Brian Shorter

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Brian Shorter

| image =

| width =

| caption =

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 6

| weight_lb = 242

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|11|28}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

| nationality = American / Italian

| high_school =

Simon Gratz
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Oak Hill Academy
(Mouth of Wilson, Virginia)

| college = Pittsburgh (1987–1991)

| draft_year = 1991

| career_start = 1991

| career_end = 2010

| career_number =

| career_position = Forward

| years1 = 1991–1993

| team1 = Oostende

| years2 = 1993

| team2 = Ginebra San Miguel

| years3 = 1994

| team3 = Fort Wayne Fury

| years4 = 1994

| team4 = Pau-Orthez

| years5 = 1994–1995

| team5 = Andino

| years6 = 1996

| team6 = Trieste

| years7 = 1996

| team7 = Peñas Huesca

| years8 = 1996–1997

| team8 = Andino

| years9 = 1997–1998

| team9 = Black Hills Posse

| years10 = 1998

| team10 = Guaiqueríes de Margarita

| years11 = 1998

| team11 = Trieste

| years12 = 1998

| team12 = Virtus Ragusa

| years13 = 1998–1999

| team13 = Cordivari Roseto

| years14 = 1999–2000

| team14 = Viola Reggio Calabria

| years15 = 2000

| team15 = CB Girona

| years16 = 2001–2002

| team16 = Virtus Ragusa

| years17 = 2002–2003

| team17 = Andrea Costa Imola

| years18 = 2003–2004

| team18 = JuveCaserta

| years19 = 2004–2007

| team19 = Firenze Basket

| years20 = 2007–2008

| team20 = Basket Massafra

| years21 = 2008–2009

| team21 = Catanzaro

| years22 = 2009–2010

| team22 = Gorizia

| highlights =

LNB rebounding leader (1995)
AP honorable mention All-American (1989)
2× First-team All-Big East (1989, 1990)
Second-team All-Big East (1991)
Big East Freshman of the Year (1989)
First-team Parade All-American (1987)
Third-team Parade All-American (1986)
McDonald's All-American (1987)

}}

Brian William Shorter (born November 28, 1968) is an American-ItalianShorter holds dual nationality, since he became an Italian citizen in September 1999. {{Cite news|language=it|url=http://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/1999/settembre/18/Shorter_oggi_italiano_aspettando_Bahia_ga_0_9909185617.shtml|title=Shorter da oggi è italiano, aspettando M' Bahia e Yailo|work=La Gazzetta dello Sport|date=September 18, 1999}} former professional basketball player. He spent two decades playing in European leagues.

High school career

Shorter, a Philadelphia native, grew up in a low-income neighborhood.{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/12/10/inner-city-background-fuels-desire-of-pitts-shorter/|title=Inner-city Background Fuels Desire Of Pitt's Shorter|work=Chicago Tribune|date=December 10, 1989|author=Utterback, Bill}} He attended Simon Gratz High School along with his older brother Rodney{{Cite news|title=An athlete's quest to make a grade|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=April 3, 1987|page=57}} and was consistently ranked among the top recruits of his class.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-06-sp-4850-story.html|title=USC GOES A BIT PHILLY-SILLY : But Trojans Figure That Going East to Bring Young Men West Is Way to Go|date=February 6, 1986|work=Los Angeles Times|author=Mal, Florence}} As a freshman he was one of the first options off the bench, averaging 15.3 points and receiving All-Public League honors, being a Third team selection.[http://tedsilary.com/archive/BB1984recap.htm Philadelphia Scholastic Basketball, 1984] In his sophomore year he was named as ESPN Sophomore of the Year{{Cite news|url=http://www.espn.com/high-school/boys-basketball/story/_/id/7793355/all-time-underclass-poys|title=All-time underclass POYs|author=Flores, Ronnie|date=May 18, 2011|work=ESPN.com}} with season averages of 20 points and 10 rebounds. In the 1985 Philadelphia Public League Simon Gratz lost 69 to 70 in the semifinals against Southern, led by future college star Lionel Simmons. Shorter was named in the All-Public League First Team and All-City third team.[http://tedsilary.com/archive/BB1985recap.htm Philadelphia Scholastic Basketball, 1985] In his junior year he averaged 31.8 points, 15.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks; Gratz again lost to Southern in the semifinals despite a 33-points, 17-rebounds performance by Shorter, who also shot 14 for 15 from the field. For the second year in a row Shorter was named in the All-Public and All-City first team,[http://tedsilary.com/archive/BB1986recap.htm Philadelphia Scholastic Basketball, 1986] and he was also selected as the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year.{{Cite web|url=https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/winner/brian-shorter/21891|title=1985 - 1986 PENNSYLVANIA BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR BRIAN SHORTER|website=playeroftheyear.gatorade.com|access-date=February 3, 2020}}

After a 3-year career at Simon Gratz, Shorter had scored 1,869 points, that placed him only 383 points behind Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia record of 2,252.Profile in the 1986–87 Street & Smith's yearbook. Despite the opportunity to pass the record on his senior season, Shorter had been having issues with his GPA and he and his teachers were worried that he would fail to achieve the minimum SAT score required to attend college. In order to improve his grades while maintaining a high level of basketball competition, Shorter transferred to Oak Hill Academy, a boarding school known for his basketball program. At the beginning of 1987 Shorter committed to play for Pitt and had to work both in the classroom and on the basketball court. In his senior year he averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds,{{Cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/03/11/Two-of-the-best-high-school-basketball-players-in/4822542437200/|title=Two of the best high school basketball players in the country, Marcus Liberty and Dennis Scott, head the 25-man roster of the McDonald's All-American High School basketball team named Wednesday|author=Cialini, Joe|work=UPI.com|date=March 11, 1987}} ranking among the top seniors in his class[http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/top100classof1990.html HOOP SCOOP'S FINAL RANKING OF THE NATION'S TOP 100 SENIORS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211071818/http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/top100classof1990.html |date=2018-02-11 }}, Hoop Scoop. and at the end of his senior year he was selected in the Parade All-America first team and was named a McDonald's All-American.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/content/aag/en/MediaCenter/2015/background-materials/2014-retrospective/_jcr_content/featuredcontent/everything/file.res/2014%20Retrospective%20FINAL.pdf |title=A LOOK BACK AT THE McDONALD’S ALL AMERICAN® GAMES SUPERSTARS AND UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES FROM GAMES PAST |access-date=2018-07-16 |archive-date=2018-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117012021/http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/content/aag/en/MediaCenter/2015/background-materials/2014-retrospective/_jcr_content/featuredcontent/everything/file.res/2014%20Retrospective%20FINAL.pdf |url-status=dead }} In the 1987 McDonald's All-American Boys Game he was the top scorer with 24 points, and he also grabbed 8 rebounds.{{Cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130091446/https://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/dam/allamerican/pdfs/2014Game.pdf|url=https://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/dam/allamerican/pdfs/2014Game.pdf|title=The Next 48 are up|archive-date=January 30, 2018|access-date=April 10, 2020}} 1987 game and rosters at page 72.{{Cite news|url=https://www.mcall.com/1987/04/13/temple-bound-schoolboy-sparks-east-all-stars-basketball/|title=Temple-bound Schoolboy Sparks East All-stars Basketball|author=Groller, Keith|date=April 13, 1987|work=The Morning Call}} Throughout his high school career, the best aspects of his game were his physical play, his strength and mobility for his size (drawing comparisons to Bernard King)

College career

Shorter had committed to play for Pitt, but his SAT score was below 700, too low for a college scholarship, and he therefore failed to qualify academically: this, according to NCAA Proposition 48, meant that he had to sit out his freshman year, being ineligible to play.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/22/sports/college-basketball-a-proposition-48-success-story-at-pitt.html|title=COLLEGE BASKETBALL; A Proposition 48 Success Story at Pitt|author=Alfano, Peter|date=January 22, 1989|work=The New York Times}} Despite a possibility to attend other schools like Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, where other players went after failing the Division I academic requirements, he decided to work out on his own, focusing on weight training, ball handling and jumpshooting.

After his first year of inactivity, Shorter debuted in the 1988–89 season. He immediately had an impact at Pitt, starting all 30 games and leading the team in scoring and rebounding; he was third in scoring and second in rebounds in his conference with a 9.6 average (the top rebounder was Derrick Coleman).[https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/big-east/1989-leaders.html 1988-89 Big East Conference Leaders] He was named Big East Freshman of the Year and was also part of the Big East First Team.{{cite web|url=http://www.bigeast.org/fls/19400/pdfs/mensbball/record-book.pdf?SPSID=92557&SPID=11228&DB_OEM_ID=19400 |title=2008-09 Big East Media Guide |accessdate=2009-05-30 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428211249/http://www.bigeast.org/fls/19400/pdfs/mensbball/record-book.pdf?SPSID=92557&SPID=11228&DB_OEM_ID=19400 |archivedate=2009-04-28 |url-status=dead |page=141}} He was also an NCAA All-American Honorable Mention.

In his second season he led the Big East in scoring with an average of 20.6, and his rebound average of 9.4 placed him third after Coleman and Dikembe Mutombo.[https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/big-east/1990-leaders.html 1989-90 Big East Conference Leaders] His third and final year of college saw a slight decline in almost all statistical categories, also due to his decreased minutes per game average: despite averaging more than 30 minutes for his first two seasons, in 1990–91 he only averaged 25.9 minutes. He finished his season with 13.6 points and 6.4 rebounds. Throughout his college career he showed a consistent ability to draw fouls (he was 1st in free throw attempts in 1989 in the Big East and 1st in the NCAA in 1990).

=College statistics=

| align="left" | 1988–89

| align="left" | Pitt

| 30 || 30 || 34.9 || .600 || .500 || .715 || 9.6 || 1.6 || 0.6 || 0.5 || 19.6

| align="left" | 1989–90

| align="left" | Pitt

| 29 || 29 || 36.8 || .532 || .000 || .662 || 9.4 || 1.4 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 20.6

| align="left" | 1990–91

| align="left" | Pitt

| 33 || 32 || 25.9 || .473 || .000 || .769 || 6.4 || 1.1 || 0.5 || 0.5 || 13.6

| align="left" | Career

| align="left" |

| 92 || 91 || 32.3 || .538 || .100 || .710 || 8.4 || 1.3 || 0.7 || 0.5 || 17.8

Professional career

Shorter was automatically eligible for the 1991 NBA draft, but he was not drafted by an NBA franchise and he decided to play overseas: his first team was Oostende in Belgium, where he played for 2 seasons. He ended the 1993 season at Ginebra San Miguel in the Philippines. In 1994 he signed for the Fort Wayne Fury in the Continental Basketball Association, where he only played 2 games scoring a total 9 points.[https://www.justsportsstats.com/minbasketballstatsindex.php?teamstats=CBAFWF&year=19931993-94 Fort Wayne Fury Statistics] After a brief passage at French club Pau-Orthez (5 games), Shorter signed for Andino in the Argentine Liga Nacional de Básquet, where he led the league in rebounding with an average of 13.2.{{in lang|es}} [http://www.laliganacional.com.ar/uploadsarchivos/guia_laliga.pdf Liga Nacional de Básquetbol Guía Oficial 2015/2016], page 211.

In 1996 he had a brief stint in the Italian league, playing 4 games with a scoring average of 16.8. Throughout his career he played several seasons in Italy, both in the top division and in the lower leagues. He played in the Spanish top division, Liga ACB, in the 1995–96, appearing in only 5 games for Peñas Huesca. He then played once more in Argentina, again for Andino, and in the IBA team Black Hills Posse.

He then played for several teams in Italy (including Roseto, where he played 24 games recording 18.7 points per game). He ended his career in 2010, aged 42, playing for Gorizia.

References

External links

[http://www.proballers.com/basket-ball-player/5992/brian-shorter Career stats at ProBallers.com]
[https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Brian-Shorter/Summary/49633 Profile at RealGM.com]
[https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/brian-shorter-1.html Stats at Sports-Reference.com]
{{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20160314215412/http://www.acb.com/jugador.php?id=AXM Spanish league stats]
{{in lang|it}} [http://web.legabasket.it/player/?id=SHO-BRI-68 Italian league stats]
{{in lang|it}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071212153109/http://www.legaduebasket.it/player/?id=SHO-BRI-68 Italian Second Division stats]

Category:1968 births

Category:Living people

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Argentina

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Belgium

Category:American expatriate basketball people in France

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Italy

Category:American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands

Category:American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Spain

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela

Category:American men's basketball players

Category:Andrea Costa Imola players