Friday, May 29, 2009

WHERE ARE THEY NOW - KHALID EL AMIN

Yall remember the boy fats Khalid El Amin. For some reason I was wondering whatever happened to him and it turns out he plays for Azovmash Mariupol (WTF?) of the Ukrainian basketball league. Peep the bio below.

After leading Minneapolis North HS to three straight state titles and being named a McDonald's All-American, the three-time Minnesota State Player of the Year was named Big East Conference Rookie of the Year while being second in the team in scoring (16.0) and setting the UConn single-season scoring record for a freshman. He is widely considered to be the most influential piece in their late 90's college basketball dominance. Head Coach Jim Calhoun frequently referred to him as a "more talented Richard Hamilton".
El-Amin, with his sawed-off, chunky frame, would later earn a reputation as a winner at UConn. As a sophomore, El-Amin will forever be remembered by University of Connecticut fans for being the starting point guard on their team that won the 1999 NCAA Championship game thriller over Duke. In the final game he scored the Huskies' final 4 points in their riveting 77-74 victory.
In 2000, playing on a team not quite as good as the previous year, El-Amin led the Huskies in scoring (16.0), assists (4.4) and steals (1.7) and was named to the All-Big East first team. He was also one of 15 finalists for the Naismith Award and set a Big East record by making 93.4 percent of his FTs in league games. He took the Huskies as far as he could before a severe ankle sprain left him at less than half speed in a season-ending NCAA tournament loss to Tennessee.
He left UConn as fourth all-time at the school in FT percentage at 82.2, sixth all-time at in assists and fifth in steals. His averages per game in his final season are 31.9 minutes, 16.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.7 turnovers, 1.7 steals, makes 2.9 of 5.5 field goals (41.1%) and 4.1 of 4.6 free throws (89.2%). He finished his college career with averages of 30.1 minutes, 15.3 points on 41.6% shooting and 82.2% free throws, 3.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.7 turnovers and 1.7 steals.
El-Amin also helped the U.S. to a gold medal performance in the '98 Goodwill Games in New York City.

[edit] NBA career
El-Amin earned a second round 34th overall selection by the Chicago Bulls in the 2000 NBA Draft. That year, he played in the Schick Rookie Challenge at All-Star weekend in Washington, DC and scored 18 points. He also played in the NBA briefly with the Miami Heat in 2002.
In 50 games in the NBA, El-Amin averaged 6.3 points with 2.9 assists, 1.6 rebounds, 1.0 steals, 1.1 turnovers and 2.0 fouls in 18.6 minutes.

[edit] European career
El-Amin signed with Strasbourg (France) in January 2002. He then joined Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan (Israel) in November 2002.
He joined Besiktas Istanbul of the Turkish league in August 2003. Dominating the league for two seasons, El-Amin was second in scoring (20.9) and third in assists (5.2) in his first season. In 2005, he led the league in assists and averaged 20.4 points a game. He was named MVP of the Turkish League All-Star Game in 2005 and was a member of the World Team at the 2005 FIBA Europe All-Star Game.
In June 2005, he started his first season with Azovmash Mariupol of the Ukraine Superleague. Azovmash won the 2006 Ukrainian Championship, and El-Amin was named the MVP of both the regular season and playoffs.[1]
In August 2007, he started his first season with Türk Telekom B.K. of the Turkish basketball league.

[edit] Player profile
El-Amin is described as a flashy point guard but not a physically gifted one. According to scouting reports, he is an exceptional ballhandler but is a big defensive liability. A lack of height hurts his game on top of a lack of a consistent jumpshot.

- MDK

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