Christian Burns (basketball)

Christian Charles Burns (born September 4, 1985) is an American-Italian professional basketball player for Germani Brescia of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A, top league of Italia. He also represents the Italian national team.

Christian Burns
Burns in 2011
No. 23 – Pallacanestro Brescia
PositionPower forward / center
LeagueLega Basket Serie A
Personal information
Born (1985-09-04) September 4, 1985
Trenton, New Jersey
NationalityAmerican / Italian
Listed height2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)
Listed weight110 kg (243 lb)
Career information
High schoolHamilton (Hamilton, New Jersey)
College
NBA draft2007: undrafted
Playing career2007–present
Career history
2007–2008AZS Koszalin
2008–2009FC Porto
2009–2010ratiopharm Ulm
2010–2011Ferro-ZNTU Zaporozhye
2011–2012Elitzur Netanya
2012–2013Sutor Montegranaro
2013–2014Enisey Krasnoyarsk
2014–2015ČEZ Nymburk
2015–2016Al Wasl SC
2016–2017Germani Basket Brescia
2017–2018Red October Cantù
2018–2020Olimpia Milano
2020–presentGermani Brescia
2022→ Napoli Basket
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

Early career

Between his sophomore and senior year, Burns grew from 5'11" to 6’6“.[1] After having played soccer and basketball, he focused on basketball his senior year, averaging 19.8 points, 15.3 rebounds and 3.2 blocks a game[2] for Hamilton High School West in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, while taking home County Player of the Year and Third-Team All-State (by the Associated Press) honors.[3]

College career

He started his college career at Quinnipiac, where he spent his freshman and sophomore year. He made 48 appearances for the Bobcats, averaging 3.5 points and 2.9 boards a contest. Burns transferred to NCAA Division 2 school Philadelphia University for his junior year and made an impact right away, scoring 16.7 points, grabbing 9.8 rebounds and blocking 2.2 shots per game in 2005–06. He earned Daktronics NCAA Division II National Player of the Year, ECAC Division II Player of the Year, Herb Good Small College Player of the Year and CACC Player of the Year honors his senior season (2006–07) among many other accolades, when putting up averages of 21.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per contest.

Professional career

Coming out of college in 2007, he tried to make the Philadelphia 76ers' summer league roster, but eventually was not picked to join the team.[4] Burns then launched his overseas career, signing with AZS Koszalin from Poland. In the following years, he played for teams in a number of different countries including Portugal, Germany, Ukraine, Israel, Italy, Russia, Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates.[5] In the 2010–11 campaign, when playing for Ferro-ZNTU Zaporozhye, he was named the Eurobasket.com All-Ukrainian Superleague Player of the Year.[6] He made the Eurobasket.com All-Italian SerieA 1st Team in 2013[7] and won the 2015 Czech national championship with CEZ Nymburk.[8]

Burns obtained Italian citizenship in 2016.[9] In 2017, he represented the Italian men's national team at the European Championships.[10]

On June 20, 2018, the president of Olimpia Milano, Livio Proli, said the club reached an agreement with Burns for 2018–19 season in the Italian LBA.[11] On June 28, 2018, Burns officially signed a deal with Milano.[12] In May 2019, he tested positive for the banned substance Clostebol Metabolita.[13] In July 2019, he was cleared by Italy's national anti-doping tribunal.[14]

On July 4, 2020, he returns to Basket Brescia Leonessa.[15] That season Brescia missed the Serie A playoffs and Burns played the Serie A2 playoffs with Napoli Basket[16] helping them to achieve the promotion to the Serie A.

The Basketball Tournament (TBT) (2016–present)

In the summers of 2016 and 2017, Burns played in The Basketball Tournament on ESPN for the Broad Street Brawlers. He competed for the $2 million prize, and for the Brawlers, he averaged 18 points per game in 2017. Burns helped the Brawlers reach the second round, but lost to Team Colorado 111–95.[17]

Career statistics

Domestic Leagues
Year Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2007–08 Poland Koszalin Polish Basketball League 3019.051.2%28.0%68.4%4.20.30.90.28.9
2008–09 Portugal Porto Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol 3432.646.2%19.1%71.9%6.71.32.21.217.7
2009–10 Germany ratiopharm Ulm Basketball Bundesliga 3427.746.0%28.2%65.6%6.31.21.30.417.7
2010–11 Ukraine Zaporizhya Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague 5730.651.9%25.8%71.3%7.91.31.50.516.1
2011–12 Israel Elitzur Netanya Israeli Basketball Premier League 930.140.9%33.3%87.5%7.42.41.40.414.3
2012–13 Italy Sutor Montegranaro Serie A 3026.752.5%40.7%77.5%7.00.71.20.214.9
2013–14 Russia Enisey VTB United League 2028.248.7%41.3%73.7%5.31.21.20.414.6
2014–15 Czech Republic Nymburk National Basketball League 2215.755.0%18.2%76.0%4.10.92.20.49.5
VTB United League 2124.043.0%30.8%72.9%5.60.80.80.510.6
2015–16 United Arab Emirates Al Wasl United Arab Emirates no data available
2016–17 Italy Germani Basket Brescia Serie A 2523.145.2%30.0%66.2%6.61.01.30.311.4
2017–18 Italy Red October Cantù Serie A 3130.550.4%27.6%64.2%10.01.31.30.214.2
2018–19 Italy AX Armani Exchange Milano Serie A 3613.557.1%26.3%66.7%3.40.30.70.34.7

European Competitions
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2010–11 FIBA EuroChallenge Ukraine Zaporizhya 2237.548.3%25.0%75.0%7.01.52.00.516.0n/a
2014–15 Eurocup Basketball Czech Republic Nymburk 131224.347.0%30.8%78.6%4.71.11.30.511.811.2
2014–15 EuroChallenge Italy AX Armani Exchange Milano 1403.140.0%0.0%100%0.80.10.00.11.00.6

National team
Year Tournament National Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2017 EuroBasket Italy Italy 408.842.9%50.0%100%1.50.80.50.32.3
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

References
  1. Dickinson, Nathan (2016-08-30). "West alum Burns living his hoop dream in Europe - MercerSpace.com". MercerSpace.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-12. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  2. "Burns still dreams of NBA". Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  3. "Hamilton star could be surprise of NBA draft". Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  4. "Hamilton native vents after being cut by Sixers". Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  5. "Christian Burns Basketball Player Profile, Germani Basket Brescia, Philadelphia, News, Serie A stats, Career, Games Logs, Best, Awards – eurobasket". www.eurobasket.com. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  6. "Ukrainian Basketball, Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings – eurobasket". www.eurobasket.com. Archived from the original on November 25, 2012. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  7. "SERIE-A_2012-2013 Basketball League ITALY – eurobasket". www.eurobasket.com. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  8. "NBL_2014-2015 Basketball League CZECH-REPUBLIC – eurobasket". www.eurobasket.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2015. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  9. "Christian Burns gets Italian passport". Sportando. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  10. "Christian BURNS at the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 – FIBA.basketball". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
  11. "Olimpia Milano agreed to terms with Nedovic and Burns, president Livio Proli says". sportando.basketball. June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  12. "Christian Burns signs with Olimpia Milano". sportando.basketball. June 28, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  13. "Doping, positivo Christian Burns dell'Olimpia Milano". MilanoToday (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  14. "Basket, l'ala dell'Olimpia Christian Burns assolto dall'accusa di doping". MilanoToday (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-06-06.
  15. "Big news come true: bentornato a Brescia, Christian Burns" (in Italian). basketbrescialeonessa.it. 4 July 2020.
  16. "E' ufficiale: arriva Christian Burns" (in Italian). napolibasket.it. 14 May 2021.
  17. "Bracket | The Basketball Tournament". www.thetournament.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
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