- Kirk Penney
Kirk Samuel Penney (born
November 23 ,1980 in North Shore,Auckland ) is a professionalbasketball player fromNew Zealand who is currently atshooting guard forNew 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 playedcollege basketball in theUnited States at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison from1999 through2003 . 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 the2000 Final Four . He also starred with his country's national team, theTall Blacks , notably at the2002 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 (afterSean Marks ) to play in the league. However, he was cut during the 2003-04 season. He then played in the D-League for theAsheville Altitude and won the 2004-2005 NBDL Championship, but prior to that, he had a second stint, playing a minimal role forLos Angeles Clippers , and signed with Maccabi upon becoming a free agent after the 2004-05 season.2006 -2007 season he played inBC Žalgiris , but inFebruary 14 ,2007 he went toALBA 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 theNew 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]
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