Henri Drell
 Drell in September 2019 | ||||||||||||||
| Free Agent | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Shooting guard / Small forward | |||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 25 April 2000 Tallinn, Estonia | |||||||||||||
| Nationality | Estonian | |||||||||||||
| Listed height | 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 85 kg (187 lb) | |||||||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2015–present | |||||||||||||
| Career history | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | Audentes | |||||||||||||
| 2016–2019 | Brose Bamberg | |||||||||||||
| 2016–2019 | →Baunach Young Pikes | |||||||||||||
| 2019–2021 | Victoria Libertas Pesaro | |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Henri Drell (born 25 April 2000) is an Estonian professional basketball player who last played for Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Lega Basket Serie A. He also represents the Estonian national basketball team internationally. Standing at 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in), he plays at the shooting guard and small forward positions.
Early life and youth career[]
Drell was born in Tallinn, Estonia. He started playing basketball at age of 9 years old. He joined small club in Estonia. After that Drell moved to BC Kalev/Cramo youth.[1]
In September 2015, Drell joined his hometown team Audentes/Noortekoondis.[2]
In July 2016, Drell moved to Brose Bamberg, Germany, where he started to play German Under-19 Youth Bundesliga (NBBL- ). In May 2019, Drell led his NBBL team (TSV Breitengüßbach) to silver medal.[3] On 27 February 2019, he was named to the 2019 NBBL All-Star Game.[4]
In February 2018, Drell played for Brose Bamberg's U18 team at Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT) in Munich. He was selected to the All-Tournament Team after leading the event with 27 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists per game and a Performance Index Rating (PIR) of 26.3.[5][6] Later in June, he also attended the NBA Global Camp in Treviso, Italy.[7]
Professional career[]
Brose Bamberg[]
On 1 July 2016, Drell signed a six-year contract with Brose Bamberg.[8] He made his professional debut for Brose Bamberg on 18 March 2019, recording 2 points in a 100–74 win over Eisbären Bremerhaven.[9]
Drell mainly played with Baunach Young Pikes, the farm team of Brose Bamberg, in German 2nd Division (ProA). In 2018-19 season Drell improved his stats to 13.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game for Baunach in ProA action.[10] On 2 February 2019 Drell was named the .[11]
On April 19, 2019, he declared for the 2019 NBA Draft. ESPN draft guru Jonathan Givony, ranked him 55th out of 100 draft prospects, later on Drell withdrew from the draft.[12]
Victoria Libertas Pesaro[]
On July 19, 2019, he has signed with Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Lega Basket Serie A.[13] He made his professional debut for VL Pesaro on 22 September 2019, recording two points and three rebounds in 25 minutes and a 72-80 loss over Fortitudo Bologna. He recorded his then Lega Basket Serie A career-high 16 points on 13 October 2019 against Virtus Bologna, shooting 6-of-11 from the field with 4 rebounds in 33 minutes. He finished the cancelled season (due Covid-19 pandemic) averaging 4.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.[14][15]
In his second season with Victoria Libertas Pesaro under coach Jasmin Repeša, Drell played in 24 games and started in 12 and averaged 16.6 minutes per game, he made huge improvements throughout the season, but mainly in shooting.[16] He finished the season shooting 40% from the three-point line and 50% from the two-points range.[17] On 24 January, Drell recorded his then new regular season-high of 17 points, including shooting 4-of-4 from three-point range, with three rebounds in a 107-83 win over S.Bernardo Cantù.[18] He posted all together 7 double-digit games, the best shooting games were against Virtus Bologna (14 points, 2-of-4 shooting from three-point), Banco di Sardegna Sassari (16 points, 3-of-6 shooting from three-point), Dolomiti Energia Trento (12 points, 2-of-3 shooting from three-point), AX Armani Exchange Milano (16 points, 4-of-4 shooting from three-point).[19] On 12 January, Drell helped VL Pesaro to qualify for the Italian Basketball Cup after a ten-year drought for the team.[20]
In February 2021, in a prestigious Italian Basketball Cup, Drell had a break-out tournament, where in quarter-finals he recorded his LBA career-high 23 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the field, with five rebounds in overtime 115-110 win over Dinamo Sassari.[21][22] He helped his team to reach the 7th Italian Cup finals ever, by beating Happy Casa Brindisi in the semi-finals, but eventually losing to AX Armani Exchange Milano in the final, where Drell posted 12 points and four rebounds in 23 minutes.[23][24] Drell was named the „Best Offensive Player“ in the tournament. He finished the tournament averaging 12.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1 assist per game, Drell had also the best shooting percentages in the tournament: 63.6% from the two-point range and 62.5% from the three-point range.[25][26][27] He parted ways with the team on 30 November 2021.[28]
National team career[]
Junior national team
Drell competed for Estonia first time at the 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship in Radom, Poland. He helped Estonia national under-16 team to be saved from relegation while averaging a team-high 14.1 points, 7.1 rebounds per game.[29][30]
Drell played at the Division B tournament of the 2018 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, where he was named to the All-Star Five after ranked third among all players with 19 points per game and helping his team finish in fourth place.[31][32][33]
Senior national team
He made his debut for the senior Estonian national team on 21 February 2019, in a 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifier against Serbia, scoring 4 points in a 71–70 home victory.[34][35]
In February 2021, Drell posted 12 points including a game-winning shot and three rebounds in 28 minutes in a 105-101 victory over Italy, resulting Estonia to reach their third Eurobasket tournament in the century.[36] He finished Eurobasket 2022 qualification averaging 7.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 5 games.[37][38][39]
Personal life[]
Henri Drell is the son of Harri Drell, a former professional basketball player who played in Kalev. Also his mother Marelle Grünthal-Drell played basketball and was a part of Estonia women's national basketball team.[40]
Career statistics[]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | PIR | Performance Index Rating |
| Bold | Career high |
Domestic leagues[]
| Season | Team | League | GP | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Audentes/Noortekoondis | KML | 4 | 16.0 | .444 | .250 | .400 | 2.0 | 1.2 | .5 | .0 | 4.5 |
| 2016–17 | Baunach Young Pikes | ProA | 6 | 8.1 | .429 | .000 | 1.000 | 1.5 | .0 | .2 | .0 | 2.0 |
| 2017–18 | 24 | 16.3 | .496 | .340 | .649 | 1.6 | .8 | .5 | .0 | 6.1 | ||
| 2018–19 | 29 | 28.8 | .394 | .297 | .673 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 1.2 | .4 | 13.1 | ||
| Brose Bamberg | BBL | 3 | 8.1 | .500 | – | .500 | 1.0 | .7 | .0 | .0 | 2.0 | |
| 2019–20 | Victoria Libertas Pesaro | LBA | 15 | 17.1 | .351 | .235 | .667 | 2.1 | 1.1 | .3 | .4 | 4.7 |
| 2020–21 | Victoria Libertas Pesaro | LBA | 24 | 16.6 | .500 | .400 | .611 | 2.5 | .5 | .4 | .3 | 5.8 |
Estonia national team[]
| Year | Tournament | National Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2016 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship | Estonia U-16 | 7 | 7 | 25.1 | .376 | .294 | .818 | 7.1 | 1.9 | 2.1 | .6 | 14.1 |
| 2017 | 2017 FIBA U18 European Championship Division B | Estonia U-18 | 8 | 8 | 24.3 | .416 | .314 | .833 | 4.4 | 2.1 | 1.2 | .6 | 12.5 |
| 2018 | 2018 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship Division B | Estonia U-18 | 7 | 7 | 26.8 | .469 | .333 | .861 | 5.7 | 1.7 | 1.4 | .7 | 19.0 |
| 2019 | 2019 Basketball World Cup qualification | Estonia | 2 | 0 | 13.8 | .545 | .333 | .833 | .0 | .5 | 1.5 | .0 | 9.0 |
| 2020 | EuroBasket 2022 qualification | Estonia | 5 | 0 | 18.5 | .438 | .462 | .556 | 2.4 | .8 | .8 | .6 | 7.8 |
Awards and accomplishments[]
Professional career
- Italian Basketball Cup Best Offensive Player (2021)
References[]
- ^ "Talendikas korvpallitäht Henri Drell". Sportland Magazine (in Estonian). 2019-05-10. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
- ^ Korvpalliliit, Eesti. "Mängijad". www.basket.ee. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
- ^ "Bamberg: NBBL ist deutscher U19-Vizemeister!". Nachwuchs & Jugend Basketball Bundesliga - NBBL & JBBL (in German). 2019-05-27. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
- ^ "easyCredit - ALLSTARS der NBBL". www.easycredit-bbl.de (in German). Retrieved 2020-09-08.
- ^ "MVP Nakic of U18 Real Madrid leads Munich all-tourney team". ADIDAS Next Generation Tournament. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
- ^ "DRELL, HENRI - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL". www.euroleague.net. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
- ^ "Scariolo will be the head coach of the U18 team of the NBA Global Camp". Eurohoops. 2018-05-30. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
- ^ "Eesti noorkorvpallur sõlmis Euroliiga klubiga 6-aastase lepingu" (in Estonian). Delfi Sport. 1 July 2016.
- ^ "Henri Drell tegi Bambergi eest Bundesliga debüüdi ja viskas esimesed punktid" (in Estonian). Korvpall24.ee. 18 March 2019.
- ^ "Spieler – BARMER 2. Basketball Bundesliga" (in German). Retrieved 2020-09-08.
- ^ "BARMER 2.Basketball Bundesliga on Instagram: "Wir präsentieren euch den @ballside.com_official Spieler/Youngster des Monats