Radoslav Nesterović

Radoslav Nesterović

Nesterović with the Toronto Raptors
Personal information
Born (1976-05-30) May 30, 1976
Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality Slovenian / Greek
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 1998 / Round: 1 / Pick: 17th overall
Selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves
Playing career 1992–2011
Position Center
Number 8, 12
Career history
1992–1993 Partizan (Yugoslavia)
1993–1995 PAOK (Greece)
1995–1997 Union Olimpija (Slovenia)
1997–1999 Kinder Bologna (Italy)
1999–2003 Minnesota Timberwolves
2003–2006 San Antonio Spurs
2006–2008 Toronto Raptors
2008–2009 Indiana Pacers
2009–2010 Toronto Raptors
2010–2011 Olympiacos (Greece)
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 5,519 (6.8 ppg)
Rebounds 4,143 (5.1 rpg)
Blocks 934 (1.2 bpg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Radoslav "Rašo" Nesterović (Serbian Cyrillic: Радослав "Рашо" Нестеровић, Slovene: Radoslav "Rašo" Nesterovič), usually referred to in English as Rasho Nesterovic (born May 30, 1976), is a retired Slovenian professional basketball player. He holds citizenship in both Slovenia and Greece.[1] In the NBA he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, and Toronto Raptors. Nesterović retired in 2011.[2]

Early life and career in Europe

Nesterović was born in Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia to father Čedo, a Bosnian Serb employee of the Slovenian Railways, and a mother Branka, a midwife in the Ljubljana University Medical Centre.[3] He started playing basketball with the KD Slovan youth team. Later, he played with the junior club of KK Partizan and made his debut during the 1992–93 season.

PAOK

During the Yugoslav wars, he moved to PAOK of the Greek League. While playing there, he obtained a second citizenship (Greek) to avoid EU restrictions. To obtain Greek citizenship he had to administratively change his name in the eyes of Greek law. While in Greece and other EU countries, he thus competed as a domestic player under the name Radoslav Makris.[4]

Olimpija Ljubljana

Ahead of the 1995–96 season, he returned to his hometown to play for Union Olimpija. Competing in the Slovenian domestic league, his averages were 30 minutes, 17 points and 14 rebounds per game. The summer of 1996 off season brought another significant feat for Nesterović; while playing for Slovenia's youth national team he was named the MVP at the 1996 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The next season, 1996–97, he was part of that legendary Olimpija team that reached the Euroleague Final Four in Rome, thanks in no small part to Nesterović's efforts. In that season, he played an average of 24 minutes, scoring 14 points, and grabbing 8 rebounds per game in the Euroleague.

Virtus Bologna

The exposure on the biggest European stage led to a big time move for Nesterović to the Italian League power Virtus (Kinder) Bologna during the summer of 1997. In the first season with his new club, he scored an average of 9 points and grabbed an average of 12 rebounds per game in the Italian domestic league, but he was much more successful in the Euroleague, where he scored 11.2 points and grabbed 8.4 rebounds per game. He helped Virtus win the Euroleague title, playing alongside legendary players such as Predrag Danilović, Zoran Savić, and Antoine Rigaudeau. In the Euroleague final, Nesterović scored 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.

NBA

Minnesota Timberwolves

Nesterović was a first-round draft pick (17th overall) of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1998 NBA Draft. He joined the Timberwolves just before the end of the 1998–99 season and played there through the 2002–03 season.

Nesterović stayed in Minnesota for four full seasons because he played only the last two regular-season games, plus all of his team's games in the playoffs, in his first season. His best season with the Timberwolves was 2002–03, when he averaged 11.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, earning himself a 6-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs in 2004.

San Antonio Spurs

In his first season with San Antonio, he scored 8.7 points per game and grabbed 7.7 rebounds per game. In his second season with the Spurs, 2004–05, he suffered an ankle injury, and was limited to 70 games. Nevertheless, he remained the starting center for the majority of the season, and, along with his colleague from the Slovenian national basketball team, Beno Udrih, he ultimately won an NBA title with the Spurs that year.

Nesterović with the Toronto Raptors

Toronto Raptors

On June 21, 2006, Nesterović was traded to the Toronto Raptors along with cash in exchange for Matt Bonner, Eric Williams and a second round pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.[5] In his first season with the Raptors, he averaged 6.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks per game.

On April 2, 2008, at 7:34 pm EST, Nesterović hit his first three-point shot ever in the regular season, with a pump fake, for a buzzer beater against the Atlanta Hawks, in Atlanta.

While playing for the Raptors, he was nicknamed Nestea as the fans found it "refreshing to have a true center."[6]

Indiana Pacers

On July 9, 2008, Nesterović was traded along with the Raptors' T.J. Ford, Maceo Baston and the 17th pick in the draft (Roy Hibbert) to the Indiana Pacers, in exchange for Jermaine O'Neal and the 41st pick in the draft (Nathan Jawai).[7]

Return to the Toronto Raptors

On July 30, 2009, Nesterović officially was signed by the Raptors, reportedly with the biannual exception of $1.9 million for one season.[8]

Return to Europe

Olympiacos

For the 2010–11 season Nesterović returned to Europe when he signed a two-year contract with the Greek League powerhouse Olympiacos.[9] He was released by Olympiacos in July 2011.[10]

Slovenian national team

Nesterović was the captain of the senior men's Slovenian national basketball team until his retirement from the national team in 2008. He helped his national team finish in 6th place at the EuroBasket 2005 in Belgrade, and to thus secure a place at the 2006 FIBA World Championship. At the EuroBasket 2005, he played an average of 21 minutes, where he scored an average of 16 points and grabbed an average of 7 rebounds per game.

Post-retirement era

Since 2014 Rasho Nesterovic holds a position as a Secretary-General of Basketball Federation of Slovenia. In 2015 he was elected a member of FIBA commission of players.

Personal

Nesterović has a sister and four children.[3]

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
1998–99 Minnesota 2 0 15.0 .250 .000 1.000 4.0 .5 .0 .0 4.0
1999–00 Minnesota 82 55 21.0 .476 .000 .573 4.6 1.1 .3 1.0 5.7
2000–01 Minnesota 73 39 16.9 .461 .000 .523 3.9 .6 .3 .9 4.5
2001–02 Minnesota 82 82 27.0 .493 .000 .549 6.5 .9 .5 1.3 8.4
2002–03 Minnesota 77 77 30.4 .525 .000 .642 6.5 1.5 .5 1.5 11.2
2003–04 San Antonio 82 82 28.7 .469 .000 .474 7.7 1.4 .6 2.0 8.7
2004–05 San Antonio 70 70 25.5 .460 .000 .467 6.6 1.0 .4 1.7 5.9
2005–06 San Antonio 80 51 18.9 .515 .000 .600 3.9 .4 .3 1.1 4.5
2006–07 Toronto 80 73 21.0 .546 .000 .680 4.5 .9 .5 1.1 6.2
2007–08 Toronto 71 39 20.9 .550 .333 .755 4.8 1.2 .3 .7 7.8
2008–09 Indiana 70 19 17.3 .513 .000 .781 3.4 1.6 .4 .5 6.8
2009–10 Toronto 42 8 9.8 .544 .000 .200 2.1 .6 .2 .4 3.9
Career 811 595 22.2 .502 .077 .585 5.1 1.0 .4 1.2 6.8

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1999 Minnesota 3 0 9.7 .500 .000 .000 2.3 1.0 .0 .0 2.7
2000 Minnesota 4 4 31.5 .440 .000 .500 3.3 1.5 .8 1.8 6.3
2001 Minnesota 4 2 12.3 .385 .000 .000 3.0 .8 .3 .8 2.5
2002 Minnesota 3 3 30.7 .484 .000 .444 6.7 1.0 .3 .0 11.3
2003 Minnesota 6 6 28.2 .500 .000 .667 5.0 .7 .2 .7 7.0
2004 San Antonio 10 10 26.1 .433 .000 .167 5.5 1.0 .3 1.1 5.9
2005 San Antonio 15 0 7.6 .417 .000 .000 1.7 .1 .1 .3 .7
2006 San Antonio 9 1 12.7 .579 1.000 1.000 3.3 .1 .2 .6 2.8
2007 Toronto 5 4 14.2 .467 .000 1.000 4.6 .6 .0 .4 3.4
2008 Toronto 5 2 15.4 .500 .000 .500 2.6 .6 .2 .4 4.6
Career 64 32 17.2 .468 .500 .500 3.6 .6 .2 .6 4.0

References

  1. ↑ Talkbasket.net - Nesterovic agrees with Olympiacos.
  2. ↑ Nesterovic ready to begin next chapter in basketball life
  3. 1 2 "Rašo med Beogradom in Ljubljano" [Rašo Among Beograd and Ljubljana]. Slovenske novice (in Slovenian) (Delo, d. d.). 1 August 2011.
  4. ↑ Nesterovic playing history page on the official Italian league website.
  5. ↑ "Raptors Acquire Rasho Nesterovic In Exchange for Matt Bonner, Eric Williams & a Future Second Round Pick". NBA.com. 2006-06-21. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  6. ↑ SLAM (December 2006). "Issue 103, pg. 26".
  7. ↑ "Pacers announce two trades; acquire seven players". NBA.com. 2008-07-09. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  8. ↑ "Raptors Sign Rasho Nesterovic". NBA.com. 2009-07-30. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
  9. ↑ Olympiakos signs Rasho Nesterovic to a two-year contract
  10. ↑ Olympiakos releases Nesterovic

External links

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