Retired - Retired in 2020
- Birthdate: 06/22/1985
- Drafted (NBA): 34th pick, 2003
- Pre-draft team: Iraklis (Greece)
- Country: Greece/Cameroon
- Hand: Right
- Agent: -
| Date | League | Transaction |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 NBA Draft | NBA | Drafted 34th overall by L.A. Clippers. |
| 12th September, 2003 | Greece | Left Iraklis. |
| 12th September, 2003 | Italy | Signed a one year contract with Cantu. |
| July 2004 | Greece | Signed a three year contract with Aris Thessaloniki. Included team option for 2006/07. |
| 21st July, 2005 | Greece | Left Aris Thessaloniki. |
| 21st July, 2005 | Greece | Signed a four year contract with Olympiakos. |
| April 2006 | Greece | Signed a two year extension with Olympiakos. Included player option for 2010/11. |
| 30th June, 2010 | Greece | Declined 2010/11 player option. |
| 5th August, 2010 | Israel | Signed a two year contract with Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Included team option for 2011/12. |
| 30th June, 2011 | Israel | Maccabi Tel-Aviv exercised 2011/12 team option. |
| 4th July, 2012 | Greece | Signed a three year contract with Panathinaikos. |
| 30th July, 2012 | NBA | Draft rights traded by L.A. Clippers to Atlanta in exchange for a signed-and-traded Willie Green. |
| 5th July, 2013 | Greece | Left Panathinaikos. |
| 10th July, 2013 | Israel | Signed a three year contract with Maccabi Tel-Aviv. |
| 1st July, 2014 | Israel | Signed a two year extension with Maccabi Tel-Aviv. |
| 15th July, 2014 | NBA | Draft rights traded by Atlanta to Oklahoma City in exchange for the draft rights to Giorgos Printezis (#58, 2007), a signed-and-traded Thabo Sefolosha and cash. |
| 19th June, 2015 | Israel | Left Maccabi Tel-Aviv. |
| 3rd August, 2015 | Serbia | Signed a one year contract with Crvena Zvezda. |
| 28th October, 2015 | Serbia | Released by Crvena Zvezda. |
| 3rd November, 2015 | Greece | Signed until Christmas with PAOK Thessaloniki. Included team option for the remainder of the season. |
| 25th December, 2015 | Greece | PAOK Thessaloniki exercised team option for the remainder of the season. |
| 13th December, 2016 | Greece | Signed a three week tryout with Apollon Patras. |
| 18th October, 2017 | Greece | Signed a two week tryout with Trikalla. |
| 1st November, 2017 | Greece | Signed for the remainder of the season with Trikalla. |
| 2000 - September 2003 | Iraklis (Greece) |
| September 2003 - June 2004 | Cantu (Italy) |
| July 2004 - July 2005 | Aris Thessaloniki (Greece) |
| July 2005 - June 2010 | Olympiakos (Greece) |
| July 2010 | L.A. Clippers (Summer League) |
| August 2010 - June 2012 | Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel) |
| July 2012 - July 2013 | Panathinaikos (Greece) |
| July 2013 - June 2015 | Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel) |
| August 2015 - October 2015 | Crvena Zvezda (Serbia) |
| November 2015 - June 2016 | PAOK Thessaloniki (Greece) |
| December 2016 - January 2017 | Apollon Patras (Greece) |
| October 2017 - June 2018 | Trikalla (Greece) |
June 29, 2017
Sofoklis Schortsanitis - 34th pick, 2005
Did not play this year, and has fallen out of the Euroleague as well. Always only ever a role player due to how limited his body made him, his window is long passed.
April 2, 2011
Sofoklis Schortsanitis (34th pick, 2003)
As did many players on this list, Sofo drew a mention in the recent Euroleague round-up:
Sofo, brought in from Olympiakos, is in the midst of the best season of his career. This isn't as powerful of a statement as it might have been, given some of the wasted years he had in an Olympiakos jersey, yet it's something. He is playing at what looks to be about 350lbs - which time has proven to be about as slim as you can ever expect from him - and is using it to be an unstoppable scorer in the paint. Sofo averages 12.3 points in only 19 minutes per game, shooting 57% from the field, getting to the line five times a game, and even hitting those free throws at a much improved 67% clip. The only thing that stops him is his own feet - a good number of his alarmingly high 2.4 turnovers per game can be attributed to travels.
Sofo is pictured above at his fattest, the biggest he ever got, circa two years ago. He is not that big now - in fact, this is the size he's at now. Certainly a lot better. But also certainly still big. A more pressing concern is that in Schortsanitis's five year heavy weight gain/heavy weight loss cycle, he hasn't developed his skills much. His skill level remains high, only because it was so high in the first place.
As recently as last summer, the NBA was interested in Sofo. He came over for summer league with the Clippers, and the Rockets tried to trade for him. Sofoklis's uniqueness and unstoppabilitiness are always going to be intriguing for as long as he's playing at the upper echelons of the European game. But his disastrous summer league performances also confirm that he should probably stay there.
Chances of making the NBA expressed as an arbitrary percentage: 10%
March 24, 2011
Sofo, brought in from Olympiakos, is in the midst of the best season of his career. This isn't as powerful of a statement as it might have been, given some of the wasted years he had in an Olympiakos jersey, yet it's something. He is playing at what looks to be about 350lbs - which time has proven to be about as slim as you can ever expect from him - and is using it to be an unstoppable scorer in the paint. Sofo averages 12.3 points in only 19 minutes per game, shooting 57% from the field, getting to the line five times a game, and even hitting those free throws at a much improved 67% clip. The only thing that stops him is his own feet - a good number of his alarmingly high 2.4 turnovers per game can be attributed to travels. Macvan, brought in midseason from Serbain team Hemofarm, has slotted in as a face-up scorer off the bench, averaging 3.9 points in 8.6 minutes. He has gone from playing in the high thirties in minutes in the Eurocup, to being a 10th man in the Euroleague, but he's a fine tenth man to have. Macvan is a smooth and fluid scorer, with good hands and great passing vision, able to score in the post, rebound, get open, drive the ball, and hit some jumpshots (albeit far too confident at this latter ability). If he gave even half of the defensive effort that he does on offense, he'd move further up the hierarchy.
April 21, 2010
- Sofoklis Schortsanitis
Big Sofo has supposedly lost almost 150 pounds. This is good. The number is presumably exaggerated a bit, but whatever the amount he's lost really is, it's still good that he's lost it.
Last year, he was simply too fat play; allegedly nearer to 500lbs than 400, and seemingly trying his best to undermine the team that continues to persist with him perhaps long after they shouldn't, Sofo appeared in only 95 minutes all season, and fouled once in every four of them. How a man can get as big as he did is hard to fathom, and how a professional athlete (at least ostensibly) can get that big is simply mindblowing. But it happened. Sofo has always had a huge frame, yet with all that fat on him, he was heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGE. You could feel your head being drawn closer to the screen, such was his gravitational pull. He was the biggest basketball player I have ever seen. And it was reflected in his frankly pretty hopeless play.
This year, however, Sofoklis has turned up to play. Perhaps motivated by the impending expiration of his contract, Sofoklis has lost all the weight and is an unstoppable force in the Greek league. He plays only 13.3 minutes in Greek league play, partly because Olympiakos keep winning in blowouts, partly because his stamina still isn't great, and partly of Olympiakos's surfeit of big men. (When you have all of Sofo, Ioannis Bourousis, Nikola Vujcic, Linas Kleiza, Andreas Glyniadakis and Loukas Mavrokefalidis, you might as well use them). Yet in that short space of time, Sofo averages a whopping 9.4 points per game, shooting 69% from the field. He is unstoppably strong in the paint; there's no else that big or that physical, and Sofo has the skill to go with that. His free throw shooting is also much improved; his tally is only 58.4% on the season, but he's gone 35 for his last 47 after starting 17-42. (He also went 5-17 from the line in a Euroleague game.) It's all a part of his rehab.
That said, he's still fat. He moves quite well for a fat guy, but it's still only relative; Schortsanitis remains 6'9 and bereft of athleticism. His only defense is to foul, and he does that a lot still, roughly once in every 5 and a half minute in Greek league play. This will come even more to play in the NBA, if ever he gets there, because everyone is faster than him there. A lot faster.
Nonetheless, the Rockets are said to be interested in his draft rights.