Nenê

Nenê (born Maybyner Rodney Hilario on September 13, 1982 in São Carlos, Brazil) is a Brazillian basketball player who plays for the NBA's Denver Nuggets. The 6'11" (2.11 m) Nenê is one of the most athletic big men in the league. nene File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... 1982 is a number and represents a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar Events January-February January 6 - William Bonin is convicted of being the freeway killer. January 8 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions January 11 - Mark Thatcher, son of the British... São Carlos is a city of approximately 200,000 inhabitants in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. ... Basketball Basketball is a ball sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points by throwing a ball through a hoop. ... The National Basketball Association of the United States and Canada, commonly known as the NBA, is the premier professional basketball league in North America. ... The Denver Nuggets are a National Basketball Association team based in Denver, Colorado. ...

A native of São Carlos, he received his nickname Nenê (Portuguese for baby) because he was the youngest in both his family and his group of childhood friends. Like most Brazilian children, he started out playing soccer, and was good enough to receive some interest from professional clubs. He did not play basketball until he was 14, but apparently took to the game quickly. His original basketball teacher claims that when he first tried to dunk, he not only dunked the ball, but destroyed the basket. The striker (wearing red jersey) has run past the defender (in white jersey) and is about to take a shot at the goal, while the goalkeeper positions himself to stop the ball. ...

He first came to international attention at the 2001 Goodwill Games as a member of the Brazilian national team. He also played in the Brazilian club Vasco da Gama. Afterwards, he excelled at the NBA's Chicago predraft camp in 2002; the New York Knicks picked him seventh overall in the 2002 NBA Draft and immediately traded him to the Denver Nuggets. 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Goodwill Games were an international athletics competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympics of the 1980s. ... Vasco da Gama (after the famous Portuguese explorer of the same name) is a Brazilian football team from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, founded on August 21, 1898 (although the football dept started on November 5, 1915). ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Knicks (or New York Knickerbockers) are a National Basketball Association team based in New York, New York. ... The 2002 NBA draft occurred on June 26, 2002. ... The Denver Nuggets are a National Basketball Association team based in Denver, Colorado. ...

He began the 2002-03 season on the bench, but ended it as a starter, averaging 10.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 steals, and finishing in the league's top ten in shooting percentage (.516). After the season, he was selected to the NBA All-Rookie first team. 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the 2003 offseason, he legally changed his name to his lifelong nickname of Nenê. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Nenê's official NBA player page (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/nene/index.html)
• Nenê's official website (http://www.nene31.com)