Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Khalid El-Amin to join Lietuvos Rytas

One of the two Lithuanian biggest clubs Lietuvos Rytas has found a replacement for the injured point guard Jerry Johnson.


The Lithuanian champions agreed terms with the 31-year-old American guard Khalid El-Amin, who has been signed to a one-year deal.

Lietuvos Rytas have acquired a good basketball player. I’ve coached him for nearly three years. He’s a very good individually – extremely strong and quick. He can break down almost anyone one-on-one, but he might have been a bit lazy on defense against weaker opponents, but he’s able to defend very well,” told Rimas Girskis, a Lithuanian coach, who worked with El-Amin during his time with Azovmash in Mariupol.

The seasoned veteran has spent the biggest part of his career playing in Ukraine and Turkey, playing for Budivelnik Kiev last season and scoring 20.5 points, dishing out 5.1 assists per game as well as adding 3.1 rebounds on an average.

He is a willing passer and I sometimes even had to encourage him to take the game more on himself. He was our best player and it was better for the team if he played more on his own. I want to congratulate Lietuvos Rytas on a good acquisition,” the Lithuanian coach, who’s currently working with Nevezis Kedainiai. “You couldn’t tell that he’s a basketball player from first sight. I remember that I was surprised that a man of this build can play basketball all together. The truth is that his body is one big mountain of muscles.”

El-Amin saw a short-term stint with the Chicago Bulls, the team who drafted him with 34th pick in the 2000 NBA draft. The guard averaged 6.3 points and 2.9 assists per game in his only season amongst the basketball’s elite in 2000-2001.


source : lithuaniabasketball.com

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