Scoonie Penn

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Scoonie Penn

| image = Scoonie Penn warming up.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Penn, with Efes, in 2008.

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 11

| weight_lbs = 180

| league =

| team =

| position =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1977|1|9}}

| birth_place = Yonkers, New York, U.S.

| high_school = Salem (Salem, Massachusetts)

| college =

Boston College (1995–1997)
Ohio State (1998–2000)

| draft_year = 2000

| draft_round = 2

| draft_pick = 57

| draft_team = Atlanta Hawks

| career_start = 2000

| career_end = 2011

| career_position = Point guard

| career_number =

| coach_start = 2019

| coach_end =

| years1 = 2000–2001

| team1 = Trieste

| years2 = 2001–2002

| team2 = Virtus Roma

| years3 = 2002

| team3 = Asheville Altitude

| years4 = 2002–2003

| team4 = Crvena zvezda

| years5 = 2003–2004

| team5 = Cibona

| years6 = 2004

| team6 = Makedonikos

| years7 = 2004–2005

| team7 = Scavolini Pesaro

| years8 = 2005–2006

| team8 = Cibona

| years9 = 2006–2007

| team9 = Olympiacos

| years10 = 2007–2008

| team10 = Efes Pilsen

| years11 = 2008–2009

| team11 = Kyiv

| years12 = 2009

| team12 = Virtus Bologna

| years13 = 2010

| team13 = Olympiacos

| years14 = 2010–2011

| team14 = Prima Veroli

| cyears1 = {{nbay|2019|start}}–{{nbay|2023|end}}

| cteam1 = Memphis Grizzlies (assistant)

| highlights =

As player:

2× Croatian League champion (2004, 2006)
Greek Cup winner (2010)
Consensus second-team All-American (2000)
Second-team All-American – USBWA (1999)
Third-team All-American – AP, NABC (1999)
Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (2000)
Big Ten co-Player of the Year (1999)
2× First-team All-Big Ten (1999, 2000)
Big East Rookie of the Year (1996)

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry|{{bk|USA}}}}

}}

James Donell "Scoonie" Penn (born January 9, 1977) is an American professional basketball coach and former player, who was most recently an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a point guard during his playing career that was spent primarily in Europe. Although Penn was selected in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks with the 57th overall pick, he never played a single game in the league.

High school

Penn played high school basketball at Salem High School in Salem, Massachusetts. He led the team to a state championship in 1995.

College career

After high school, Penn played college basketball at Boston College, before transferring to Ohio State University, where he teamed up to form a dominant back court with the future Milwaukee Bucks' shooting guard Michael Redd.

Professional career

After college, Penn left the United States to play in Europe. He made his big splash with the Adriatic League club Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade). He had a great 2002–03 season with Crvena zvezda. The fans loved him. He was the leader of the team, and that was the best season in his career.

Penn left Red Star the following season, and played in the 2005–06 season for Cibona Zagreb. In the 2006–07 season, he was a member of the Greek League club Olympiacos. He then moved to the Turkish Super League club Efes Pilsen, for the 2007–08 season, followed by the Ukrainian Super League club Kyiv, in the 2008–09 season.

At the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Penn made the move to the Italian League, to play with Virtus Bologna. On New Years Day, 2010, it was announced by Greek powerhouse Olympiacos, that Penn would return to the club, to replace Von Wafer, who had been released, due to his inability to adapt to the European game. In October 2010, he signed with Prima Veroli, which was playing in the Italian Second Division at the time.[http://www.thehoopsmarket.com/news/prima-veroli-signs-scoonie-penn.aspx Scoonie Penn moves to Prima Veroli] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310232647/http://www.thehoopsmarket.com/news/prima-veroli-signs-scoonie-penn.aspx |date=2012-03-10 }}

National team career

As a member of Team USA, Penn won a gold medal at the 1999 Palma Summer Universiade.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150928181654/http://www.usab.com/history/world-university-games-mens/twentieth-world-university-games-1999.aspx TWENTIETH WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES -- 1999.]

Coaching career

After Penn retired from playing professional basketball, he became the director of player development for the Ohio State basketball program. On August 5, 2019, he accepted a position working as an assistant coach with the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.{{Cite web |date=August 5, 2019 |title=Memphis Grizzlies announce assistant coaching staff |url=https://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/memphis-grizzlies-announce-assistant-coaching-staff-190805 |website=NBA.com}}

Awards and accomplishments

College:

1995–96 Big East Conference Rookie of the Year, First Team All-Big East Conference member.
1996–97 First Team All-Big East Conference. Big East Conference tournament championship winner (MVP).
1998–99 Big Ten Conference Co-Player of the Year.
1998–99 Led Ohio State to the NCAA Final Four.
1999–00 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, as the nation's top senior under 6'0" (1.83 m) tall.
Selected Third Team All-America, and First Team All-Big Ten Conference, in both his junior season and senior season. Ended his career at Ohio State University, as the college's all-time leader in three-point field goals made.

References

External links

[http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=BXD#!careerstats Euroleague.net Profile]
[http://www.fibaeurope.com/compID_BYg5Rb55Jw-G5I3MZ6JB01.season_2009.roundID_6491.playerID_37279.teamID_5323.html FIBA Europe Profile]
[http://web.legabasket.it/player/PEN-JAM-77/ Italian League Profile] {{in lang|it}}
[http://www.hoopshype.com/interviews/penn_sierra.htm Interview with Scoonie Penn from September 2003]
[https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbdl/players/p/pennsc01d.html NBDL stats]

{{navboxes|list=

{{Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year navbox}}

}}

Category:1977 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen

Category:21st-century African-American sportsmen

Category:ABA League players

Category:African-American basketball coaches

Category:All-American college men's basketball players

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Croatia

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Greece