Wally Szczerbiak (born March 5, 1977 in Madrid, Spain) is an American basketball player for the Boston Celtics. He was born in Spain while his father Walter (a former ABA player) was playing for the Real Madrid basketball team, and spent much of his childhood in Europe during his father's playing career. When Walter retired, he moved his family back to his native Long Island, where Wally attended high school in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. In college, Szczerbiak played for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He graduated from the Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University with a major in marketing. At Miami he led his team to the Sweet 16 in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. Later he tied a Timberwolves franchise record of 44 points on April 13, 2003, since broken by Kevin Garnett.
The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Szczerbiak 6th overall in the 1999 NBA Draft. His best year as a pro was 2002 when he was a coach's selection to the Western conference all star team. Szczerbiak was coming off the bench for the 2004-2005 NBA season. He was uncomfortable with the role and wanted to be a starter. In the 2005-2006 season, the former All-Star returned to the starting role.
On January 26, 2006, Szczerbiak, along with Michael Olowokandi, Dwayne Jones and a conditional first-round draft pick, was traded to the Boston Celtics for Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks, Justin Reed, and two second-round draft picks.
As a player, Szczerbiak is an offensive minded player with an excellent perimeter touch; however, his defense is only average.
