Darius Songaila

Darius Songaila

Songaila grabbing a rebound, playing for the Wizards.
Position	Power forward/Center
Height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Weight	248 lb (112 kg)
League	Turkish Basketball League Euroleague
Team	Galatasaray Medical Park
Number	25
Born	February 14, 1978 (1978-02-14) (age 33) Kapsukas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Lithuanian
College	Wake Forest
Draft	2nd round, 50th overall, 2002 Boston Celtics
Pro career	2002–present
Career history	CSKA Moscow (2002-03) Sacramento Kings (2003-05) Chicago Bulls (2005-06) Washington Wizards (2006-09) New Orleans Hornets (2009-10) Philadelphia 76ers (2010-11) Galatasaray (2011-present)

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
Competitor for  Lithuania
Bronze	2000	Lithuania
European Championships
Gold	2003 Sweden	National team
Bronze	2007 Spain	National team

Darius Songaila (born February 14, 1978) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player. He is also a member of the Lithuania national team. He can play power forward and center positions. He currently plays for Galatasaray Medical Park^[1] in Turkey.

Early years

Songaila attended the New Hampton School in New Hampton, New Hampshire. He played the Nike Hoop Summit in 1998. He was also named to the All-European Under-22 Championship 2nd Team.

College career

Songaila played college basketball at Wake Forest University. He was named 3rd Team All-ACC in 2000 and 2nd-Team All-ACC in 2002. He was also named Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press as a senior.

Pro career

Songaila was selected with the 50th pick of the 2002 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, who eventually dealt his rights to the Sacramento Kings.^[2]

He joined CSKA Moscow for the 2002–03 season and won the Russian Basketball Super League.

Songaila signed with the Kings in June 2003. He averaged 6.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 154 games (28 starts) with the Kings over two seasons.

Songaila signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bulls in September 2005. He had his most successful season yet with the Bulls, averaging 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 62 games (7 starts). However, he suffered an ankle injury in March 2006 and missed the final 20 games.

On July 17, 2006, Songaila signed with the Washington Wizards. The deal reportedly was worth 23 million dollars over five years.^[3] He missed the first 45 games after a surgery for a herniated disc and averaged 7.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 37 games (1 start).

Songaila eventually became a big part of the Wizards' bench and an occasional starter. He averaged 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in 2007–08. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Songaila became a starter because of the injuries suffered by teammates Brendan Haywood and Andray Blatche. He started a career-high 29 games and averaged 7.4 points and 2.9 rebounds.

On June 23, 2009, he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves along with Oleksiy Pecherov, Etan Thomas, and a first-round draft pick for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.^[4]

On September 9, 2009, he was traded to the New Orleans Hornets along with Bobby Brown in exchange for Antonio Daniels and a 2014 second-round pick.^[5]

On September 23, 2010, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers along with rookie forward Craig Brackins in exchange for Willie Green and Jason Smith.^[6] Songaila had career lows with the 76ers, notably in points (1.6 ppg). With the 2010-2011 NBA season coming to an end, he became an unrestricted free agent.

In July 2011 he signed a one-year contract with Galatasaray in Turkey worth $1.5 million.^[7]

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2003–04	Sacramento	73	7	13.4	.487	.000	.807	3.1	.7	.6	.2	4.6
2004–05	Sacramento	81	21	20.6	.527	.000	.847	4.2	1.4	.6	.2	7.5
2005–06	Chicago	62	7	21.4	.481	.400	.817	4.0	1.4	.6	.3	9.2
2006–07	Washington	37	1	18.9	.524	.000	.852	3.6	1.0	.5	.3	7.6
2007–08	Washington	80	13	19.4	.458	.000	.918	3.4	1.7	.7	.2	6.2
2008–09	Washington	77	29	19.8	.532	.000	.889	2.9	1.2	.8	.3	7.4
2009–10	New Orleans	75	1	18.8	.494	.167	.811	3.1	.9	.8	.2	7.2
2010–11	Philadelphia	10	0	7.1	.467	.0	.500	1.0	0.2	.0	.0	1.6
Career		495	79	18.6	.499	.158	.844	3.4	1.2	.6	.2	6.9

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2003–04	Sacramento	7	0	12.1	.625	.000	1.000	1.9	.3	.0	.1	3.7
2004–05	Sacramento	5	0	15.0	.421	.000	.800	2.8	.6	.4	.2	4.0
2006–07	Washington	4	0	22.5	.488	.000	1.000	3.3	1.0	.8	.0	10.8
2007–08	Washington	5	0	15.4	.421	.000	.867	2.6	.8	.2	.0	5.8
Career		21	0	15.6	.484	.000	.897	2.5	.6	.3	.1	5.6

References

1. ^ Darius Songaila Signs with Galatasaray
2. ^ "NBA Draft Board". nba.com. http://www.nba.com/draft2002/board/index.html. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
3. ^ "Agent: Songaila signs 5-year, $23M deal with Wizards". http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2522205. 
4. ^ "Source: Foye, Miller head to Wiz". 2009-06-24. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4282279. Retrieved 2010-09-23. 
5. ^ "HORNETS ACQUIRE SONGAILA, BROWN FROM TIMBERWOLVES". NBA.com. 2009-09-09. http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/hornets_acquire_songaila_brow_2009_09_09.html. Retrieved 2009-09-09. 
6. ^ "Rookie Craig Brackins traded to 76ers". 2010-09-23. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5607517. Retrieved 2010-09-23. 
7. ^ Galatasaray lands big man Songaila

External links

• Player profile @ NBA.com

Persondata
Name	Songaila, Darius
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 14, 1978
Place of birth	Kapsukas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Date of death
Place of death