Darius Songaila

Darius Songaila

Songaila playing for Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
Žalgiris Kaunas
Position	Assistant coach
League	Lithuanian Basketball League Euroleague
Personal information
Born	(1978-02-14) February 14, 1978 Marijampolė, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Lithuanian
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	248 lb (112 kg)
Career information
High school	New Hampton School (New Hampton, New Hampshire)
College	Wake Forest (1998–2002)
NBA draft	2002 / Round: 2 / Pick: 50th overall
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Playing career	2002–2015
Position	Power forward / Center
Number	9, 25
Coaching career	2015–present
Career history
As player:
2002–2003	CSKA Moscow
2003–2005	Sacramento Kings
2005–2006	Chicago Bulls
2006–2009	Washington Wizards
2009–2010	New Orleans Hornets
2010–2011	Philadelphia 76ers
2011–2012	Galatasaray
2012	Blancos de Rueda Valladolid
2012–2013	Donetsk
2013–2014	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2014–2015	Žalgiris Kaunas
As coach:
2015–present	Žalgiris Kaunas (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
LKL champion (2015) RBSL champion (2003) EuroBasket champion (2003) Turkish Super Cup (2011) LKF Cup (2015) AP honorable mention All-American (2002)
Medals Men's Basketball Representing Lithuania Summer Olympic Games 2000 Sydney National Team European Championships 2003 Sweden National team 2007 Spain National team

Darius Songaila (born February 14, 1978) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and currently assistant coach for Žalgiris Kaunas. He has represented the Lithuania national team. He played at the power forward and center positions.

Early years

Darius Songaila started his basketball career with Lietuvos Rytas Marijampolė in second-tier Lithuanian league, the LKAL in 1995. In 1997 he moved to USA where he attended the New Hampton School in New Hampton, New Hampshire. Songaila played the Nike Hoop Summit in 1998. He was also named to the All-European Under-22 Championship 2nd Team.

College career

Darius Songaila played college basketball at Wake Forest University. He was named 3rd Team All-ACC in 2000 and 2nd-Team All-ACC in 2002. He was also named Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press as a senior.

Professional career

File:Darius Songaila NBA 16.jpg

Songaila defending LeBron James

Songaila during his tenure with the Washington Wizards

Songaila was selected with the 50th pick of the 2002 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, who eventually dealt his rights to the Sacramento Kings.

He joined CSKA Moscow for the 2002–03 season and won the Russian Basketball Super League. He signed with the Kings in June 2003, and averaged 6.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 154 games (28 starts) over two seasons.

Songaila signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bulls in September 2005. He had his most successful season yet with the Bulls, averaging 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 62 games (7 starts). However, he suffered an ankle injury in March 2006 and missed the final 20 games.

On July 17, 2006, Songaila signed with the Washington Wizards. The deal reportedly was worth 23 million dollars over five years. He missed the first 45 games after a surgery for a herniated disc and averaged 7.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 37 games (1 start).

Songaila eventually became a big part of the Wizards' bench and an occasional starter. He averaged 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in 2007–08. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Songaila became a starter because of the injuries suffered by teammates Brendan Haywood and Andray Blatche. He started a career-high 29 games and averaged 7.4 points and 2.9 rebounds.

On June 23, 2009, he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves along with Oleksiy Pecherov, Etan Thomas, and a first-round draft pick for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.

On September 9, 2009, he was traded to the New Orleans Hornets along with Bobby Brown in exchange for Antonio Daniels and a 2014 second-round pick.

On September 23, 2010, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers along with rookie forward Craig Brackins in exchange for Willie Green and Jason Smith. Songaila had career lows with the 76ers, notably in points (1.6 ppg). With the 2010-2011 NBA season coming to an end, he became an unrestricted free agent.

In July 2011 he signed a one-year contract with Galatasaray in Turkey worth $1.5 million.

In March 2012, several weeks after leaving Galatasaray, Songaila signed with Blancos de Rueda Valladolid. Later that year, he signed with BC Donetsk.

On October 8, 2013, he signed with Lietuvos rytas for one season. On July 22, 2014, he signed a one-year deal with Žalgiris Kaunas.

At the end of the season, he retired from the professional basketball.

Career statistics

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

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

NBA

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2003–04	Sacramento	73	7	13.4	.487	.000	.807	3.1	.7	.6	.2	4.6
2004–05	Sacramento	81	21	20.6	.527	.000	.847	4.2	1.4	.6	.2	7.5
2005–06	Chicago	62	7	21.4	.481	.400	.817	4.0	1.4	.6	.3	9.2
2006–07	Washington	37	1	18.9	.524	.000	.852	3.6	1.0	.5	.3	7.6
2007–08	Washington	80	13	19.4	.458	.000	.918	3.4	1.7	.7	.2	6.2
2008–09	Washington	77	29	19.8	.532	.000	.889	2.9	1.2	.8	.3	7.4
2009–10	New Orleans	75	1	18.8	.494	.167	.811	3.1	.9	.8	.2	7.2
2010–11	Philadelphia	10	0	7.1	.467	.000	.500	1.0	0.2	.0	.0	1.6
Career		495	79	18.6	.499	.158	.844	3.4	1.2	.7	.2	6.9

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2004	Sacramento	7	0	12.1	.625	.000	1.000	1.9	.3	.0	.1	3.7
2005	Sacramento	5	0	15.0	.421	.000	.800	2.8	.6	.4	.2	4.0
2007	Washington	4	0	22.5	.488	.000	1.000	3.3	1.0	.8	.0	10.8
2008	Washington	5	0	15.4	.421	.000	.867	2.6	.8	.2	.0	5.8
Career		21	0	15.6	.484	.000	.897	2.5	.6	.3	.1	5.6

Euroleague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2002–03	CSKA Moscow	18	16	21.6	.475	.286	.847	3.9	1.1	.6	.2	12.8	10.8
2011–12	Galatasaray	10	10	15.3	.455	.000	.714	2.8	.4	.4	.0	6.5	3.3
2013–14	Lietuvos Rytas	10	8	21.9	.473	.000	.667	4.8	1.3	.7	.1	8.2	8.0
2014–15	Zalgiris	24	2	14.5	.492	.000	.778	2.5	.9	.6	.1	5.8	4.5
Career		62	36	17.8	.477	.286	.794	3.3	1.0	.6	.1	8.3	6.7

Coaching career

Žalgiris Kaunas

On 5 August 2015 Songaila was appointed to assistant coach for Žalgiris Kaunas.

See also

• National Basketball Association portal
• List of European basketball players in the United States

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
• Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
• Darius Songaila at eurobasket.com
• Darius Songaila at euroleague.net