signed by Virtus Roma of the Italian League, but he was not established as a key member of the team, averaging just 2 points and 1 rebound per game. In February 2007, he was traded from Roma to Pamesa Valencia of the Spanish ACB League in exchange for Roberto Chiacig and Jon Stefánsson. On July 12, 2007, Mavrokefalidis joined Olympiacos.[2][3] In 2008, Mavrokefalidis moved to Maroussi.[4] In 2009, he re-signed with Olympiacos through the 2010–11 season.[5]

In 2011, Mavrokefalidis was signed by the Russian League club Spartak Saint Petersburg[6] to a 2-year contract worth €2.4 million euros net income.[7] He was named to the All-Eurocup Second Team in 2013.[8] He signed with the Spanish League club FC Barcelona in May 2013.[9]

On 10 July 2013, even though the Greek media were saying that Mavrokefalidis was very close to signing with Olympiacos, he was announced as a signing of Panathinaikos.[10][11] In the 2015 Greek Basket League playoffs, he was the best player for Panathinaikos, averaging 18.4 points, 8.1 rebounds (5.8 offensive rebounds), and 2.2 assists per game.

On 10 August 2015, he signed a one-year deal with AEK Athens.[12] Mavrokefalidis was the top scorer of AEK Athens in the 2015–16 Greek Basket League season, averaging 14.5 points per game.[13]

Greek national team

Mavrokefalidis helped Greece win the bronze medal at the 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Championship. He also played at the 2004 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. In 2005, Mavrokefalidis' contribution during the FIBA Under-21 World Championship was very significant, as Mavrokefalidis greatly helped the Under-21 Greek National Basketball Team win the silver medal, after losing to Lithuania by just two points in the gold medal game.

A year later, in 2006, the senior men's Greek national basketball team coach Panagiotis Giannakis became impressed by the young center's abilities and called him to participate in the Greek basketball senior men's training camp, one month before the 2006 FIBA World Championship took place in Japan. However, as he was selected in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Mavrokefalidis informed the coach shortly before the outset of the World Championship that he decided to go back to Minnesota and participate in performance improvement training camps, and thus he lost the team's 12th man roster place to Sofoklis Schortsanitis.

In 2011, Mavrokefalidis was given a 2-month suspension from all competitions by the Greek Basketball Federation, for refusing to play for Greece's national team for the second consecutive summer.[14] However, 2 years later, he played with Greece's senior men's national team at the EuroBasket 2013.

Career statistics

Domestic Leagues

Regular season

Legend
  GP Games played  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     Led the league

Note: Only games in the primary domestic competitions are included. Therefore, games in cup or European competitions are left out.

Year Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001–02 Greece PAOK GBL 2 3.4 .000 .000 .000 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
2002–03 Greece PAOK GBL 6 4.3 .636 .000 1.000 0.8 0.1 0.3 0.1 3.0
2003–04 Greece PAOK GBL 19 11.3 .535 .500 .861 3.6 0.4 0.3 0.4 4.9
2004–05 Greece PAOK GBL 14 7.0 .423 .000 .562 1.7 0.1 0.2 0.1 2.2
2005–06 Greece PAOK GBL 26 31.5 .553 .276 .796 8.1 1.0 0.7 0.5 16.5
2007–08 Greece Olympiacos GBL 17 9.4 .534 .000 .800 2.3 0.8 0.2 0.1 3.1
2008–09 Greece Maroussi GBL 26 24.2 .485 .280 .811 5.7 1.1 0.6 0.5 12.0
2009–10 Greece Olympiacos GBL 20 15.0 .644 .400 .851 2.9 0.9 0.6 0.3 7.9
2010–11 Greece Olympiacos GBL 24 17.2 .548 1.000 .790 4.2 0.7 0.5 0.5 9.0
2013–14 Greece Panathinaikos GBL 25 13.3 .579 .400 .756 3.7 1.2 0.3 0.2 6.8
2014–15 Greece Panathinaikos GBL 19 12.2 .441 .400 .678 3.2 0.9 0.7 0.3 5.2
2015–16 Greece AEK Athens GBL 26 25.3 .459 .431 .810 6.7 2.0 0.7 0.4 14.5

Playoffs

Year Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001–02 Greece PAOK GBL 2 1.3 1.000 .000 .000 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0
2003–04 Greece PAOK GBL 2 5.1 1.000 .000 .500 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.5
2005–06 Greece PAOK GBL 3 28.1 .434 .000 .500 4.6 1.0 0.3 1.0 7.0
2007–08 Greece Olympiacos GBL 7 13.1 .700 .500 1.000 2.4 0.2 0.4 0.0 3.1
2008–09 Greece Maroussi GBL 10 23.2 .476 .166 .862 5.0 1.6 0.7 0.3 10.7
2009–10 Greece Olympiacos GBL 9 8.4 .551 1.000 .888 1.5 0.1 0.3 0.0 4.5
2010–11 Greece Olympiacos GBL 9 21.3 .571 .000 .772 3.2 1.4 0.4 0.2 11.6
2013–14 Greece Panathinaikos GBL 10 15.2 .465 .500 .823 3.6 0.7 0.5 0.7 10.9
2014–15 Greece Panathinaikos GBL 9 26.0 .548 .384 .678 8.1 2.2 0.7 0.3 18.4

Awards and accomplishments

Greek national team

Pro career

References

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