Raptors eye Spanish centre Garbajosa

My Spanish is not great, but I know Marca, the Spanish sports paper, and I know enough to read a headline:

Garbajosa tied to Raptors.

Garbajosa, at age 28, is more of a 4/5 type measuring 6-foot-8, and might seem a strange pickup. He's not a frontliner by any stretch, but he has been linked in the past to the Suns and the Raptors. This is Jose Calderon's old teammate (and also a former Mike D'Antoni player in Italy), and with Mauricio Gherardini on his way in to the Toronto FO as assistant GM, it does make sense. With the Raptors poised under Bryan Colangelo to finally mine Europe (or at least try to) in a big way, it makes further sense. A spare part in the middle who can face up and shoot the 3, even if he's untried at this level, can't be any worse than Loren Woods, can it? That is, if Sam Mitchell bothers to give him any p.t.

If anyone knows more about this, send it along. Not a major signing, but it looks like a move nonetheless.

Meantime, if it doesn't work out, of if it's just a case of the Spanish translation for "Nate Huffman", you know the old saying: Garbajosa in, Garbajosa out.

(Thanks to regular visitor Cyber Steak for the link).

UPDATE: Thanks to Alex and Joe C. for pointing out something I didn't put in here, that the article is reporting a three-year deal worth up to $12 million. And I stress "up to" -- Garbajosa is a free agent, and as such we probably won't have any of this confirmed until the FA signing period kicks in over the summer. And I wonder about that number.

Comments

[Alex]

Thanks for the info, Chris. FYI, the article says that the Raptors will be offering up to $12M over the next 3 years.

[andrew james]

Garbajosa has been one of the three best '4' in Europe for the last 5 years. He succeeded in Benetton but preferred to come back to Spain and now plays for Unicaja Malaga, the first team in Spanish regular season. I think he can opt-out his contract for 1.5 or 2 million euros, so he would make the same play as Calderon (you pay your opt-out yourself, and then you get a good contract in NBA for 3 years).

The only problem I see is that Garbajosa is a 3/4, instead of 4/5. So he would play off the bench or maybe displace Charlie Villanueva, who still needs someone to compete with in order to progress as a NBA player.

In any case, with Garbajosa and a tough '5' (it would be Aldridge, I suppose) Raptors would have a decent team.

[Jeff - HoopsAddict]

"A spare part in the middle who can face up and shoot the 3." Could this be the end of the Red Rocket in Toronto?

[cy]

Jeff, I haven't actually seen this guy play -- anyone who has a link to video, send it along. But I think Andrew is right, he seems from what I've read to amount to more of a 3/4 type -- 6-8, 6-9, but a bit more rugged than your usual Euro face-up shooter.
Geez. I think I like that Marion rumour better.

[voislav]

I have actually seen the guy play quite a few times over the years, mostly for the Spanish national team, where he usually teams up with Gasol as the 4-5 combo. He is pretty physical for a European centre and has really good post moves in addition to decent shooting range. Could not play SF in NBA as is too slow, would get killed on defense. At $4M a year it's a reach, I would rather stick with Bonner, who does the same job for less money.
How about drafting Kosta Perovic, 7-2 centre from Serbia, with that 56. pick. He was once considered a high pick, but his stock really dropped after he blew his knee. Only 21 still and a bit of a project, but what late second rounder is not.

[cy]

Thanks for that, Voislav. good stuff. And put me down as a believer in Bonner, a useful role player who's sometimes been asked to do too much here becuase of the dearth of bigs. He can shoot. You can go a long way in the NBA with a shot.

[enkhata]

Does the name Fabricio Oberto ring a bell? Not all international players are well suited for the NBA game. Garbajosa fits into this category and will be little more than a spot player on this side of the pond. At $4 m/yr it makes no sense.

[nike]

i think Colangelo is right in thinking of a replacement for bonner. if he wants the raps to play small ball, bonner would not fit. He's too slow. besides, BC wants to make sure that all his players are
available should another transport strike hits toronto. 'Carless' bonner is a ??

[adrian]

From spain:Garbajosa is a power forward,no dude(Nowitzki kind of player).He is much better than you think , you will be very surprised...