We are recalling all foreign players that have ever played in the League, telling about foreign championships and National teams of different countries in World basketball map project. Today we will tell about basketball in Venezuela.
Population: 28,5 mln
Players in the history of League: 1.
Full list of players: Michael Carrera.
The only Venezuelan player in the history of VTB United League is Avtodor ex-forward Michael Carrera. Born in Venezuelan city Barcelona, he graduated from South Carolina University in 2016 and just after this moved to Saratov where he had signed his first professional contract.
In 2016/17 season the Venezuelan forward participated in 17 VTB League games (5 – as starter), averaging 7,1 points and 4,6 rebounds regularly surprising the fans with his spectacular dunks. Since 2017 Michael Carrera has been Venezuela National team player.
Basketball in Venezuela
League: Liga Profesional de Baloncesto (LPB)
Founded: in 1974
Number of teams: 10
League’s web-site: http://www.lpb.com.ve
Venezuelan championship tries to copy NBA model: 10 teams are separated into East and West conferences, all play-off series are played till 4 wins, and All-Star Game is held in the middle of the season. Besides, LPB has the same individual awards – regular season MVP and finals MVP, rookie of the year, defensive player of the year, the most improved player of the year, best sixth man of the year, coach and manager of the year.
The winner and the finalist of Venezuelan tournament automatically qualify to FIBA Americas League, the most prestigious South American club tournament. Twice – in 2016 and 2017 it was won by the Venezuelan team Guaros.
Final series of Venezuelan championship are always thrilling and interesting. In 21th century in 10 finals it took 7 games to define the winner of the trophy. Four teams have more than 5 titles: Marinos (11), Trotamundos (9), Guaiqueries (8) and Cocodrilos (6).
The Venezuelans are very sensitive about statistics and remember all the League’s records: points – 78 (Al Smith, 1985), rebounds – 38 (Ron Anthony, 1983), assists – 28 (Leopoldo Bompart, 1976, Pedro Rojas, 1986), and also games played (1126, David Diaz) and career points (19621, David Diaz).
Many former VTB United League players played in LPB: Mardy Collins, Dee Bost, Courtney Fortson, Jerry Johnson, Jordan Hamilton, Corey Fisher, Branko Cvetkovic, Deyan Ivanov, and Paul Stoll who became Venezuelan championship assist (6,8) and steals (4,3) leader.
Interesting fact
In 2016/17 the biggest star of the championship was Nate Robinson, 3-time NBA dunk contest champion. 5’7” guard who was playing for Guaros became Venezuela champion and finals MVP. His average stats was 16,0 points and 5,1 assists per game.
Venezuela National team
FIBA Rank: 20
FIBA members: since 1938
Achievements: American Cup gold (2015), American Cup silver (1992), American Cup bronze (2005), South America champions (1991, 2014, 2016)
Venezuela National team debuted in 1938 on Central America and Caribbean games.
La Vinotino de las alturas started began to flourish in early 90-s. At first, South Americans could qualify to World Cup 1990, and in 1991 Venezuela took silver medals on American Cup, losing to Dream Team (80:127) with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and other NBA legends. This result allowed the Venezuelans to qualify to the Olympic games for the first time.
The most meaningful win for Venezuela was American Cup triumph in 2015. On a Mexican tournament the Venezuelans took sensational victory beating Canada (79:78) and Argentina (76:71).
On the latest international tournament, World Cup 2019, Venezuela National team took 14th place and now settled down in Top-20 FIBA rank teams.
The most famous players in history of Venezuela
Greivis Vasquez. Best NCAA point guard (Bob Cousy Award owner) and ACC conference 2010 player of the year. He spent 7 seasons in NBA, the most scoring Venezuelan basketball player in its history (9,0 points per game). Since 2019 He has been G-League team Erie Bayhawks head coach.
Oscar Torres. 8-time Venezuela champion, Russia Champion and Russian Cup winner as CSKA player in 2006/07. Moreover, he spent 2 seasons in NBA and has American Cup 2005 silver medal.
Carl Herrera. First Venezuelan to ever play in NBA, spent 8 seasons in the League. In 1994 and 1995 became a champion with Houston Rockets.
Heissler Guillent. Venezuela champion (2017), Venezuela championship MVP (2011), FIBA International Cup owner (2016), FIBA South American League MVP and champion (2017). In 2015 Heissler Guillent led Venezuela to American Cup title and got into symbolic starting line-up of the tournament.
John Cox. Kobe Bryant’s cousin, graduated from San Francisco university, won American Cup 2015 and became American Cup 2017 scoring leader.
Dmitriy Kolinov
