NBA Bust Jan Vesely of Czech Republic Moves to European Ballclub Fenerbahce Ulker
Jan Vesely of Czech Republic was touted as the next big European player. All hype and no game fit for the NBA, he’s moving on to European ballclub Fenerbahce Ulker based in Istanbul, Turkey.
Lukas Kuba reported the transfer via Twitter:
Jan #Vesely is expected to arrive in Istanbul tmrw to finalize deal with #Fenerbahce -- three years, w/ the 3rd year being a player option.
— Lukas Kuba (@Luke_Mellow) July 19, 2014
The Czech was the sixth overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, which traded him to the Denver Nuggets in February 2014. He never got any major playing time for the Wizards and also did not get much chance with the Nuggets.
For the record, other players who were picked lower than Vesely were Brandon Knight (8th pick - Detroit Pistons); Klay Thompson (11th pick - Golden State Warriors); Kawhi Leonard (15th pick - Indiana Pacers); Nikola Vucevic (16th pick - Philadelphia 76ers) and Kenneth Faried (22nd pick - Denver Nuggets) among others.
In his short three-year NBA career, he averaged 3.6 points, 3.5 rebounds in just 15.2 minutes per game. The 24-year-old played a total of 162 games for both Washington and Denver in disappointing NBA career.
This is Vesely’s second European stint with appearances for Geoplin Slovan (Slovenia) in 2007-2008 and Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) from 2008 to 2011.
Born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, Vesely will be joiininig a Fenerbahce Ulker squad, which made the Euroleague Top 16 in the 2013-2014 season after winning the Turkish League crown the same year.
Vesely will be joining players like Bogdan Bogdanovic, Andrew Goudelock, Serhat Cetin and Semih Erden among others at the Fenerbahce camp.
For a seven-footer, his speed and mobility was hyped and was compared to Euro veterans Dirk Nowitzki and Andrei Kirilenko entering the draft in 2011. Not only was he slow and a bit stiff, his overall skill set did not translate to the NBA level.
Vesely’s three-year run in the NBA allowed him to earn roughly $8 million.