The Toronto Raptors are very well represented this summer at the European Basketball Championships. Five Raptors have taken part in the tournament and all five have enjoyed success. Spanish starting point guard Jose Calderon has helped quarterback his team into the finals, averaging 11.1 ppg and 2.6 apg. Fellow countrymen Jorge Garbajosa, whom many felt shouldn’t have played this summer, came off the bench and averaged 8.0 ppg and 2.4 rpg. Spain will meet a powerful Greece squad which should turn out to be a great final.
Raptors center and Slovenian captain Rasho Nesterovic played very well in the tournament. He averaged 10.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 2.1 bpg. Uros Slokar also played for Slovenia, although his future with the Raptors is a little uncertain, he managed 6.6 ppg and 2.0 rpg.
Former first overall and future Toronto star Andrea Bargnani struggled earlier in the tournament, but finished strong averaging 12.7 ppg and 5.0 rpg. El Mago couldn’t find his range from beyond the arc where he went 9/25.
It is way too early to see the impact the Euro Championships will have on the nba players who participated, but it is nice to see success from some of the Raptors main players. Hopefully their success overseas will put these select players into midseason form and help the Raptors repeat as Atlantic Division champions.
Technorati Tags: Jose Calderon, Jorge Garbajosa, Rasho Nesterovic, Andrea Bargnani, Uros Slokar, Euro Basketball Championship, Atlantic Division
September 15th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
i think this level of off season activity only damages the players during the regular season, and into the playoffs. 82 games, daily practices, travel, hotel food, working out, all puts a big strain on the guys.
the offseason should be just that…off season. not season b.
hopefully they wont be affected too badly.
September 15th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
at least bosh got pushed out of qualifying. he needs to be fresh with the additions of garnett and randolph in the atlantic.
September 15th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
let’s hope also that they are not to tired midway thru the season ! jose and jorge are not exactly young like lbj,melo,and howard.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
My big worry is Garbo, just because the way he plays and that he never takes a play off. guys like Bargnani and Calderon would only benifit from the extra playing time. both guys play huge roles on each team and having Jose quarterbacking the best team in Europe is great. Bargnani was option 1 or 2 for Italy so hopefully his confidence will increase
September 17th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I think too much is made of negative impacts of players coming off international duty.
In fact, a while back I wrote an article detailing how last year’s Team USA players fared following the World Championships.
http://boederbucks.blogspot.com/2007/08/team-usa-and-michael-redd.html
I think Bargnani, Jorge, Calderon, and company will be just fine.