Jorge Garbajosa

Infobox Euroleague Player
name = Jorge Garbajosa
nickname = Garbo


caption = Garbajosa wearing a Toronto Raptors uniform during a pre-season game in Italy.
height_ft = 6
height_in = 9.5
weight_lb = 245
league = Russian League
ULEB Cup
team = Khimki BC
position = Forward
birth_date = birth date and age|1977|12|19
birth_place = Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
number = 51
nationality = Spanish
draft = Not drafted
draft_team =
draft_year =
career_start = 1994
career_end =
former_teams = Taugres/TAU Cerámica (1994–2000)
Benetton Treviso (2000–2004)
Unicaja Málaga (2004–2006)
Toronto Raptors (2006–2008)
awards = FIBA Europe European Player of the Year (2003)
Italian Cup Finals MVP (2004)
Spanish Cup Finals MVP (2005)
Spanish League Finals MVP (2006)

Jorge Garbajosa Chaparro Jr., nicknamed "Garbo" (born December 19, 1977 in Torrejón de Ardoz [ [http://www.interbasket.net/players/garbajosa.htm Player profile] , interbasket.net, accessed 25 February 2007.] , Madrid), is a Spanish professional basketball player. At 6 ft 9½ in, he plays both power and small forward.

Club career

Europe

Garbajosa began his career playing for Tau Vitoria between 1995–2000. [http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/pressrelease_garbajosa_072406.html "Raptors Sign Free Agent Jorge Garbajosa"] , nba.com/raptors, 24 July 2006.] In the 1998–99 season, he guided Vitoria to a Spanish National Cup victory. [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jorge_garbajosa/bio.html Jorge Garbajosa Info Page - Bio] , nba.com, accessed 25 February 2007.]

Garbajosa then spent four seasons at Benetton Treviso between 2000–2004 under future Toronto Raptors Vice-President and Assistant General Manager Maurizio Gherardini and New York Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni. He won two national cups, two Super Cups and two Italian League Championships with Benetton and averaged 13.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and a Euroleague-best 2.85 steals per game en route to All-Euroleague 2002-03 First Team honours and being named the 2003 Eurobasket.com Player of the Year.

Garbajosa spent his next two seasons (2004–2006) with Unicaja Málaga, helping them to the 2005–06 Spanish ACB League Championship and Spanish Cup. He was in the top 15 in scoring (14.9 points per game) and rebounding (6.9 rebounds per game) in the Euroleague 2005-06 season, and averaged 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds domestically in 42 Spanish league outings, shooting 55% from the field and 81% from the free throw line. Garbajosa was also the 2005 Cup Finals MVP and the 2006 Spanish League Finals MVP, and earned All-Euroleague Second Team honours.

Overall, in his 11 seasons with the three clubs, Garbajosa had a regular-season average of 10.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 362 domestic league games, and averaged 13.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 105 Euroleague games.

NBA

On July 24, 2006 the Toronto Raptors officially signed Garbajosa to a 3-year contract amounting to about US$12 million. He wore #15 for the Raptors, previously worn by ex-Raptors star Vince Carter. Given his pedigree, Garbajosa was a regular starter in the forward position. For the first half of the season, Garbajosa was instrumental in driving the Raptors past the .500 mark and he was awarded Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honours in December 2006. [ [http://www.nba.com/fantasy/fantasy_playernews.jsp?date=01/03/07&type=news Player News] , nba.com, accessed 3 January 2007.]

On March 26, 2007, Garbajosa suffered an injury to his left leg during a regular season match up against the Boston Celtics. The injury was serious, as he was carried out on a stretcher in considerable pain. Doctors in Toronto performed surgery to repair a broken fibula, a displaced ankle and ligament damage. Because his recovery time was estimated to be in the range of six months, he was forced to miss the rest of the season and the entire post-season. [Ewing, Lori, [http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/196603 "Garbajosa to be sidelined 6 months"] , thestar.com, 27 March 2007, accessed 12 September 2007.] He averaged 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game after 67 appearances in his debut season for the Raptors. [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jorge_garbajosa/career_stats.html Jorge Garbajosa Info Page - Career Stats and Totals] , nba.com, accessed 18 March 2007.] Garbajosa and Raptors teammate Andrea Bargnani were named to the NBA All-Rookie Team at the end of the season. [ [http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/all_rookie_2007s.html Andrea Bargnani & Jorge Garbajosa Highlight 2007 All-Rookie Team] , nba.com/raptors, 8 May 2007, accessed 11 May 2007.]

Garbajosa returned to play with the Raptors for the 2007-08 season, but after meeting with a specialist on November 26, he chose to have further surgery on his leg and ankle. [ [http://www.nba.com/fantasy/fantasy_playernews.jsp?date=11/26/07&type=news#jorge_garbajosa "Jorge Garbajosa: Will Have More Surgery"] , nba.com, accessed 13 December 2007.] The operation took place on December 11, 2007. [Smith, Doug, [http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/284837 "Surgery likely shelves Garbajosa for season"] , thestar.com, 12 December 2007, accessed 13 December 2007.]

In June 2008, negotiations took place in an attempt by the Raptors to buy-out the remaining year of his contract. Garbajosa had previously been named to the Spanish Olympic basketball squad for 2008, against the wishes of the Raptors. [ [http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/presClip/p/newsid/25680/arti.html Raptors attempt to buyout Garbajosa] at FIBA.com, 12 June 2008] On June 18, 2008, the Raptors officially bought out Garbajosa's contract. [ [http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/garbopresser_061808.html Raptors release Garbajosa] , 18 June 2008]

Back to Europe

In the 2008 off-season, Garbajosa signed a two-year, $18 million USD contract with the Russian League club Khimki BC.

National team

Garbajosa was a member of the Spanish national teams that participated in the 2000 Olympic Basketball Tournament and the 2004 Olympic Basketball Tournament. He also won a bronze medal at the 2001 European Championships and a silver medal at the 2003 Championships.

On September 3, 2006, Garbajosa and the Spanish national team won the gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, he scored a game high 20 points and collected 10 rebounds in the final against the Greek national team. He averaged 12.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in the tournament. In addition to winning the gold medal, Garbajosa made the All-Tournament team, along with teammate Pau Gasol.

On January 1, 2007, Garbajosa was named "Mister Europa 2006" by an Italian weekly magazine, "SuperBasket". Other notable NBA players given this award are Dirk Nowitzki (2005) and Pau Gasol (2004). [ [http://fiba.qq.com/pages/en/news/cou_art.aspr_act_news=17296&r_cat=8&lid_5288_page_high=15&lid_5288_page_news=4&FNAcode=362&FNAobject=ON Jorge Garbajosa "Mister Europa 2006" for Superbasket"] , fiba.qq.com, 1 January 2007, accessed 12 September 2007.]

At the EuroBasket 2007, Garbajosa again featured for the Spanish team. He averaged 7.8 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game in the nine games he played, [ [http://www.eurobasket2007.org/en/cid_BqypGFJPHy-Nw4lwIAq,v3.teamID_362.compID_qMRZdYCZI6EoANOrUf9le2.season_2007.roundID_5169.playerID_20157.html Player Home] , eurobasket2007.org, accessed 16 September 2007.] but Spain lost 59–60 to the Russian national team in the final. [ [http://www.eurobasket2007.org/en/cid_BqypGFJPHy-Nw4lwIAq,v3.compID_qMRZdYCZI6EoANOrUf9le2.season_2007.gameID_5178-54-A-1.html Game card] , eurobasket2007.org, 16 September 2007, accessed 17 September 2007.]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=AHV&seasoncode=E2005 Euroleague.net Profile]
* [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jorge_garbajosa/index.html NBA.com : Jorge Garbajosa Info Page]
* [http://www.acb.com/jugador.php?id=AKT ACB Profile] sp icon