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Ukraine's Kyrylo Fesenko

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  • Ukraine's Kyrylo Fesenko

    I couldn't find any threads about Kyrylo Fesenko, the 7'1", 300 pound gorilla from the Ukraine, so I decided to stsart one. He is the fourth Ukrainian to play in the NBA. Fesenko is 19-years-old and big, so obviously he was gobbled up by an NBA team. He was drafted by Philadelphia and then traded to the Utah Jazz. It's rumored that he will go to the NBDL for a few weeks, but Jerry Sloan must like him because he kept him on the roster this long. I'm inclined to say that this youngster is a massive project because he's not even listed on Ukraine's NT.

    I have no idea whatsoever if the kid is any good or not, but he seems pretty funny. I think I remember that he actually shaved his name into the back of his head so people would know who he was.
    Utah Jazz Blog -- Salt Lake City Tribune, November 8, 2007

    ...With the ESPN cameras in the locker room before the game, rookie Kyrylo Fesenko walked over and put an arm around Kirilenko and smiled for the cameras. Most players just ignore the cameramen and keep on tying their shoes or whatever, but Fesenko clearly wanted to be on TV.

    Fesenko also had a funny moment when we were in L.A. for the Lakers game. He sat right in Phil Jackson's customized chair as the Jazz were out shooting before the game. It's not hard to figure out which chair is Jackson's - - it's the one that's two stories taller than his assistant's.

    Almond tried to get Fesenko to move but the 20-year-old Ukrainian wouldn't budge...
    Kyrylo Fesnko is a Funny Guy -- Matt Watson, June 16, 2006, Detroit Pistons Blog

    About halfway through the 70-minute workout, Bucks assistant coach Brian James told the players he wanted them to “put the ball on the floor,” meaning take a dribble before shooting. Fesenko was first up, and after taking a pass near the baseline, he softly set the ball on the court and walked away looking puzzled as if to say, “Why did you want me to do that?”

    After pausing to take in what happened, the coaches, including head coach Terry Stott and Dave Babcock, the Bucks’ director of player personnel, broke into laughter.

    “Well, he’s coachable,” James said as another coach explained to Fesenko what the jargon meant. “He did exactly what I told him to do.”

    Fesenko smiled about it but did not seem to think it was as amusing.

    “I just don’t understand,” he said in rough English. “He told me to put it down. I don’t know what it means.”

    The last drill of the workout was a two-on-two, full-court game. When it was announced that the next team to score won, Fesenko, who was taking out the ball under the far baseline, threw it off Grier’s backside, hopped back inbounds and raced down for the dunk.

    The other players, including teammate Bennerman, watched in confusion. The coaches threw up their hands, laughed again and counted the point as Fesenko walked back as if nothing was unusual.

    Posing with 50 8-year-old Ukrainian fans
    Behind-the-back dunk
    "I really like the attitudes of eagles. They never give up. When they grab a fish or something else, they never let it go. It doesn't matter. In a book, they write they find a skeleton of [an] eagle and there is no fish. It means that the fish beat him and killed him, but he didn't let go." -- Donatas Motiejunas

  • #2
    Well, he was shipped to the NBDL
    Face of the Flash - by Neil Warner, The Daily Herald -- November 14, 2007

    Fesenko happy to be Utah Flash cornerstone

    Kyrylo Fesenko had already answered the same question several times, but just in case he hadn't been convincing enough, the second-round pick of the Utah Jazz from the 2007 NBA draft, raised his voice to reiterate his stance: "I repeat it 100 times. I'm not upset about it. I glad to be here."

    "Here" is at Open Court in Lehi with the Utah Flash, the newest member of the NBA Development League. On Tuesday, Fesenko, a 7-foot-1 center from Ukraine, who had been with the Jazz but hadn't played in any of the team's eight games, talked about having the chance to play on a regular basis.

    "What could be better to get game time and guarantee contract with the NBA?" Fesenko continued. "That's why I'm here, I need to play. I am happy to be here."

    Flash head coach Brad Jones sensed the Jazz rookie was enthusiastic about having a chance to make an impact with the team.


    "He's excited to be here. When I picked him up he said, 'Coach, I'm excited. I hope I stay a long time. I want to play in his dialect," Jones said. "From the Utah Valley point of view, I think it really brings a lot of credibility to what Brandt (Andersen, team owner) had the vision of and what David Fredman (general manager) did because it brings a lot of credibility when the Jazz send someone down before we're even playing games."

    As the only Jazz member to date, Fesenko will be one of the focal points of the Flash as the expansion team beings its inaugural season. The roster will be trimmed by seven today in preparation for the season opener....
    "I really like the attitudes of eagles. They never give up. When they grab a fish or something else, they never let it go. It doesn't matter. In a book, they write they find a skeleton of [an] eagle and there is no fish. It means that the fish beat him and killed him, but he didn't let go." -- Donatas Motiejunas

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    • #3
      Played his first game with the Jazz and notched 6 pts + 7 rebs + 1 assist in 17 minutes. Not bad.
      Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
      Artificial Nature

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      • #4
        Originally posted by rikhardur
        Played his first game with the Jazz and notched 6 pts + 7 rebs + 1 assist in 17 minutes. Not bad.
        Yeah! Actually, he didn't look that bad. I saw the game, and he did an OK job!

        Utah 120, LA Lakers 96 -- December 1, 2007, AP

        ....Kyrylo Fesenko added six points and seven rebounds in his NBA debut just hours after being called up from Utah's D-League affiliate in Orem. He also finished with five stitches, thanks to an elbow to the right eye from Chris Mihm that only kept him out for a few minutes.....

        Fesenko, the 7-foot-1 Ukrainian picked up by the Jazz in a draft-day trade, was a fan favorite by the end of the night. He posted up Mihm, then made a turnaround bank shot for his first NBA points. He added a dunk at the end of the first quarter off a pass from Kirilenko and had to leave briefly in the second half after Mihm's elbow caught him in the eye and drew blood.

        Fesenko got another loud ovation when he returned -- with a puffy right eye -- in the fourth quarter.....
        "I really like the attitudes of eagles. They never give up. When they grab a fish or something else, they never let it go. It doesn't matter. In a book, they write they find a skeleton of [an] eagle and there is no fish. It means that the fish beat him and killed him, but he didn't let go." -- Donatas Motiejunas

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        • #5
          I just wrote up a summary of the kid on our news section last week. He looks really promising:

          Who is Kyrylo Fesenko?
          With the aforementioned injury to Memhet Okur (and to Carlos Boozer), 7-1, 288lbs Ukranian center Kyrylo Fesenko got called up from the Utah Flash, his NBDL team, for the Jazz’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers Friday. Fesenko, who would also leave the game with an injury, did well in his short NBA debut — accumulating six points and seven rebounds in only 11 minutes.

          Fesenko is a physical, energetic, and agile center. Constantly moving, looking for contact, aggressive with hair-flying. The way Kyrylo plays, I can see him being a more-effective Zaza Pachulia. His naivete might be his biggest asset, he doesn’t come into the NBA afraid of anyone and though light-hearted off the court, his intensity on-court will be his biggest asset. The kid wants to dunk the ball like Shaq circa 1995 every time he touches it “I like (Shaq’s) animal rage under the basket, his power,” he said. “When you look at him even on TV, you are afraid of him. He is huge, big…

          While trying out for the Pistons last year, Fesenko got a chance to meet his childhood idol Shaquille O’Neal. So what did Fesenko when he had a chance to chat with his basketball hero? He reportedly told Shaq in a half-joking fashion “I will dunk over (you), if (you) play one or two more years.”

          This kind of humor and blase attitude off the court has apparently made quite an impression on the Utah media and his Jazz teammates, even though he’s only been a in Utah a month or so “He might be so unaware, he plays well,” said Carlos Boozer speaking of Fesenko’s
          In his only NBA game thus far, Fesenko was hit on the side of the head Chris Mihm while attempting to rebound a missed shot. He left that game, but was activated for the next game against Miami, but with Okur and Boozer back from injury, Fesenko didn’t play nor get the chance to dunk on Shaq (he also didn’t play last night against Seattle).

          Things, however are looking up for Kyrylo as his short 20-day stint in the NBDL has made an impression on Jerry Sloan “His demeanor out here is 100 percent better than what it was when he left. Not even playing basketball, just being around his teammates and being a little bit more professional about what he’s doing.” And Fesenko wasn’t phased when he moved to the D-League, “I want to play in D-League and to be here, to get enough of game time to adjust to American basketball,” he said before being called up “I repeat it 100 time, I am not upset about it. I glad to be here. What can be better than to have enough of game time — and a guaranteed contract with the NBA?”
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          • #6
            Fesenko played some real minutes since a long time and managed to score 8 points, grab 4 rebounds and block 3 shots in 16 minutes. Not bad.
            Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
            Artificial Nature

            Comment


            • #7
              First double-double: 12 pts + 11 rebs + 3 blocks as the Jazz lose to the Rockets.
              Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
              Artificial Nature

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              • #8
                My congrats to Ukranian fans. Fesenko's defence perform against Yao was unbelievable! But if he wish to be BIG player, he should to improve his offence ability. Unfortunately in team offence construction IMO he feeling a little bit uncomfortable because he has obvious gap in basketball education. Anyway he,s just 22, so i wish him to work hard and i hope one day he,ll become a BIG player in NBA and Ukranian NT certainly.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by vaslover View Post
                  My congrats to Ukranian fans. Fesenko's defence perform against Yao was unbelievable! But if he wish to be BIG player, he should to improve his offence ability. Unfortunately in team offence construction IMO he feeling a little bit uncomfortable because he has obvious gap in basketball education. Anyway he,s just 22, so i wish him to work hard and i hope one day he,ll become a BIG player in NBA and Ukranian NT certainly.

                  And also he should stop smoke and drink beer
                  Euroleague advanced stats and analytics

                  basket-stats.net

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by EugeneUkraine View Post
                    And also he should stop smoke and drink beer
                    What is beer? Sabonis drank vodka so much (probably it,s just BS i don,t know, but a lot of members of our great team which won gold in Seul,88 just told about how all of them made "revel" in olympic village...) and this "terrible gap in his career" didn,t disturb him to become probably the best basketball player in european history.
                    P.s. Anyway it doesn,t mean that Kirill should smoke and drink beer.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by vaslover View Post
                      What is beer? Sabonis drank vodka so much (probably it,s just BS i don,t know, but a lot of members of our great team which won gold in Seul,88 just told about how all of them made "revel" in olympic village...) and this "terrible gap in his career" didn,t disturb him to become probably the best basketball player in european history.
                      P.s. Anyway it doesn,t mean that Kirill should smoke and drink beer.
                      It's true about Sabas Also Kurtinaitis really liked to party and especialy champaigne Most of all other Zalgiris' players of that time didn't say "no" to alcohol or cigarettes, just like many soviet players of that time, but what's the most important, that they knew when they can afford themselves to do that and when not

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                      • #12
                        From Salt Lake Tribune, news that Kyrylo Fesenko has left the Ukrainian National Team



                        "Following his benching in a game last week, Jazz center Kyrylo Fesenko(notes) has left the Ukrainian national team before the conclusion of relegation-round play in the European championships. Although he committed to playing for the national team instead of taking part in summer league with the Jazz, Fesenko did not see action Friday against Hungary and did not travel to Estonia for a game Monday.

                        Russ Ridge, whose family helps care for the 22-year-old center in Utah, has spoken with Fesenko and said Monday that he was not injured, despite a story on the federation's Web site that suggested otherwise. Before leaving for the off-season, Fesenko talked about the criticism he'd faced in his home country for skipping national team duty the previous two years to play in summer league with the Jazz.

                        However, Fesenko's playing time decreased so quickly in Ukraine that he saw just nine minutes of action in last Tuesday's loss to the Czech Republic. Three days later, he didn't play at all against Hungary."
                        EugeneUkraine, any info on this?

                        Stuart
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