At Wright State, only three athletes have been drafted to the NBA. One of those athletes was Vitaly Potapenko.
Potapenko was a powerful center for Wright State. His size and strength gave him the nickname of the “Ukraine Train”. During his college career, Potapenko played in 56 games, where he averaged 19.9 points a game. Along with this, he also averaged 6.9 rebounds and had a 60.3% shooting average.
Potapenko only played at WSU for two seasons before being drafted in the 1996 NBA Draft. He was selected 12th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. This draft was one that included Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Ray Allen, Steve Nash and even Kobe Bryant.
He spent 13 years in the NBA moving into different roles. He played two seasons with the Sacramento Kings, three with the Cavaliers, four with the Boston Celtics, and four with the Seattle Supersonics. Through all the years with these four teams, he averaged 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, a 47.9 field goal percentage, and a 69.4 free throw percentage.
After his long career, Potapenko is still strongly attached to the NBA and the Cavalier organization. He returned to the Cavaliers as a player development coach. These are the coaches that work with players through practices, but don’t necessarily travel with the team or sit on the bench. He is reunited with a fellow draftee, as Zydrunas Ilgauskas is also a coach for the Cavaliers.
Potapenko is one of many success stories coming out of Wright State. He went from a Wright State center, to playing for some of the most iconic organizations in the NBA, to now coaching for a powerhouse team in the Cleveland Cavaliers.
