Marco Belinelli

Marco Stefano Belinelli is a former Italian basketball player who played as a shooting guard. Belinelli began his playing career at Virtus Bologna where he had partnered with Manu Ginobili. He moved to Fortituto Bologna the following year and in the Italian Lega A, played against the likes of Carlos Delfino. In 2005, a 19-year old Belinelli was instrumental in helping Fortitudo Bologna beat Olimpia Milano for the Italian League title.

Belinelli was rewarded for his exceptional play by being picked for the Italian national team in 2006, to play at the 2006 FIBA World Championships. Averaging 13.5 points per game, Belinelli went on to score 25 points against the United States, a country he would go to the following year to ply his trade.

In 2007, Belinelli declared for the NBA Draft and was picked at 18th overall by the Golden State Warriors. He began playing in the Summer League and on his debut, scored 37 points against the New Orleans Hornets. He played just 33 games for the Warriors in regular season and averaged just 7.3 minutes per game at 2.9 points per game. In his second season, his performance improved considerably as Belinelli played 42 games with 21 minutes per game. He was scoring at 8.9 points per game while his rebounding was up to 1.7 per game with 2.1 assists per game.

Belinelli went back to Italy to play in the 2007 EuroBasket tournament.

At the end of the 2009 season, Belinelli was traded out to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Devean George where he teamed up with countrymen and international teammate Andrea Bargnani. He had a journeyman existence after that in the NBA, including stints with the Hornets, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers and the Spurs again.