Jorge Garbajosa
From Hoopedia
Jorge Garbajosa Chaparro Jr., nicknamed "Garbo", (born December 19, 1977 in Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid) is a Spanish basketball player currently playing for the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. At 6'9" he plays both power and small forward.
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European Career
Garbajosa began his career playing for Tau Vitoria between 1995–2000. In the 1998-99 season, he guided Vitoria to a Spanish National Cup victory.
Garbajosa then spent four seasons at Benetton Treviso between 2000–2004 under future Raptors Vice-President and Assistant General Manager Maurizio Gheradini and Phoenix Suns Head Coach Mike D'Antoni. He won two National Cups, two Super Cups and two National Championships with Benetton and averaged 13.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and a Euroleague-best 2.85 steals, en route to 2002-03 All-Euroleague First Team honours and being named 2003 Eurobasket.com Player of the Year.
Garbajosa spent his next two seasons (2004–2006) with Unicaja Malaga, helping them to the 2005-06 ACB League championship and Spanish National Cup. He was in the top 15 in scoring (14.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg) in the Euroleague for 2005-06, 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 and 2006 Spanish Cup 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 Career
On July 24, 2006 the Toronto Raptors officially signed Garbajosa to a 3-year contract amounting to about US$12 million. He wears #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.
On Monday, March 26, 2007, Garbajosa suffered an injury to his left leg during a regular season matchup 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, displaced ankle and ligament damage. Because his recovery time is estimated in the range of six months, he was forced to miss the rest of the season and the entire post-season. He averaged 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game after 67 appearances in his debut season for the Raptors. May 8, 2007 Jorge along with teammate Andrea Bargnani are named to the NBA All Rookie Team.
National Career
Garbajosa was a member of the Spanish national team that participated in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. He also won a bronze medal at the 2001 European Championship and a silver medal at the 2003 Championships.
On September 3, 2006 Garbajosa and the Spanish national team won the gold medal at the FIBA World Championship, scoring a game-high 20 points and collecting 10 rebounds. He averaged 12.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in the tournament. In addition to winning the gold medal, Garbajosa also made the all-tournament team with teammate Pau Gasol.
On January 1, 2007, Garbojosa was named "Mister Europa 2006" by an Italian weekly magazine, SuperBasket. Other notable NBA players given this prestigious award are: Dirk Nowitzki (2005) and Pau Gasol (2004).
