Over the coure of the season in which he became the all-time leader for offensive rebounds and two-point field goals made, in which he surpassed 3.000 points scored and 1.500 rebounds grabbed, Kyle Hines was also named the EuroLeague’s Defensive Player of the Year. This is the third time it gets the award. Hines – who is a member of the All-Decade team from 2010 to 2020 – was chosen by the coaches as the best defensive player of the competition both in 2016 and 2018. The hat-trick comes at 36 years of age after an exceptional season in which he played 36 out of 36 games with 21 starts and 856 minutes spent on the court, the second most of his career after the 973 minutes of last season with four more appearances. He also shot 62.7 percent from two-point range. Hines anchored the best defense of the entire EuroLeague, with his ability to form a one-two punch with Nicolò Melli, switching on all the screens and protecting the rim, the most evident aspect of his defensive impact. Some of his blocks, the category in which he is the number 2 ever behind Bryant Dunston, made the history of the season. For example, the one against Shaquielle McKissic of Olympiacos or to block Nigel Hayes’ of Barcelona dunk attempt.
KYLE HINES IN MILANO – This season, he became the fifth player ever to grab over 1.500 rebounds during his EuroLeague career during the home win over Red Star. During the road game in Kaunas, he became the All-time EuroLeague leading offensive rebounder. During the home win over Bayern, he became the 11th player to score at least 3.000 points in the EuroLeague. He also became the all-time leader for two-point field goals made. Member of the Italian Cup winning team, averaging 7.0 points and tournament-leading 8.3 rebounds per game. He shot 75.0 percent from the field, too. During the previous season, he helped the team win the Supercup, averaging 9.9 points per game and 4.0 rebounds. He also converted 60.5 percent of his two-pointers. He won the Italian Cup and averaged 10.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game during the Final Eight. He led the team clinch a Final Four berth. During the game in Barcelona, he scored his 2-pointer number 1.000 in his EuroLeague career. In Berlin, he played his EuroLeague game number 300, the first American player to reach that plateau and the seventh overall. In Kaunas, he became the second-best all-time shot-blocker. He was named Defensive Player of the Year in the Italian league.
HIS BIO – Kyle Hines, 1.98, from Sicklerville, where he was born on September 2, 1986, came to Olimpia in the summer of 2020 from CSKA Moscow. He played one year at the Camden Catholic High School in New Jersey and then for the next three years at the Timber Creek Regional High School. In his senior year, he was named in the second All-State team and became the school’s all-time leading scorer. In 2004 he landed at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, where in 2005 he was named Southern Conference’s freshman of the year and as a junior he was voted Southern Conference Player of the Year (he averaged 20.9 points, 9.0 rebounds per game). As a senior he averaged 19.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. During his last three college years, he was always named on the All-Southern 1st team. His professional career began in Italy in Veroli where he won the Legadue Italian Cup for two consecutive seasons (16.9 points and 8.6 rebounds on average during the first year, 18.5 points and 8.1 rebounds during the second). In 2010, he moved to Bamberg where he won the Super Cup, the German Cup, the league championship and was the playoff MVP (he averaged 12.9 points and 5.4 rebounds in his EuroLeague rookie season). In 2011 he arrived at Olympiacos Piraeus where in two years he won the EuroLeague title twice and the Greek championship in 2012. During the first EuroLeague run he averaged 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, during the second he had 9.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. In 2013 he signed for CSKA Moscow where he won the EuroLeague two more times, in 2016 and 2019, in addition to winning six VTB League championships. In 2016 (when he scored 10.9 points per game) and in 2018 he was named Defender of the year in the EuroLeague. During the 2019/20 season, he had 8.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
NOTES – During his college career, he had a streak of 37 consecutive games with at least one blocked shot. Among his teammates he had Ricky Hickman (he played for Olimpia in the 2016/17 season). He is one of six NCAA players in history to have had at least 2.000 points, 1.000 rebounds and 300 blocked shots for their careers. He was named on the All-EuroLeague team of the last decade. He is the first American in the list of appearances in the EuroLeague, has a nine-year streak of Final Four appearances, from 2012 to 2021. He is the EuroLeague all-time best offensive rebounder and first for two-pointers made, he is also third overall in rebounds, second for blocked shots.
