Topic: Andres Nocioni

Andrés Marcelo Nocioni (born November 30, 1979 in Santa Fe) is an Argentine professional basketball player for the NBA's Sacramento Kings, and for the Argentine national team. Nocioni won a gold medal with the Argentine national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, he helped the Argentine national team win the bronze metal. His natural position is small forward, though in the NBA he has played some minutes at power forward.

Andrés was the second son of Pedro José Pilo Nocioni and Ángela Palmira Roux, both also born in Santa Fe. Though both he and his older brother Pablo were born in Santa Fe, the family actually lived in Gálvez, 80 km south of Santa Fe, where Andrés attended school. Andrés and his wife, Paula Raquel Aimonetto, have two sons, Laureano and Benicio. Nocioni is known as Chapu after the Mexican children TV series El Chapulín Colorado, very popular also in Argentina. He holds Argentine and Italian citizenships.

Nocioni's professional career began in the Argentine basketball league (LNB) in the 1995–96 season, and in 1998–99 he was already named Best Sixth Man. In 2001, Nocioni went to Vitoria-Gasteiz, where he spent three seasons as a refuerzo (reinforcement player) with Spain's TAU Cerámica of the ACB Spanish professional league. He was the league's 2004 Most Valuable Player and his stellar play earned him an All-Euroleague Second Team selection in 2003 and 2004.