Martynas Pocius

Martynas Pocius

Position	Shooting Guard Small Forward
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg)
League	ACB Euroleague
Team	Real Madrid
Born	April 28, 1986 (1986-04-28) (age 25) Vilnius, Lithuania
Nationality	Lithuanian
High school	Holderness School
College	Duke
Pro career	2009–present
Career history	Žalgiris Kaunas (2009-11) Real Madrid (2011-present)
Awards	LKL Champion (2011) 2x BBL Champion (2010, 2011) LKF Champion (2011) 2x LKL All-Star (2010, 2011)

Martynas Pocius (born April 28, 1986) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player, playing for Real Madrid in the Euroleague and Liga ACB. He is also a member of the Lithuanian national basketball team.

Early life and high school

Martynas Pocius was born in Vilnius, Lithuania to Gintaras, a basketball coach, and Jurate, a physical education teacher.

Pocius attended the prestigious Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire, where he played on the basketball team in his last two years, leading the team to back-to-back New England Prep School Class C titles. In his first title run, during the 2003-04 season, Pocius averaged 18 points and 4,5 rebounds, and led the team to a 17-7 record. In the 2004-05 season, Pocius averaged 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and led the team to a 19-10 record.

As a senior, he was ranked 40th overall and 12th among shooting guards by Rivals.com and rated the 55th-top prospect (16th among shooting guards) by Scout.com. Pocius was also named to the World Select team for the 2005 Nike Hoops Summit, where he scored a game high 20 points in a 98-106 loss to the USA.

College career

After graduating from high school, Pocius committed to Duke University, where he played on the university's basketball team, coached by Mike Krzyzewski.

As a freshman, Pocius appeared in 25 games, averaging 27.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in 31.6 minutes. In his sophomore year, Pocius increased his stats, averaging 32.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in 37.1 minutes in 27 games. Throughout the season he was battling an ankle injury, for which he missed four games. Pocius underwent a season-ending surgery on his left ankle on January 8 during his junior year. Due to the surgery he only played 4 games in which he averaged 4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 8 minutes. In his final season at Duke, Pocius played 22 games, averaging 1.5 points.

He graduated from Duke in 2009 with a degree in international comparative studies.

Professional basketball career

Žalgiris Kaunas (2009-2011)

After graduating from Duke, Pocius chose to continue his basketball career in Europe. He went back to his home country, Lithuania, and signed a multi-year contract with Žalgiris Kaunas.

In his debut season, Pocius averaged 8.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16 games in the Euroleague. Although Žalgiris did not pass the Top 16 round, the team did perform better in their national and regional championships. Pocius led the team to the Baltic Basketball League (BBL) title, averaging 10.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists. He also led the team to second place in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL), after losing the final's best-of-seven series 3-4. Pocius averaged 18.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists in the season. Pocius also helped Žalgiris win second place in the Lithuanian Cup tournament and third place in the VTB United League.

During his second season with the team, Pocius led Žalgiris to the Top 16 once more, but the team did move to the next round. Pocius averaged 15.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 16 games during his second Euroleague season, improving every individual stat. Though, Žalgiris went on to win the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) Cup, the BBL title, amd the LKL championship. Pocius missed the LKL Finals because of a season ending injury. He averaged 10.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists throughout the season.

Real Madrid (2011-present)

On July 27, 2011 it was officially announced that Pocius signed a contract with Real Madrid.^[1]

National team

Medal record
Competitor for  Lithuania
World Championships
Bronze	Turkey 2010	National team

Pocius has played for Lithuania on several occasions. He played in the 2004 European U-18 Championship in Spain, where he showed himself as a team leader, averaging 26 points, 3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Pocius also represented Lithuania at the 2006 U-20 Championship in Turkey, where he led the team to a seventh-place finish, averaging 20 points per game. After his senior year at Duke, Pocius represented Lithuania at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade, Serbia, where he led the team to a fifth-place finish, averaging 13.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists.

In 2010, Pocius made his debut on the Lithuanian men's national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey, where he surprisingly became one of the leaders in the team and helped lead Lithuania to the bronze medals.

References

1. ^ REAL MADRID lands Pocius

External links

• Euroleague.net Profile
• FIBA.com Profile
• Martynas Pocius on Twitter
• Duke University Men's Basketball team biography

Persondata
Name	Pocius, Martynas
Alternative names
Short description	Professional Basketball player
Date of birth	April 25, 1986
Place of birth	Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, USSR
Date of death
Place of death