Jason Kapono

Jason Kapono Position Small forward/ Shooting guardHeight 6 ft 8 in(2.03 m) Weight 215 lb(98 kg) League NBATeam Toronto RaptorsJersey #24 Born February 4, 1981(1981-02-04) (age 27)
Long Beach, CaliforniaNationality AmericanCollege UCLADraft 2nd round, 31st overall, 2003
Cleveland CavaliersPro career 2003–present Former teams Cleveland Cavaliers (2003–2004)
Charlotte Bobcats(2004–2005)
Miami Heat(2005–2007) Awards 2006 NBA Champion
2007 3-Point Shootout Champion
2008 3-Point Shootout Champion Official profile Info Page

Jason Alan Kapono (born February 4, 1981 in Long Beach, California) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the NBA's Toronto Raptors.

1 Early career
2 NBA career
3 NBA record
4 National team
5 NBA career statistics
6 Notes
7 External links

Early career

Jason enjoyed a storied college career at UCLA, where he finished as the third all-time leading scorer with 2,095 points,[1] was the first Bruin to earn First Team All-Pac-10 honors all four years, and was the only UCLA player to lead the school in scoring four straight years. After his senior season, Kapono was a second-round draft choice of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA Draft.

NBA career

After his rookie season with Cleveland, he was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2004 expansion draft, where he improved his scoring average from 3.5 to 8.5 points per game. He also made the first block in Bobcats history. Later, he was traded to the Miami Heat where he was part of the 2005–06 NBA champion team.

In the 2006–07 season, Kapono's points-per-game average and minutes played significantly increased, and he led the league in three-point percentage with .514, which is close to the all time single season three-point percentage record held by Steve Kerr (.524), and is the fourth best percentage in league season history. Kapono also won the 2007 All-Star Weekend three-point shoot-out competition by defeating Dirk Nowitzki and Gilbert Arenas in the final round with a score of 24 points which tied Mark Price's record for most points in a final round of the 3-point contest.

Kapono repeated the feat in 2008, having led the league in three-point percentage going into the All-Star weekend. In the final round of the contest, he scored 25 points, tying the all-time single round record set in 1986.[2] He also ended the 2007–08 season as the top three-point shooter in the league.

NBA record

On November 25, 2007, Kapono became the most accurate 3-point shooter in NBA history. On this date he made his 250th three-point shot, qualifying him for the NBA record in 3-point shooting accuracy. He immediately moved into first place with a .461 ratio of 3-point shots made to shots attempted, moving ahead of Steve Kerr, who had the previous lifetime best at 0.454. He is the leader among only 27 players in NBA history to have a shooting accuracy of 0.400 or greater.[3]

National team

Jason has also been picked for the USA Basketball Select Team which will train with USA Men's Senior National Team in Las Vegas to assist in the build up to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

NBA career statistics

Correct as of 23 April 2008[4]

Regular season Team GP MPG SPG BPG RPG APG PPG FG% 3P% FT% 2003–04Cleveland 41 10.4 0.3 0.1 1.3 0.3 3.5 0.403 0.477 0.833 2004–05Charlotte 81 18.4 0.5 0.1 2.0 0.8 8.5 0.401 0.412 0.824 2005–06Miami 51 13.0 0.1 0.1 1.4 0.7 4.1 0.446 0.396 0.848 2006–07Miami 67 26.4 0.6 0.0 2.7 1.2 10.9 0.494 0.514 0.892 2007–08Toronto 81 18.9 0.4 0.0 1.5 0.8 7.2 0.488 0.483 0.860 Career 321 18.3 0.4 0.0 1.8 0.8 7.3 0.452 0.464 0.853

Playoffs Team GP MPG SPG BPG RPG APG PPG FG% 3P% FT% 2005–06Miami 1 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.000 2006–07Miami 4 19.3 0.5 0.0 1.3 0.5 5.0 0.471 0.500 1.000 2007–08Toronto 2 31.5 0.5 0.0 3.0 0.5 19.0 0.667 0.667 1.000 Career 7 20.3 0.4 0.0 1.6 0.4 8.3 0.579 0.625 1.000