Kirk Penney

Kirk Samuel Penney (born November 23, 1980 in North Shore, Auckland) is a professional basketball player from New Zealand who is currently at shooting guard for New Zealand Breakers in the NBL.

After playing high school basketball at Westlake Boys High School in New Zealand, and playing three seasons in New Zealand's National Basketball League, he played college basketball in the United States at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1999 through 2003. Penney was named first-team All-Big Ten during his junior and senior seasons and an honorable mention All-American during his senior season, and also played in the 2000 Final Four. He also starred with his country's national team, the Tall Blacks, notably at the 2002 World Championships as they surprisingly finished fourth.

He was not drafted into the NBA but was signed by the Miami Heat, and became the second New Zealander (after Sean Marks) to play in the league. However, he was cut during the 2003-04 season. He then played in the D-League for the Asheville Altitude and won the 2004-2005 NBDL Championship, but prior to that, he had a second stint, playing a minimal role for Los Angeles Clippers, and signed with Maccabi upon becoming a free agent after the 2004-05 season.

2006-2007 season he played in BC Žalgiris, but in February 14, 2007 he went to ALBA Berlin [ [http://www.albaberlin.de/staticsite/drucken.php?menuid=1080 Official Website of Alba Berlin] ] . He returned to New Zealand in June of the same year by signing with the New Zealand Breakers [ [http://www.nzbreakers.co.nz/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=72061 Official Website of the New Zealand Breakers] ] .

He had offers from Minnesota Timberwolves to play in the summer league after missing out on the 2003 draft. The offer came 20 minutes after the draft was over. He led the league in 3-point percentage of over 50% in his two stints as he was also there in 2004.

References

* [http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/inte/vide/inte/p/cp//langid/1/newsid/23401/roundid//inte.html Video Interview with Kirk Penney] @ fiba.com
* [http://www.basketball.org.nz/index.cgi?sID=43&intArticleID=678&det=1 Official Basketball New Zealand bio]
* [http://217.13.116.51/plantillas/jugador.jsp?id=CUD 2005-06 Euroleague Profile]
* [http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=PENNEKI01 NBA Stats]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/my/kirkpenney/kirk.html Kirk Penney Fansite]
* [http://www.aussiebball.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=176 Kirk Penney Profile]