Francisco Elson

Francisco Elson

Elson with the Spurs
Personal information
Born (1976-02-28) February 28, 1976
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Nationality Dutch
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school Maria Regina Mavo
College Kilgore JC (1995–1997)
California (1997–1999)
NBA draft 1999 / Round: 2 / Pick: 41st overall
Selected by the Denver Nuggets
Playing career 1999–2013
Position Center
Number 56, 16, 9, 8
Career history
1999–2001 FC Barcelona Regal (Spain)
2001–2002 Pamesa Valencia (Spain)
2002–2003 Caja San Fernando (Spain)
20032006 Denver Nuggets
20062008 San Antonio Spurs
2008 Seattle SuperSonics
20082010 Milwaukee Bucks
2010 Philadelphia 76ers
2010–2011 Utah Jazz
2012 Philadelphia 76ers
2013 Mahram Tehran (Iran)
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points 1,726 (3.7 ppg)
Rebounds 1,638 (3.5 rpg)
Blocks 255 (0.5 bpg)

Francisco Marinho Robby Elson (born February 28, 1976) is a Dutch retired professional basketball player. Elson was the seventh Dutch player to appear in the NBA.[1] Elson served as the captain of the Netherlands national basketball team in international basketball, and led the team in several Eurobasket qualifying rounds. In 2007 he became an NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs.

Personal

Elson is fluent in Dutch, Spanish, and English. He is of Surinamese descent.[2] His father is half Chinese and half African American. His mother is half Indian and half African American.

Career

Elson started his career at AMVJ Rotterdam at the age of twelve. After a couple of years playing he stopped. His gym teacher at the Maria School asked him to return to the club at the age of sixteen.

Elson was a member of the Dutch Under-20 National Team. He played two seasons at Kilgore Junior College in Texas before completing his college at the University of California, Berkeley. As a senior he helped lead the Bears to the NIT Championship.[3] Elson was drafted in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft from Cal by the Denver Nuggets, but did not commence play with them until the 2003–04 campaign. He played four years in Spain:

Over his first two seasons with Denver, he averaged 3.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. In 2005–06, his third season with the Nuggets, Elson played in 72 games, starting in 54 games. He averaged 21.9 minutes, 4.9 points (on 53.2% shooting) and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Elson gained notoriety during Denver's 2004 playoff series with Minnesota through his physical attempts to contain Kevin Garnett. Elson knocked Garnett into the seats behind the basket with a hard foul early in a game and later in the game was hit in the groin by Garnett. Elson caused controversy when he described Garnett as "gay" for the groin shot. Elson later apologized to the gay and lesbian community for his comments.[4]

In July 2006 Elson signed a 2-year US$6 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs.[5] Elson won his first NBA Championship in 2007 after the Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On February 21, 2008, Elson was traded by the San Antonio Spurs along with Brent Barry to the Sonics in exchange for Kurt Thomas.[6]

Elson later signed a two-year, $3 million contract with the Bucks to serve as Andrew Bogut's primary backup.[7]

On February 18, 2010, Elson was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers along with sharpshooter Jodie Meeks in exchange for Primoz Brezec and Royal Ivey.[8]

On September 15, 2010, Elson signed a guaranteed two-year contract with the Utah Jazz.[9] After his contract expired, he returned to the Netherlands for treatment on his knee.[10]

On January 27, 2012, Elson was signed by the Philadelphia 76ers to provide the team with front-court depth because of injuries at the position.[11] He signed two 10-day contracts, then was not re-signed for a third time after Spencer Hawes returned from injury.[12]

On June 20, 2013, Elson's retirement was announced on Dutch websites.[13] He later stated that his retirement was just from international basketball.[14] In March 2014, his retirement became official.[15]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Denver 62 14 14.1 .472 .000 .667 3.3 .5 .6 .6 3.5
2004–05 Denver 67 11 14.0 .468 .333 .570 3.0 .5 .5 .6 3.7
2005–06 Denver 72 54 21.9 .532 .200 .662 4.7 .7 .8 .6 4.9
2006–07 San Antonio 70 41 19.0 .511 .000 .775 4.8 .8 .4 .8 5.0
2007–08 San Antonio 41 3 13.0 .419 .000 .833 3.3 .4 .2 .3 3.5
2007–08 Seattle 22 2 12.7 .341 .000 .462 3.0 .4 .3 .3 3.0
2008–09 Milwaukee 59 23 16.6 .491 .250 .846 3.9 .5 .6 .6 3.4
2009–10 Milwaukee 11 0 5.6 .308 .000 1.000 1.2 .2 .1 .0 .9
2009–10 Philadelphia 1 0 4.0 .500 .000 .000 1.0 .0 .0 .0 2.0
2010–11 Utah 62 1 9.8 .478 .000 .839 1.9 .5 .3 .2 2.2
2011–12 Philadelphia 5 0 3.2 .333 .000 .000 .2 .2 .2 .2 .4
Career 472 149 15.3 .478 .188 .700 3.5 .6 .5 .5 3.7

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004 Denver 4 0 15.0 .583 .000 .500 2.3 .5 .5 .3 3.8
2005 Denver 1 0 6.0 .000 .000 .000 3.0 .0 .0 .0 .0
2006 Denver 5 2 15.0 .600 .000 .000 2.2 .4 .8 .0 1.2
2007 San Antonio 20 8 11.5 .591 .000 .700 3.1 .1 .4 .3 3.3
Career 30 10 12.4 .581 .000 .682 2.8 .2 .5 .2 2.9

See also

References

  1. Francisco Elson's Bio on NBA.com Retrieved on September 15, 2008. Archived April 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. "Francisco Elson, Spurs player with Suriname ties, inspires fan frenzy for NBA finals". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. June 14, 2007. Archived from the original on August 18, 2007.
  3. Spurs sign Francisco Elson, spurs.com, August 2, 2006
  4. Elson apologizes to gay and lesbian community, Associate Press, April 29, 2004
  5. Nuggets Don't Match on Elson, WOAI, July 21, 2006
  6. ESPN – Spurs get Kurt Thomas from SuperSonics for Barry, Elson and draft pick – NBA
  7. "Bucks sign Francisco Elson". NBA.com. Retrieved August 14, 2008.
  8. "Sixers Complete Four Player Trade with Milwaukee". NBA.com. February 18, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  9. "Jazz signs Francisco Elson". NBA.com. September 15, 2010. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
  10. https://twitter.com/tribjazz/status/58306346289860608
  11. "Sixers sign free agent big man Elson". CSNPhilly.com. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  12. "Turner's role is decreasing". Phillyburbs.com. 02-03-2012. Retrieved 2014-03-21. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. "Francisco Elson kondigt afscheid aan". Nusport.nl (in Dutch). 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
  14. "Francisco Elson: People need to stand up". Basketball+ (in Dutch). Retrieved 2014-03-21.
  15. "SAS: Elson: "Ik ben nu definitief gestopt"". Sportamerika.nl (in Dutch). 05-03-2014. Retrieved 2014-03-21. Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

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