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16. Andrei Kirilenko
By Sam Rubenstein
Andrei is the most unique player in the NBA. The fact that his initials are
A.K., his number is 47, and his nationality is Russian, all adds up to him
being one of a kind. Some people say he's like an Octopus, Jerry Sloan says
"He's like a rope out there", some people say he's like a faster Ivan Drago.
I say he's the real life Omega Red.
In that magical 2004 season when the Jazz looked like a 12 win team on paper,
Andrei was their best player as they became the Official Team of The Links.
I suppose he should suffer on this list because of his injury problems, but
Andrei stands out so much, we don't have the heart to drop him down. He's
not a scorer, he's not a rebounder, he's not a passer, defender, or whatever.
He just is. Utah was one of the best teams in the league two years ago until
he got hurt, and then they became one of the worst without him. Now that's
value. He's a small forward that is averaging 3.2 blocks per game and 2.0
steals for his career. Now that's madness.
Last year the biggest news from Andrei land was that his wife, Russian pop
star Masha Kirilenko, gives him a once a year pass to let Andrei get his
groupie love. Then you look on his website's "hobbies" page and are greeted
with this gem "I like to go with my wife to all possible events, presentations,
restaurants, clubs and concerts. The most important thing is that we are
together. It’s true that during the NBA season it was not possible to spend
as much time together as we would have liked." Oh, I hear you Mr. Kirilenko.
I hear you loud and clear. Wink wink. (Quick sidenote: Russian women scare me.
I don't mean to generalize here, but I see this same crew of three Russian
girls on the train all the time and I'm pretty sure that they are assassins.
They openly drink vodka on the train late at night. It's like that show She
Spies. Back to basketball.)
Last year was his first time on the all defensive team. Get used to that.
And get used to him winning multiple defensive player of the years down the
road. On offense, Andrei doesn't take many shots, but he shoots a high
percentage and still manages to score about 15 per game. His game is so
unique to the NBA, I don't think we understand it yet.
Personal TMI disclosure: Two and a half years ago, when I first got the job
here, I thought I needed to have a hot throwback jersey just to be allowed
in the building. The one I chose to purchase was a Kirilenko jersey wth the
musical note on it. And within days/weeks the thowback trend was over and I
have worn that jersey in public maybe twice. It's the only intentional
throwback I own, with the others being jerseys that were current at the time,
such as the Tim Hardaway Golden State jersey I bought when I was in high
school. AK-47. Possibly the best nickname in the league.
http://slamonline.com/online/2006/10/16-andrei-kirilenko/
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