Basketball club «Astana» to strengthen by the defender from the USA
«Astana» basketball club has a new defender — 29-year-old American basketball player Malcolm Grant. The player's height is 183 cm.
Malcolm Grant was born in Brooklyn, started playing basketball from school, and then enrolled in one of the best universities in Florida — the University of Miami, which is famous for its good basketball team, in which the athlete continued to perform.
His professional career began in 2012. His first club became «APOEL» in Cyprus. Then he moved to Australia, where he played for the team «Wollongong Hawks». In 2014, the basketball player joined the «Halifax Rainmen» in Canada, but soon moved to the Swedish club «LF Basket Norrbotten». In the season 2015/2016. Malcolm Grant played in two clubs «Mississauga Power» (Canada) and «Island Storm» (Iceland).
Last season, the basketball player has spent in the Slovenian team «Tajfun», having played for the Slovenes 36 games, with an average of 11.4 points per game.
The current season Malcolm Grant started in the Lithuanian team «Nevėžis» where he managed to play 10 games in the Lithuanian championship, with an average of 14 points per game. Malcolm Grant is a excellent shooter, and also has a good percentage of scored three-point shots (50%).
Executive Director of the Presidential Club «Astana», Amanbek Kulchikov, explains the decision to strengthen the team:
«Together with the coaching staff of the basketball club, we decided to strengthen the team. Since the beginning of the season, Astana has had a very tight schedule. As you remember, in September the team participated in the Asian Champions Cup and brought the first for Kazakhstan bronze medal in this Championship. But it is important to note that in China there were only two foreign players in «Astana» from the six available now, and this fact affected the overall teamwork.
In addition, you know that basketball players of «Astana» participate in the National Team. At the same time with the preparation for the VTB League matches, our Kazakhstan athletes were preparing for qualifying matches for the World Championship. Just a week ago we had two matches against the teams of Qatar and Iraq, winning both games. But here, again, there was a division: while the Kazakh guys were performing for the National Team — the foreign players rested. This obviously influences the overall teamwork, and as a result, affect the results of the games. This year VTB League first matches were not easy for «Astana» — there was a very difficult series of away games. Therefore now, in the midst of the championship, the basketball team «Astana» needs strengthening.»
