Julian Khazzouh
Encyclopedia
Julian Khazzouh in an Australian professional basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player who currently plays for the Sydney Kings
Sydney Kings
The Sydney Kings are a professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League. They are the only team to date to win three consecutive championships in the NBL and currently sit third behind the Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne Tigers two away from the record five wins...

 in the National Basketball League
National Basketball League (Australasia)
The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....

. Standing 6'10" (209 cm) tall and weighing 100 kg (220 lb), Khazzouh's position is centre
Center (basketball)
The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...

.

Career

At age 18 Khazzouh was discovered by the NSW Institute of Sport and he went on to become a member of the Australian Schoolboys team in late 2003. He was signed as a development player by the NBL's
West Sydney Razorbacks
West Sydney Razorbacks
The Sydney Spirit were a professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League...

 in 2004, playing his first game for the club in the 2004 season
2004-05 NBL Season
Here are the results and statistics from the National Basketball League season of 2004-2005.-End of Season Ladder:This is the ladder at the end of season, before the finals. In all, 176 games were played, 32 for each team...

, his only game for the season in which he played just one minute. From 2005-2007, Khazzouh played for the Parramatta Wildcats in the NSW Waratah League
Waratah League
The Waratah League is the New South Wales conference of the Australian Basketball Association which it joined in 2000.-Current Teams:-Past winners:Premier DivisionNSW Waratah League-External links:**...

.

Julian Khazzouh turned down an offer from Metro State College
Metropolitan State College of Denver
The Metropolitan State College of Denver is a four-year college and now offers certain Graduate programs located in Denver, Colorado, United States. As of 2009, Metro State had the second-largest enrollment of undergraduates of any college in Colorado...

 in Denver, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 to play professionally for the Razorbacks in 2007–08. In that season he finished second in the NBL Rookie of the Year
NBL (Australia) Rookie of the Year
* 1983 Jamie Kennedy * 1984 Andrew Gaze * 1985 Mike McKay * 1986 Steve Lunardon * 1987 Greg Hubbard * 1988 Shane Heal...

 voting behind Joe Ingles
Joe Ingles
Joe Ingles is an Australian professional basketball player, currently with Regal FC Barcelona. Joe is in a relationship with Australian Diamonds and Melbourne Vixens netball player, Renae Hallinan. On 17 March 2006, he became the first player to sign with the South Dragons National Basketball...

 of the South Dragons
South Dragons
The South Dragons is a former team in the Australasian National Basketball League . They made their début in the 2006/07 season and played their final season in 2008/09...

. He also pulled down a career best 15 rebounds against the Wollongong Hawks
Wollongong Hawks
The Wollongong Hawks are a team competing in Australia's National Basketball League , based in the New South Wales city of Wollongong. They won the NBL championship in 2001 and finished as runners-up in 2005 and 2010...

 in Round 21.

The Razorbacks were renamed the Sydney Spirit for the 2008-09 NBL season
2008-09 NBL Season
-2008-09 league participants:* On 30 June 2008 the Brisbane Bullets confirmed they would be handing back the team's license to the NBL. The NBL confirmed there will be no Brisbane team participating in the 2008/09 season....

 but the change in name didn't bring a change in fortune for the club. Attendances at the State Sports Centre
State Sports Centre
The State Sports Centre is a multi-use indoor arena in Sydney, Australia. It hosted the table tennis and taekwondo events for the 2000 Summer Olympics....

 were poor with the game against the Cairns Taipans
Cairns Taipans
The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League. The club is based in the northern Queensland city of Cairns. The Taipans, named after a species of venomous snake native to Australia, entered the NBL in the 1999/2000 season...

 in Round 21 only drawing 920 fans. Following the season the club folded leaving Khazzouh without an NBL team for the 2009-10 NBL season. Khazzouh averaged 15.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game for the Spirit in their last season.

In 2009-10 Khazzouh played for Israeli Basketball Super League team Ironi Ramat Gan
Ironi Ramat Gan
Ironi Ramat Gan is a basketball club based in Ramat Gan in central Israel. The team plays in Liga Leumit, the Second division in Israeli basketball.The club was formed by a merger of Beitar Ramat Gan and Maccabi Ramat Gan...



After having their licence revoked by the NBL in 2008, the Sydney Kings
Sydney Kings
The Sydney Kings are a professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League. They are the only team to date to win three consecutive championships in the NBL and currently sit third behind the Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne Tigers two away from the record five wins...

 returned to the league for the 2010-11 season and one of their first signings was Julian Khazzouh. The Kings themselves would have a poor season, finishing last with an 8-20 record but Khazzouh would have a breakout season. He averaged 17.4 points, 10 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for the season and was rewarded with being chosen for his first All NBL First team
NBL (Australia) All NBL teams
-NBL First Teams:* 1980 Cal Stamp, Danny Morseu, Brian Banks, Herb McEachin, Ian Davies and Ken Richardson* 1981 Rocky Smith, Danny Morseu, Al Green, David Nelson and Owen Wells* 1982 George Morrow, James Crawford, Leroy Loggins, Phil Smyth and Larry Sengstock...

. Despite playing for the last place club Khazzouh was also favourite for the NBL's MVP award
NBL (Australia) Most Valuable Player
At the conclusion of each NBL game, both coaches award votes to the best players from that game. Each coach has 10 votes to allocate, with no more than 5 to be awarded to one player by each coach....

. He would ultimately finish second in MVP voting behind Wollongong's Gary Ervin
Gary Ervin
Gary Ervin is an American basketball player.-Early Career in America:Ervin completed his junior playing career in the United States with the University of Arkansas after transferring from Mississippi State University where he played from 2003-2005. He was a part of the Arkansas Razorbacks NCAA...

.

2011-12 has started off for Julian Khazzouh as the previous one finished. He pulled down a career best 16 rebounds against the Melbourne Tigers
Melbourne Tigers
The Melbourne Tigers are Australia's oldest and most respected basketball team, established circa 1931 in a local church hall League. Entering the National Basketball League in 1984, they are now the only Melbourne team, after the South Dragons withdrew from the league.The Melbourne Tigers are the...

 in Round 1 of the season and has so far averaged 17.4 points, 11 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.7 assists over the Kings six games to 8 November 2011 to help the Kings to a 2-4 record and 6th place on the NBL Ladder.

Julian Khazzouh has won the NBL's Player of the Week award four times. The first in Round 1 of the 2010-12 season was followed by winning the award for rounds 16 and 17. He won his 4th PotW award for his efforts in leading the Kings to a 94-71 win over the Adelaide 36ers
Adelaide 36ers
The Adelaide 36ers are Adelaide's men's professional basketball team, established as the Adelaide City Eagles when they joined the National Basketball League in 1982. The Adelaide 36ers tally of four championships is equal with the Melbourne Tigers and second behind the Perth Wildcats as the most...

 in Adelaide in Round 3 of the 2011-12 season. He scored 26 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had 2 blocks in a dominant performance.

Following the 2010-11 season, Khazzouh travelled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for trials with NBA franchises though it was expected by Kings general manager (and former coach) Bob Turner that he would return for the 2011-12 season.

International

Julian Khazzouh was a squad member of the Australian Boomers in 2009. It was reported that he was going to play for Lebanon
Lebanon national basketball team
The Lebanon national basketball team is the basketball team representing Lebanon in international competitions.-History:The first time basketball was ever played in Lebanon was in the mid-1920s in the American University of Beirut...

 at the 2010 FIBA World Championship
2010 FIBA World Championship
The 2010 FIBA World Championship, hosted by Turkey, was the international basketball competition contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from August 28 to September 12, 2010. It was co-organized by the International Basketball Federation , Turkish Basketball Federation and the...

 in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 but this never eventuated.

External list

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