Estonian basketball player
Siim-Sander Vene (born 12 November 1990) is an Estonian professional basketball player for San Pablo Burgos of the LEB Oro. Standing at 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in), he plays both the small forward and power forward positions. Vene represents the Estonian national basketball team internationally, and was named Estonian Basketball Player of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Professional career
Vene began playing basketball with Siili Palliklubi and TTÜ. In 2006, Vene moved to Lithuania and joined Žalgiris' junior team Žalgiris-Arvydas Sabonis school. With Žalgiris, Vene won the Nike International Junior Tournament in 2007 and the Nacionalinė krepšinio lyga (NKL) in 2008. Vene was loaned to Kaunas Triobet of the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL) for the 2008–09 season.
In the 2009–10 Euroleague, Vene averaged 2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.
In October 2010, Vene was loaned to Kaunas, and in December 2010, to Ludwigsburg of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL).[1]
In 2011, Vene joined Baltai (former Kaunas) on loan from Žalgiris. In February 2012, he was loaned to VEF Rīga of the Latvijas Basketbola Līga (LBL).[2]
On 27 September 2012, Vene was loaned to Prienai. Prienai finished the 2012–13 season in fourth place.
In July 2013, Vene returned to Žalgiris. In the 2013–14 Euroleague, Vene averaged 3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game, as Žalgiris reached Top 16. Vene won his first Lithuanian Championship in the 2013–14 season, after defeating Neptūnas 4 games to 2 in the finals. In the 2014–15 season, Vene averaged 3.4 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game in the Euroleague and won his second Lithuanian Championship, after Žalgiris defeated league rivals Lietuvos rytas 4–0 in the finals.[3] In the 2015–16 Euroleague, Žalgiris once again reached Top 16, but failed to advance to the playoffs with a 2–12 record. Vene averaged 3.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. He won his third consecutive Lithuanian Championship in the 2015–16 season, after Žalgiris defeated Neptūnas in the finals.[4]
On 8 August 2016, Vene signed with Nizhny Novgorod of the VTB United League.[5] He was named Estonian Basketball Player of the Year in 2017.[6]
On 16 August 2017, Vene signed with Reggiana of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).[7] On 29 September, he was sidelined for three months due to a leg injury and didn't play any games for Reggiana. On 4 January 2018, it was announced that Vene will sign for LBA club Varese for the remainder of the 2017–18 season.[8] On 21 June 2018, he was named Estonian Basketball Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.[9]
On September 5, 2018, Vene signed a six-week deal with Manresa of the Liga ACB as a replacement for the injured Justin Doellman.[10] He was released from the team when his contract ended. He signed with another Liga ACB team Fuenlabrada in December 2018.[11] Only a week later Vene moved to another Liga ACB team Gran Canaria after making use of his opt-out for signing with a EuroLeague team.[12]
On July 1, 2019 he signed contract with Varese of the LBA. He returns to Varese after a season with three different Spanish teams.[13]
On May 24, 2020 Vene signed a contract with Fuenlabrada, making a return to the Spanish club where he had already a stint in 2018. [14]
On September 28, 2021, he signed a 2-month contract with Limoges CSP of the LNB Pro A.[15]
On January 4, 2022, he signed with Pallacanestro Varese of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).[16]
On August 9, 2022, he signed with Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Premier League.[17] While on the team, Vene played a significant role particularly in a number of clutch wins, including over Maccabi Tel Aviv, and over Lenovo Tenerife in the semi-finals of the Basketball Champions League Final Four.
National team career
Vene was a member of the Estonian national under-18 basketball team that competed at the 2007 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship and finished the tournament in 12th place. Vene averaged 12.1 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist per game.
As a member of the senior Estonian national team, Vene competed at the EuroBasket 2015, averaging 10 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.[18] Estonia finished the tournament in 20th place.
Vene was named the captain of the Estonian national team in 2020 ahead of the EuroBasket 2021 qualification games.
Personal life
Vene's father, Priit, and mother, Lea, were both basketballers. His father is now a basketball coach. Vene's younger brother, Kent-Kaarel, is also a professional basketball player.
