Peja Stojakovic
Predrag Pedja Stojakovi (Serbo-Croatian ” ” ) (born June 9, 1977) Serbian basketball player who plays in the New Orleans Hornets (NBA). Born in the current Croatian city of Po ega lavon ka, formerly part of Yugoslavia, and together with his family moved to Belgrade in the beginning of the war in the Balkans. In 1993, at the age of 16 years, moved to Greece to play basketball professionally with PAOK Thessaloniki, the team he played for four seasons. That same year, Stojakovi acquired Greek citizenship. Its height 2.08 meters led him to be selected in 1996 by the Sacramento Kings in the NBA draft. Stojakovi continued to play in Greece until the 1998-1999 season in the NBA, after which he signed with the Sacramento Kings. After two seasons on the bench in Sacramento, settled in the NBA in the 2000-2001 season, averaging 20.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game and get an average of 40 from three allowed him to finish in second place vote for the “Most Improved Player” of the NBA that year, in addition to being runner-up triple contest All Star Game, leaving only 2 triples under Ray Allen (19 triples). From there he became a fixture in the quintet of the Kings, where he shared the best years of the franchise along with Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Chris Webber, and his great friend, Vlade Divac. In 2002, the Kings reached their peak together with a large Stojakovic, who averaged 21.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Also that year reached the final of the Conference of the NBA, but Los Angeles Lakers stole their dream of reaching the NBA Finals, with a very tight 4-3. Predrag Stojakovic did not catch a big Play-Off and stayed with 14.8 points per game. As a personal achievement, Stojakovic won his first competition of the All-Star triple Philadelphia, tying for 19th with Wesley Person, but winning the triple jump from 9 to 5. Also debuting at the All Star Game, playing 18 minutes and scoring 11 points. In 2003, only include the final competition of triple against Person Stojakovic made again, which ran from a chaos of horns sounding in the middle of his performance as if he had run out of time, balls that were in about to give … so the organization that was the whistling of the public decided to cancel the series (which would get 13 points) and let Person be the first to start. Person who was beginning to feel tired, made a total of 16 points. Stojakovic’s turn came, it was supposed to already be quite tired at his fourth attempt of the night, but it was quite the opposite. He made a great series with 22 points (equaling the record of the final that was Craig Hodges), and almost get more, as it was in the last car with only 2 points. For the second consecutive year, played the All Star Game in Atlanta, with 13 minutes on the track and scoring 5 points. It was not until 2004 to see the great action Stojakovic, Webber took the injury to become the “designated player” in Sacramento and averaged 24.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 81 games, plus achieve a 43 accuracy in 3-point shots. Truly a fantastic season Predrag Stojakovic, who took over Minnesota Timberwolves spoil by eliminating Sacramento conference semifinals 4-3 in a tight, well worth noting that lost the final contest against Voshon Lenard triple by 2 triples, and then 3 years in a row winning it, and has not returned to play another three-point contest.