- Charlie Villanueva
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Charlie Villanueva 
No. 31 Detroit Pistons Power forward Personal information Date of birth August 24, 1984 Place of birth Queens, New York Nationality American
DominicanListed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) Listed weight 232 lb (105 kg) Career information College Connecticut (2003–2005) NBA Draft 2005 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7th overall Selected by the Toronto Raptors Pro career 2005–present Career history 2005–2006 Toronto Raptors 2006–2009 Milwaukee Bucks 2009–present Detroit Pistons Career highlights and awards Stats at NBA.com Stats at Basketball-Reference.com MedalsMen’s basketball Competitor for 
Dominican RepublicFIBA Americas Championship Bronze 2011 Mar del Plata National team Centrobasket Silver 2010 Santo Domingo National team Competitor for 
United StatesFIBA Americas U20 Championship Gold 2004 Halifax National team Charlie Alexander Villanueva (born August 24, 1984 in Queens, New York City) is an American basketball player who currently plays for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association.[1]
The son of Dominican immigrants, Villanueva was raised in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. He was drafted at the age of 20, seventh overall pick, in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. He also holds Dominican citizenship and therefore he has represented the Dominican Republic national basketball team in international competition.[2][3]
Contents
High school
During his freshman year, Villanueva attended Newtown High School in Queens, New York, where he was a teammate of future NBA player Smush Parker. He spent his next three years at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, where he played with another future NBA player, Luol Deng. Villanueva received All-American honors as a senior and was named New Jersey Co-Player of the Year. He entered the 2003 NBA Draft, but withdrew his eligibility so he could play basketball at the University of Connecticut.[4] In his senior year, he was 5th place in the high school slam dunk contest, ahead of Ndudi Ebi, Travis Outlaw, and Brittany Hunter, and behind Shannon Brown, Von Wafer, J.R. Giddens, and the winner, LeBron James.
College career
Villanueva originally gave a verbal commitment to play for the University of Illinois, but after Bill Self left the Illini for the University of Kansas, Villanueva withdrew his commitment. He considered following Self to the Jayhawks, but instead opted to play for University of Connecticut.[5]
In his freshman year at UConn, Villanueva earned Big East All-Rookie Team honors and was a key reserve member of the 2004 NCAA National Championship team. As a sophomore at UConn, he averaged 13.6 points and 8.3 rebounds, leading the team in scoring and receiving team MVP and Second Team All-Big East honors. Villanueva elected to enter the 2005 NBA Draft after two years at UConn.[4]
NBA career
The Toronto Raptors were widely criticized for selecting Villanueva seventh overall in the 2005 NBA Draft,[6] but he responded with a solid rookie campaign. He averaged 13 points and 6.4 rebounds in 81 games. He finished second among rookies in points and rebounds, and third in minutes and blocked shots. He also tallied 12 double-doubles and set the Raptors' rookie records for points (48) and rebounds (18) in a game. Villanueva also appeared in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and was named to the All-NBA Rookie First Team.[4]
Villanueva was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for point guard T. J. Ford and cash considerations on June 30, 2006.
In March 2009 he was reprimanded by Bucks coach Scott Skiles for posting a message on his Twitter account during halftime of the Bucks–Celtics game.[7]
As the season progressed Villanueva started to put up better statistics, and by the end of the year he was averaging a career high in points and rebounds (16.2 and 6.7 respectively).[8][9]
In June 2009, Villanueva signed a five year contract with the Pistons worth $35 million.[10]
National team
Villanueva represented the United States basketball team at youth levels. In 2009, Villanueva wanted to switch sports nationality to the Dominican Republic. Under FIBA rules, he asked USA Basketball to release him in order to switch his sports nationality.[11] He played for the Dominican Republic national basketball team in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship.[2]
Personal
Villanueva has alopecia universalis, a variation of alopecia areata, an autoimmune skin disease. This results in hair loss on the scalp and/or elsewhere on the body, but the disease is not otherwise life-threatening or harmful. Villanueva is a spokesman for the NAAF (National Alopecia Areata Foundation),[4] and received the February 2006 Community Assist Award from the NBA for his work with the organization.[12]
Villanueva is fluent in Spanish, as it is the language he speaks with his family.
Honors
- Mar 2003 – New Jersey State High School Co-Player of the Year, shared with Luol Deng
- Mar 2003 – New Jersey High School All-State Team Honor Selection
- Mar 2003 – McDonald's High School All-American
- Mar 2004 – Big East Conference All-Rookie Team
- Apr 2004 – NCAA National Championship, UConn Huskies
- Jul 2004 – USA Junior World Basketball Team Gold Medalist
- Mar 2005 – Big East All-Conference Second Team
- Jun 2005 – NBA Draft Lottery Seventh Pick
- Oct 2005 – Toronto Raptors Community MVP Award
- Nov 2005 – Toronto Raptors Community MVP Award
- Dec 2005 – Named NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month
- Feb 2006 – Selected to compete in the 2006 T-Mobile NBA All-Star Rookie Challenge in Houston
- Feb 2006 – NBA Cares Community Assist Award
- Mar 2006 – Toronto Raptors Franchise Rookie Record: Single-Game 48 Points
- Apr 2006 – Toronto Raptors Franchise Rookie Record: Single-Game 18 Rebounds
- May 2006 – NBA Rookie of the Year Runner Up, behind Chris Paul
- May 2006 – NBA All-Rookie First Team Honors
- Aug 2008 – NBA Cares Community Assist Award
- Sep 2008 - Latin Pride National Awards Outstanding Athlete
Trivia
- His idol growing up was Reggie Miller. He wears #31 as a tribute to Miller, who retired after the 2004-05 season.[4]
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 2005–06 Toronto 81 36 29.1 .463 .327 .706 6.4 1.1 .7 .8 13.0 2006–07 Milwaukee 39 17 25.2 .470 .337 .820 5.8 .9 .6 .3 11.8 2007–08 Milwaukee 76 31 24.1 .435 .297 .783 6.1 1.0 .4 .5 11.7 2008–09 Milwaukee 78 47 26.9 .447 .345 .838 6.7 1.8 .6 .7 16.2 2009-10 Detroit 78 16 23.7 .439 .351 .815 4.7 .7 .6 .7 11.9 2010-11 Detroit 76 11 21.9 .442 .387 .767 3.9 .6 .6 .6 11.1 Career 428 158 25.2 .448 .346 .790 5.6 1.0 .6 .6 12.7 References
- ^ "Sources: Gordon, Villanueva to Pistons". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4301111. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
- ^ a b "Charlie Villanueva Player Profile". FIBA. http://puertorico2009.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/09/facm/player/p/eid/4042/pid/49590/sid/4042/tid/274/profile.html. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
- ^ "Internal Regulations 2010". FIBA. p. 67. http://www.fiba.com/downloads/Regulations/170310_FIBA_Internal_Regulations.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
- ^ a b c d e Charlie Villanueva Biography, National Alopecia Areata Foundation website
- ^ LJWorld.com / Villanueva snubs draft for UConn
- ^ "Raptors trade Charlie Villanueva to Bucks for T.J. Ford and cash". CBC. June 1, 2006. http://www.cbc.ca/cp/nba/060701/v070102.html.[dead link]
- ^ Villanueva Scolded For Twittering During Halftime SI.com, March 17, 2009
- ^ http://www.nba.com/playerfile/charlie_villanueva/index.html
- ^ http://www.nba.com/playerfile/charlie_villanueva/bio.html
- ^ "Pistons begin rebuilding, sign Gordon and Villanueva". Reuters. July 2, 2009. http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSTRE56112U20090702.
- ^ "Villanueva switching sports citizenship". ESPNdeportes.com. 2009-04-11. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4060004. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
- ^ RAPTORS: Villanueva Receives NBA Community Assist Award for February
External links
- Charlie Villanueva at NBA.com
- Charlie Villanueva at Basketball-Reference.com
- Official Website of Charlie Villanueva
Connecticut Huskies Men's Basketball 2003–04 NCAA Champions 3 Charlie Villanueva | 4 Ben Gordon | 5 Marcus Williams | 11 Hilton Armstrong | 12 Taliek Brown | 21 Josh Boone | 30 Shamon Tooles | 31 Rashad Anderson | 33 Denham Brown | 50 Emeka Okafor (MOP)
Coach Jim Calhoun
Assistant coaches:Tom Moore | George Blaney2005 NBA Draft First round Andrew Bogut · Marvin Williams · Deron Williams · Chris Paul · Raymond Felton · Martell Webster · Charlie Villanueva · Channing Frye · Ike Diogu · Andrew Bynum · Fran Vázquez · Yaroslav Korolev · Sean May · Rashad McCants · Antoine Wright · Joey Graham · Danny Granger · Gerald Green · Hakim Warrick · Julius Hodge · Nate Robinson · Jarrett Jack · Francisco García · Luther Head · Johan Petro · Jason Maxiell · Linas Kleiza · Ian Mahinmi · Wayne Simien · David LeeSecond round Salim Stoudamire · Daniel Ewing · Brandon Bass · C. J. Miles · Ricky Sánchez · Ersan İlyasova · Ronny Turiaf · Travis Diener · Von Wafer · Monta Ellis · Roko Ukić · Chris Taft · Mile Ilić · Martynas Andriuškevičius · Louis Williams · Erazem Lorbek · Bracey Wright · Mickaël Gelabale · Andray Blatche · Ryan Gomes · Robert Whaley · Axel Hervelle · Orien Greene · Dijon Thompson · Lawrence Roberts · Amir Johnson · Marcin Gortat · Uroš Slokar · Cenk Akyol · Alex AckerDetroit Pistons current roster Categories:- 1984 births
- Living people
- American expatriate basketball people in Canada
- Dominican Republic basketball players
- Basketball players from New York
- Basketball players from New Jersey
- Toronto Raptors draft picks
- Toronto Raptors players
- Milwaukee Bucks players
- Detroit Pistons players
- Blair Academy alumni
- Connecticut Huskies men's basketball players
- McDonald's High School All-Americans
- American people of Dominican Republic descent
- Power forwards (basketball)
- Sportspeople from Queens
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