Andrés Nocioni

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Andrés Nocioni
Position	Small forward/Power forward
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight	225 lb (102 kg)
Team	Chicago Bulls
Nationality	Argentina
Born	November 30, 1979 Santa Fe, Argentina
Draft	undrafted
Pro career	2004 – present

Andrés Marcelo Nocioni (born November 30, 1979 in Santa Fe, Argentina) is a basketball player for the NBA's Chicago Bulls, and the Argentine national team. Nocioni won a gold medal with the Argentine national team at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.^[1] His natural position is small forward, though with the Bulls he has played some minutes at power forward. He shares both Argentine and Italian citizenship. Nocioni is known as Chapu after the Mexican children TV series El Chapulín Colorado.^[2] Nocioni has a wife named Paula and a son named Laureano.

1 International career
2 NBA career
3 Titles
4 References and notes
5 External links

[edit] International career

Olympic medal record
Competitor for Argentina
Men's basketball
Gold	2004 Athens	Team

Nocioni's professional career began in the Argentine basketball league (LNB) in the 1995/96 season, and in 1998/99 he was already named Best Sixth Man. A year later, he was called up to the national team that won the silver medal at the South American basketball championship^[3].

In 2001, Nocioni played on the Argentina national team that won the 2001 South American Title^[3]. In 2002, Nocioni was part of a team that made basketball history, when Argentina became the first team to beat the United States team at the Basketball World Championship, held that year in Indianapolis, Indiana. His team once again earned the silver medal, losing to Yugoslavia in a controversial final. In 2003, Nocioni went to Europe, where he spent two seasons as a refuerzo (reinforcement player) with Spain's TAU Cerámica of the ACB Spanish professional league. He was the league's 2004 Most Valuable Player. In 2004, Nocioni was a key factor when Argentina became the first South American team, as well as the first Latin American one, in Olympic basketball history (and the fourth team ever, after the United States, Yugoslavia, and the USSR) to win the Olympic Gold medal.

The Argentine national team has 4 NBA players among which is Nocioni, who is currently starting for Argentina, in the FIBA World Championship. In a game against Venezuela, Nocioni landed on an opponent's foot and looked to have injured his ankle, though he was cleared to play in Argentina's next game against Nigeria. ^[4] In Argentina’s game against Nigeria, Nocioni led the team in scoring with 23 points playing 18 minutes, while not missing a single shot. Nocioni was 9-9 from the field including 5-5 from the 3-point line. "I don't think I've ever played a game where I didn't miss a shot - at least not for the national team." ^[5] Argentina secured winning group A of the tournament, going a perfect 5-0 in the first round of play. ^[6]

Argentina lost to Spain's national team in the FIBA 2006 world championships semi-final, with a final score of 75-74. Nocioni had a chance to win the game for Argentina, but his three pointer at the end of the game missed, giving Spain the win, and the chance to win the championship.^[7] Nocioni's Argentine team next played the US team in the bronze medal game, which Argentina lost 96-81. Nocioni scored 18 points in this game, in which he played against NBA teammate Kirk Hinrich.^[8]

Andrés Nocioni signing basketballs for fans

[edit] NBA career

After winning the gold medal in the Olympics, Nocioni was signed as a undrafted rookie free-agent by the Bulls. He joined Puerto Rico's Carlos Arroyo and Daniel Santiago, Brazil's Leandro Barbosa and Nenê, Mexico's Eduardo Nájera, Hispanic-American Gilbert Arenas and his countrymen Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino, as NBA players.

He played in 81 games during his rookie campaign and posted averages of 8.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.5 apg and 23.4 mpg.^[9] Nocioni's physical style of defense created controversy around the league, and he was suspended for one game after a hard foul to Detroit's Tayshaun Prince.^[10] Nocioni had previously committed a hard foul on the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade and then was shoved past photographers and into the first row of spectators by Udonis Haslem. A spectator tossed a drink at Nocioni, which was similar to the incident that triggered a massive brawl at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The fan was ejected by security. For the insident Nocioni received a flagrant-one foul (which is a foul involving excessive or unjustified contact) and a technical. Haslem received a technical and a ejection.^[11]

While giving a teleconference interview with NBA.com, Nocioni spoke about the hard fouls and his suspension, "First, the one with Wade was completely my fault. It was a bad reaction on my part. If I had received any penalties because of it, it would be a fair sanction, but it was not given. However, the sanction set after the game against the Pistons is totally unfair. I see it as a totally real play taken out of context in the game — absolutely nothing happened. It was an accidental blow. Without purposely trying to, I hit him. I apologized on the court. I also asked Carlos Delfino to give my apologies to him, so I don’t understand why there is a sanction for something totally normal in a game."^[12]

In Nocioni's first NBA playoff game, he scored 25 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, the most by a rookie in a playoff game in NBA history, while playing all 48 minutes.^[13]

In Nocioni's second season with the Chicago Bulls, he averaged 13.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg,and 1.4 apg, while playing in all 82 games, 43 of them starts. Nocioni was named the Chicago Bulls CDW/Lenovo Player of the Year for the 2005-06 NBA season ^[14]. In the playoffs Nocioni averaged 22.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists including two double doubles. In game two against the Miami Heat he scored 30 points shooting 10-12 overall from the field (83.3%), including 3-3 in from the three point line and 1-1 in free throws, with 6 rebounds and one steal in almost 40 minutes played.