Andrei Kirilenko was born in 1981, in the city of Izhevsk, located in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, today simply Russia.
Within the field of play, your position is that of Small Forward, although he has occasionally been seen performing as Power forward, and usually wears jersey number 47.
It measures 2.06 meters and weighs approximately 103 kilograms.
Despite being born in the city of Izhevsk, most of his childhood was spent in Saint Petersburg. There he began to play basketball in a small institution.
On July 18, 1997 he became the youngest player in history to compete in the Russian Super League.
That same date he scored three points for his local team, the Spartak Saint Petersburg.
After two years proving his skill on this relatively unknown campus, he joined the CSKA Moscow in 1998.
Already in his first year in the new team, he helped to achieve the title of the Super league.
During that same period he was selected to integrate the Russian All-Star Game.
On June 30, 1999, at just 18 years old, he became the youngest European player to be chosen to participate in the NBA.
The Utah Jazz they selected him in 24th position, but decided to leave him for two more seasons in his homeland.
During the 1999-2000 season he helped CSKA Moscow to get the title both in the European basketball league and in the local tournament.
Once again he was chosen to integrate the team of the west in the victory 138 to 107 against the team of the east. In turn, he was awarded the dunk tournament of that contest.
Russia With all these achievements it was impossible that he was not called to play with the national team of in the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
His selection finished in 8th position, but he gave enough space for Kirilenko show your potential to the world.
The season finally arrived 2001-02 and his trip to the United States to join the roster of the Utah Jazz. That same year he was chosen to represent the NBA All-Rookie Team.
From that moment he became one of the most popular players of the NBA, for being really young and achieving so many achievements despite being a foreigner.
Many people compare him to the character “Ivan Drago” of the movie Rocky iv and they have nicknamed it AK-47 (his initials and his shirt number, as well as the most famous Russian-made rifle).
In 2003 he became the leader of the Jazz, since John stockton decided to withdraw from the NBA Y Karl Malone left to play with Los angeles lakers.
That same year the Jazz lost the opportunity to enter the Playoffs for just one game lost.
Nevertheless, Kirilenko He was the best player on the squad in practically all the categories awarded by the NBA.
Mid season 2004-05, in a match against the Washington Wizards, suffered a broken wrist. This forced him to put aside his participation for the rest of the championship.
Despite having played only 41 of the 82 official games of the Jazz in that season, he managed to have enough blocked shots to be chosen for the NBA All-Defensive Team.
Completely healed, he returned to play in the 2005-06 season to become the player with the highest number of blocked shots in the league. NBA: 220.
Once again he participated in the NBA All-Defensive Team.
The 2006-07 season was a terrible disappointment for the career of Kirilenko, since practically all his statistics dropped widely.
The good thing about this is that it is due to the new offensive power of the Jazz when incorporating Carlos Boozer, Deron williams Y Mehmet Okur.