Kristjan Kangur

Kristjan Kangur
Kangur for Estonia in 2006
Personal information
Born (1982-10-23) 23 October 1982 (age 42)
Pärnu, Estonia
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight238 lb (108 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2004: undrafted
Playing career2000–present
PositionSmall forward / power forward
Number14
Career history
2000–2004Kalev
2004–2006Bayer Giants Leverkusen
2006–2009Kalev/Cramo
2009–2010ASVEL Basket
2010Virtus Bologna
2010–2011Pallacanestro Varese
2011–2013Montepaschi Siena
2011–2012→Pallacanestro Varese
2013–2014EA7 Emporio Armani Milano
2014–2015Pallacanestro Varese
2015Laboral Kutxa Baskonia
2015–2017Pallacanestro Varese
2017–2020Kalev/Cramo
2020–2021TalTech
2021Pärnu Sadam
2021–2022Kalev/Cramo
2022–2023Tallinna Kalev
Career highlights and awards

Kristjan Kangur (born 23 October 1982) is an retired Estonian professional basketball player. He is 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) tall, and played at both the small forward and power forward positions.

Professional career

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2000–2010

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Kangur started his professional career in 2000, when he signed with Tallinn Kalev. He stayed with the team for the next three years winning the Estonian Championship titles in 2002 and 2003. He also won the Estonian Cup in 2001. Despite his young age, Kangur was one of the top performers in the Estonian league averaging 11.2 points and 7.3 rebounds in the 2002–03 season and 15.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in the 2003–04 season.

Good performances in Estonia earned Kangur his first foreign contract in 2004 when he signed with Bayer Giants Leverkusen of the German Bundesliga where he spent the next two seasons. After two years in Germany he returned to Estonia and signed with Kalev/Cramo.[1] He stayed with the team until the end of the 2008–09 season winning three Estonian Cups and one Estonian Championship. Kangur was a solid leader for Kalev during those three seasons. He averaged 11.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in the 2009 play-offs and was awarded the MVP of Estonian League Finals.[2]

In July 2009 Kangur signed a deal with French Pro A top team ASVEL Basket.[3] He averaged 5.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in his debut season of the EuroLeague as well as 5.1 points and 2.0 rebounds in Pro A. Though Kangur won the French Supercup and French League Cup with ASVEL, the season was a disappointment to the team as they narrowly missed out the EuroLeague Top 16 phase and didn't reach to the playoffs of their domestic league.

2010–2017

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Kangur fighting for the ball with Jeffrey Viggiano of Angelico Biella in January 2011.

Kangur signed with Italian top team Virtus Bologna just before the Italian league play-offs in May 2010.[4] He played five games for the Bologna team averaging 7.6 points with a field goal percentage of 90% on two-pointers and 100% on three-pointers.[5] For the 2010–11 season Kangur signed with Pallacanestro Varese.[6] He was one of the top players in the team averaging 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds in 32 games. In July 2011 Kangur signed a three-year deal with Italian powerhouse Montepaschi Siena but was loaned to Varese for the 2011–2012 season.[7][8] In his second year in Varese he posted similar numbers with 10.9 points and 5.2 rebounds in 36 games and earned himself a place in Siena's roster.

During his tenure with Siena Kangur won both the Italian Cup and the Italian League and also reached to the Top 16 phase of the EuroLeague. He showed a high-quality game on both sides of the court by being one of the top defensive players in the team and also hitting 23 three-pointers with 56.1% accuracy in the EuroLeague Regular Season.

On 3 September 2013, he signed with Emporio Armani Milano.[9] At Milan he was reunited with coach Luca Banchi who coached him last season at Siena, and also with fellow player David Moss with whom he played together in Siena and Bologna. On 21 October, Kangur had a back surgery in Milan which forced him off the court for almost two months. He played his first official game for Milano on 16 December against Victoria Libertas Pesaro in the Italian League. Kangur helped Milano to reach the 2013–14 Euroleague Quarterfinals where they lost to eventual champions Maccabi Tel Aviv. Kangur helped Milano to finish the season with the Italian title by defeating Montepaschi Siena thus ending Siena's seven-year winning streak at the Italian Championships. This was Milano's 26th domestic title and their first title since 1996.

On 11 August 2014, he returned after two years to Pallacanestro Varese.[10] In November 2014 Kangur had second back surgery and wasn't able to play until January 2015. All in all, the season was a disappointment for Kangur and the Varese team as they finished 11th in the Italian League.

On 11 October 2015, Kangur signed a two-month deal with the Spanish team Laboral Kutxa Baskonia to replace injured Tornike Shengelia.[11] He became the first ever Estonian basketball player who had played in the Spanish ACB League. Kangur was released from the team after his contract expired on 22 November.[12] He represented Baskonia in six Euroleague games averaging 2.0 points and 1.8 rebounds and in three ACB games averaging 3.7 points and 3.3 rebounds.

After the short stint in Spain, Kangur returned to Varese for the rest of the season. The team narrowly missed out of the Italian League play-offs, finishing 9th. Kangur and Varese also took part in the inaugural season of the FIBA Europe Cup. The team reached the final where they were defeated by Fraport Skyliners of the Basketball Bundesliga with the score 62–66.[13] In June 2016, Kangur signed a new two-year deal with Varese.[14] Varese finished the 2016–17 season on a disappointing 12th place and Kangur parted ways with the team in July 2017.[15]

2017–present

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After eight seasons playing abroad Kangur returned to Estonia and rejoined with his former club Kalev/Cramo on 6 September 2017.[16] With Kalev/Cramo Kangur won his fourth Estonian League title and was named MVP of Estonian League Finals for the second time in his career.[17] On the season, he averaged 6.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He re-signed with the club on 8 September 2018[18] to play in the newly formed Latvian-Estonian Basketball League (LEBL). Kalev/Cramo finished the first LEBL season in third place and defended the home league title giving Kangur his fifth Estonian Championship. The next season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kangru left Kalev/Cramo after three seasons and signed with TalTech in September 2020.[19] He parted ways with TalTech in mid-season to join his hometown club Pärnu Sadam in February 2021.[20]

On 14 October 2021, Kangur signed with Kalev/Cramo in the Latvian–Estonian Basketball League.[21]

Estonian national team

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Kangur represented Estonia for the first time in youth level at the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Qualifying Round. In his first game, he was the top scorer for Estonia with 18 points in 23 minutes against Denmark.[22] Kangur also played at the 2003 Summer Universiade.[23]

He made his debut for the Estonia national basketball team on 20 November 2002, at the age of 20. He scored 4 points in 8 minutes during EuroBasket 2003 Qualification Semi-Final Round game against Belarus.[24] Since then, he has been a certain selection for the national team representing Estonia at the 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2015 EuroBasket qualification tournaments. His national team career high score is 26 points against Iceland in autumn 2012, during the EuroBasket 2013 qualification.[25]

On 1 September 2013, Kangur and the Estonian national team gained a spot for the 2015 European Championships by beating Bulgaria in a two-legged final of the EuroBasket 2015 First Qualification Round.[26] In September 2015, Estonia made its fifth appearance at the EuroBasket final tournament and the first since 2001. Kangur was the captain of the national team and played in all five games during the group stage averaging 7.4 points and 3.2 rebounds.[27] Estonia won one game in Group D and was eliminated after the group stage.

From 2011 to 2016, Kangur was the captain of the Estonian national team. He withdrew from the team before the 2017 EuroBasket qualification tournament to treat his injuries and Rain Veideman was named the captain of the national team. Kangur was called back to the national team in 2017 and he also resumed his captaincy to lead the team in the 2019 World Cup qualification games.[28]

Kangur and his long-time friends Janar Talts and Gregor Arbet played their national team farewell game on 21 February 2019 against Serbia. Estonia won the game 71–70, Kangur scored 4 points in 20 minutes.[29]

Honours

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Kristjan Kangur has won the Estonian Cup four times in his career.

Club

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Tallinna Kalev
Kalev/Cramo
ASVEL Basket
Montepaschi Siena
Emporio Armani Milano

Individual

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Career statistics

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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

EuroLeague

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2009–10 ASVEL Basket 10 0 14.8 .600 .667 .833 2.0 .7 .1 .1 5.9 4.9
2012–13 Montepaschi Siena 24 13 23.8 .450 .418 .833 3.5 1.3 .7 .2 8.6 8.5
2013–14 Emporio Armani Milano 17 0 16.8 .375 .368 1.000 1.9 .6 .4 .2 3.9 2.8
2015–16 Laboral Kutxa Baskonia 6 0 12.9 .444 .333 .500 1.8 .8 .0 .0 2.0 1.8
Career 57 13 18.9 .451 .424 .829 2.6 .9 .4 .1 6.0 5.5

Domestic leagues

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Season Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2000–01 Tallinna Kalev KML 32 14.4 .588 .000 .588 2.6 .4 .5 .2 5.8
2001–02 27 10.7 .651 .000 .388 2.7 .8 .4 .4 4.8
2002–03 38 25.3 .529 .413 .551 7.3 1.2 1.3 .4 11.2
2003–04 21 32.6 .432 .336 .545 6.2 1.9 1.8 .5 15.7
2004–05 Bayer Giants Leverkusen BBL 23 10.1 .487 .286 .500 2.3 .4 .2 .1 3.9
2005–06 30 16.1 .444 .220 .553 3.5 .9 .6 .3 6.5
2006–07 Kalev/Cramo KML 27 22.4 .525 .232 .662 5.4 1.6 1.1 .4 9.3
2007–08 26 28.1 .512 .353 .712 5.8 1.6 1.5 .2 13.3
2008–09 30 26.3 .487 .427 .657 4.5 1.4 1.1 .2 11.8
2009–10 ASVEL Basket Pro A 28 16.4 .388 .365 .833 2.2 .9 .4 .9 5.1
Virtus Bologna LBA 5 16.0 .941 1.000 .000 1.8 .2 1.0 .2 7.6
2010–11 Pallacanestro Varese 32 25.4 .436 .353 .788 5.4 .8 1.6 .2 9.9
2011–12 36 28.5 .468 .409 .750 5.2 1.9 1.4 .4 10.9
2012–13 Montepaschi Siena 49 21.3 .445 .398 .600 3.7 1.0 .9 .1 7.4
2013–14 Emporio Armani Milano 39 14.8 .359 .323 .667 2.5 .6 .4 .1 3.7
2014–15 Pallacanestro Varese 18 31.4 .392 .414 .750 6.2 1.9 1.0 .2 7.8
2015–16 Laboral Kutxa Baskonia ACB 3 16.0 .500 .200 – 3.3 .7 .3 .3 3.7
Pallacanestro Varese LBA 19 25.3 .569 .459 .732 3.9 1.6 .7 .1 8.1
2016–17 30 24.2 .401 .254 .862 3.8 .9 .7 .2 5.3
2017–18 Kalev/Cramo KML 31 19.8 .481 .245 .750 4.4 2.5 .7 .1 7.3
2018–19 LEBL 24 18.0 .462 .400 .740 4.0 2.0 .7 .0 6.1
2019–20 17 16.0 .431 .333 .846 2.9 1.6 .6 .0 3.5
2020–21 TalTech 14 25.7 .417 .264 .844 5.9 2.7 .6 .2 10.1
Pärnu Sadam

Estonia national team

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Year Tournament National Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001 2002 U-20 European Championship Qualification Estonia U-20 5 18.4 .469 .167 .286 4.0 .6 .4 .0 6.6
2002–03 EuroBasket 2003 Qualification Estonia 4 0 11.5 .583 1.000 .333 1.8 .5 .2 .0 4.2
2005 EuroBasket 2005 Additional Qualifying Round Estonia 4 1 26.5 .500 .143 .538 5.2 1.2 1.0 .2 9.5
2006 EuroBasket 2007 Qualification Estonia 6 6 23.3 .273 .072 .435 5.5 .8 .8 .6 5.8
2007 EuroBasket 2007 Additional Qualifying Round Estonia 4 4 28.2 .379 .500 .600 7.2 .7 .5 1.0 8.5
2008 EuroBasket 2009 Qualification Estonia 6 6 32.3 .428 .529 .733 7.8 2.8 .6 .3 12.2
2009 EuroBasket 2009 Qualification Relegation Round Estonia 6 6 30.3 .377 .214 .670 7.5 2.2 1.6 .0 12.0
2010–11 EuroBasket 2011 Division B Estonia 6 6 26.6 .377 .304 .455 7.8 2.2 1.0 .5 10.5
2012 EuroBasket 2013 Qualification Estonia 10 10 26.8 .495 .347 .857 5.0 2.7 1.0 .3 13.3
2013 EuroBasket 2015 First Qualification Round Estonia 6 3 25.3 .319 .150 .818 7.2 1.0 1.7 .0 7.0
2015 EuroBasket 2015 Estonia 5 2 23.4 .344 .385 .909 3.2 1.0 .7 .0 7.4
2017 2019 Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifiers Estonia 4 2 26.1 .357 .182 .818 6.5 4.0 .3 .3 7.8
2018–19 2019 Basketball World Cup Qualification Estonia 6 4 18.1 .481 .400 .571 3.5 1.7 .3 .2 6.3

References

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  1. ^ "BC Kalev/Cramo esitles uusi mängijaid ja hooaja plaane Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine". SPORT.ERR.EE (02.08.2006). Retrieved on 21.02.2010 (in Estonian)
  2. ^ "SEB KML: Season 2008–2009". Eurobasket.com. Retrieved on 21.02.2010
  3. ^ "Asvel Basket adds Kristjan Kangur, Thomas Heurtel". Euroleague Basketball (22.07.2009). Retrieved on 27.07.2009
  4. ^ "Kristjan Kangur joins Virtus Bologna". Eurobasket.com (17.05.2010). Retrieved on 18.05.2010
  5. ^ "Kristjan Kangur Archived 30 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine". Legabasket. Retrieved on 04.06.2010 (in Italian)
  6. ^ "KANGUR PRIMO ACQUISTO DELLA NUOVA STAGIONE". pallacanestrovarese.it (09.07.2010) Retrieved on 15.06.2011 (in Italian)
  7. ^ "Kristjan Kangur allkirjastas Euroopa tippklubiga pika lepingu!". Eesti Korvpalliliit (29.07.2011). Retrieved on 29.07.2011 (in Estonian)
  8. ^ "KRISTJAN KANGUR ANCORA BIANCOROSSO". pallacanestrovarese.it (29.07.2011). Retrieved on 29.07.2011 (in Italian)
  9. ^ "EA7 MILAN signs Kangur at forward". Euroleague Basketball (03.09.2013). Retrieved on 03.09.2013
  10. ^ "Pallacanestro Varese signs Kristjan Kangur". Sportando.com. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Kristjan Kangur, nuevo refuerzo temporal baskonista". baskonia.com (in Spanish). 11 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Kristjan Kangur finaliza su estancia en Vitoria". baskonia.com (in Spanish). 22 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  13. ^ "2016 FIBA Europe Cup Final". FIBA Archive. 1 May 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  14. ^ "Kristjan Kangur sõlmis Varesega uue lepingu". ERR Sport (in Estonian). 29 June 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Pallacanestro Varese, Kristjan Kangur part ways". Sportando.com. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  16. ^ "Kristjan Kangur naaseb kodumaale ja taasliitub Kalev/Cramoga". ERR Sport (in Estonian). 6 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  17. ^ "Neli-null! BC Kalev/Cramo krooniti Tartus Alexela meistriliiga võitjaks! (Finaali MVP on Kristjan Kangur)". Eesti Korvpalliliit (in Estonian). 24 May 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  18. ^ "Kristjan Kangur re-signs with BC Kalev/Cramo". Sportando. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  19. ^ "Pikaaegne Eesti korvpallikoondise ankur Kristjan Kangur liitus TalTechiga". ERR Sport (in Estonian). 21 September 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Kanguriga tugevnenud Pärnu viis mängu lisaajale, aga kaotas Kalev/Cramole". ERR Sport (in Estonian). 4 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  21. ^ Yahyabeyoglu, Fersu (14 October 2021). "Kangur is back at Kalev/Cramo". Eurobasket. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  22. ^ "Denmark – Estonia | European Championship for Young Men 2002 | FIBA Europe" FIBA Europe. Retrieved on 09.08.2011
  23. ^ "Sports 123: Basketball: Universiade 2003: Men Archived 16 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine" Sports 123. Retrieved on 09.08.2011
  24. ^ "Belarus – Estonia | European Championship for Men 2003 | FIBA Europe" FIBA Europe. Retrieved on 09.08.2011
  25. ^ "Iceland – Estonia | EuroBasket 2013" EuroBasket 2013. Retrieved on 17.09.2012
  26. ^ "Estonia Book Flight to Ukraine | EuroBasket 2015 | FIBA Europe" FIBA Europe. Retrieved on 04.09.2013
  27. ^ "Kristjan Kangur | EuroBasket 2015" FIBA Europe. Retrieved on 11.09.2015
  28. ^ "VIDEO | Kristjan Kangur: minu otsus koondisega liitumiseks tuli kiirelt ja kergelt" Delfi Sport. Retrieved on 28.06.2017
  29. ^ "Magus! Eesti alistas Kanguri, Taltsi ja Arbeti viimases koondisemängus Serbia!" Eesti Korvpalliliit. Retrieved on 06.03.2019 (in Estonian)
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