Brian Shorter

Brian William Shorter (born November 28, 1968) is an American-Italian former professional basketball player. He spent two decades playing in European leagues.

High school career Shorter, a Philadelphia native, grew up in a low-income neighborhood. He attended Simon Gratz High School along with his older brother Rodney and was consistently ranked among the top recruits of his class. As a freshman he was one of the first options off the bench, averaging 15.3 points and receiving All-Public League honors, being a Third team selection. In his sophomore year he was named as ESPN Sophomore of the Year with season averages of 20 points and 10 rebounds. In his junior year he averaged 31.8 points, 15.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks; Gratz again lost to Southern in the semifinals despite a 33-points, 17-rebounds performance by Shorter, who also shot 14 for 15 from the field. For the second year in a row Shorter was named in the All-Public and All-City first team, and he was also selected as the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year.

After a 3-year career at Simon Gratz, Shorter had scored 1,869 points, that placed him only 383 points behind Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia record of 2,252. Despite the opportunity to pass the record on his senior season, Shorter had been having issues with his GPA and he and his teachers were worried that he would fail to achieve the minimum SAT score required to attend college. In order to improve his grades while maintaining a high level of basketball competition, Shorter transferred to Oak Hill Academy, a boarding school known for his basketball program. ranking among the top seniors in his class and at the end of his senior year he was selected in the Parade All-America first team and was named a McDonald's All-American. In the 1987 McDonald's All-American Boys Game he was the top scorer with 24 points, and he also grabbed 8 rebounds. Throughout his high school career, the best aspects of his game were his physical play, his strength and mobility for his size (drawing comparisons to Bernard King) Despite a possibility to attend other schools like Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, where other players went after failing the Division I academic requirements, He was named Big East Freshman of the Year and was also part of the Big East First Team. He was also an NCAA All-American Honorable Mention.

In his second season he led the Big East in scoring with an average of 20.6, and his rebound average of 9.4 placed him third after Coleman and Dikembe Mutombo. His third and final year of college saw a slight decline in almost all statistical categories, also due to his decreased minutes per game average: despite averaging more than 30 minutes for his first two seasons, in 1990–91 he only averaged 25.9 minutes. He finished his season with 13.6 points and 6.4 rebounds. Throughout his college career he showed a consistent ability to draw fouls (he was 1st in free throw attempts in 1989 in the Big East and 1st in the NCAA in 1990).

College statistics After a brief passage at French club Pau-Orthez (5 games), Shorter signed for Andino in the Argentine Liga Nacional de Básquet, where he led the league in rebounding with an average of 13.2.

In 1996 he had a brief stint in the Italian league, playing 4 games with a scoring average of 16.8. Throughout his career he played several seasons in Italy, both in the top division and in the lower leagues. He played in the Spanish top division, Liga ACB, in the 1995–96, appearing in only 5 games for Peñas Huesca. He then played once more in Argentina, again for Andino, and in the IBA team Black Hills Posse.

He then played for several teams in Italy (including Roseto, where he played 24 games recording 18.7 points per game). He ended his career in 2010, aged 42, playing for Gorizia.