Andrei Kirilenko - A.K.47

Andrei Gennadevich Kirilenko (Russian: Андрей Геннадьевич Кириленко; born February 18, 1981 in Izhevsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional basketball player, playing at the forward position for the Utah Jazz in the National Basketball Association. He is 206 cm tall and weighs 103 kg (6'9", 227 lb). He is also known as AK-47 (Andrei Kirilenko, and his number, #47).

Kirilenko became the youngest European player at the time to be drafted in the National Basketball Association, when the Utah Jazz selected him with the 24th pick. He was named to the first team on the NBA All-Rookie team. He has since emerged as one of the top young players in the NBA.

In the 2003-04 NBA season, he ranked third in the league in blocked shots per game and fourth in the league in steals per game, becoming just the second player in NBA history to rank in the top five in both categories (David Robinson ranked first in blocked shots per game and fifth in steals per game in the 1991-92 NBA season).

Kirilenko is a versatile "big man" who can play either forward spot. He is good in both offense (13.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game career averages) and defense. On offense, he is proficient in drawing fouls, passing, and possesses a quick first step. He is lauded for his defense, as of 2006 three times selected into the NBA All-Defensive Team or Second Team. Staples of Kirilenko's defensive power are his shot blocking, averaging 3.32 and 3.19 swats per game in the last two seasons, and his ball-hawking (1.58 career averages in steals).

, against the Los Angeles Lakers, Kirilenko posted a statline of 14 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 6 steals and 7 blocks. This was the third time in his career he racked up at least 5 in all of the other relevant categories. Arguably, his statline is one of the closest performances to a quintuple double in NBA history. It was also the first-ever regulation "5×6" — a game in which a player registers at least 6 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 blocks, and 6 steals — since the NBA began recording blocks and steals in the 1973-74 season.

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[JSqAuD14]

Welcome to the Timberwolves!!

[zr1drifter]

Baron Davis didn't finish shit. What's Baron Davis done? AK 47 was getting blocks left and right that series and the Jazz won it. Injuries are what has messed up Kirilenko.

[ricetheasain]

AK47(prime)>lebron.

[GoldDougie]

Baron Davis turned him into a screensaver though...

[Niccolò Machiavellianism]

Ironically he is not known for his shooting

[ThrashXumer]

Andrei Kirilenko is the Iván Drago(Rocky IV) of Basketball

[Jamie Leedle]

Russians do it the best ^^_^^

[levan murusidze]

bast basketboller ever 

[Vitaly Neberay]

Кириленко красавец... Защита на высшем уровне

[Vitaly Neberay]

Хватит завидовать ему ущербный..... 

[catolosboy]

man! I say he'll be the best stopper for lebron