Pau starts the road to Eurobasket

[Slava]

Navarro played in the NBA and sucked. Some players just don't translate well across the continent.

He also hit 156 3three's his rookie year which is just 10 shy of Stephen Curry's rookie season record while logging almost 800 minutes less for the year than Curry played his rookie season.

Curry ... 2896 minutes ... 166 threes
Navarro ... 2117minutes ... 156 threes

Why pick and choose when you want to point out stats? Why don't you also compare Steph Curry's 43% 3pt shooting to Navarro's 36%? That's a massive difference to me.

The very next year (after Pau was traded mid-season) his old team offered him over 17million to come back to Spain (I believe to his actual hometown where his wife, kids, and family lived), while he was working off a 2nd round rookie contract with Memphis (less than 1 million for 2 more years)... that's why he didn't come back and it was absolutely the right move for him to make, I don't blame him one bit.

I'm not saying he was as good as Curry and I'm not trying to argue but saying his game didn't translate and he sucked is not right. He's an absolute superstar in Spain while in the NBA he's a 2nd rounder without much of a chance...which would any of us choose given the situation?

His kids and family moved to Memphis if I recall correctly, but they just couldn't settle, which is one of the reasons he took the offer from Barcelona as soon as he got it.

I cannot tell you that I followed his rookie season in Memphis like you did but I did keep tabs on a lot of foreign PGs including Calderon, Navarro and some other players in the Greek league like Dimantidis and Popaloukas because we had a gaping hole at PG until that season.

From what I can recall correctly Navarro was a scoring point that was asked to run an offense, which didn't work out for him. He had a terrible assist to turnover ratio, couldn't guard a bar stool, posted a below the league average PER, scored inefficiently and got frustrated by not being able to hold onto a starting spot for longer duration.

Compare this to the player he is for Spain and Barcelona, you'd be kidding if you think that all NBA 2nd team was a reflection of how he played.

[commadoor 64]

I'm not trying to pick and choose stats to prove a point, just saying he didn't suck.

Navarro's entire problem in the NBA was Iavaroni.
That man was the absolute worst coach I've ever seen. Navarro couldn't get into the games because of Casey freakin Jacobsen, for some reason that only Iavaroni could see, Jacobsen kept coming into games that year and was the worst ball player I've ever seen. As soon as Navarro missed a shot (not blowing a defensive assignment or turning the ball over, which he did) Jacobsen would take his place and it killed Navarro's rhythm and confidence. It was unexplainable to the point that it was rumored the owner told him during a game to stop playing Jacobsen because of the joke he'd become to the fans. The loud collective groan when he went to the scorers table was hilarious...ly sad.

[DrewBynum77]

hey guyses, any of you have the vid of kobe shoving pau during a game between team usa vs spain back in 2008?

I swear I saw it on youtube in the past but not sure why (probably due to my limited english) I cannot find it anymore.

help!

Thanks in advance.

[Leor_77]

Has anyone seen the spain-macedonia match? Pau has not play very good but he has done 22 pts, 13 rebs and 4 asists. The best of all has been the Juan Carlos Navarro's exhibition: 35 points and 19 at the third quarter that destroys Makedonia.
Lakers had to sign Navarro when he was a free agent. He would have been a good complement for the team

Yes, exactly. I've always said that Navarro needs to be in the league. I've seen him a ton of times with Spain, and he is a very good player.

I can understand why he likes playing next to home, though. It's tough to move the family here, and have to make sure everyone is proficient in English. I would most likely also take a little less money and stay closer to home, rather than going to another country.

[dr. strangelove]

I remember once Navarro was asked by a spanish journalist about the the NBA style and in particular about the Memphis style. He answered that in that team (Memphis) there were no strategy, no order, and the players were running around like chickens without head.

[commadoor 64]

I remember once Navarro was asked by a spanish journalist about the the NBA style and in particular about the Memphis style. He answered that in that team (Memphis) there were no strategy, no order, and the players were running around like chickens without head.

Yes, that's correct, it was.

Raise your hand if you are responsible for that...

Dark times .... Dark times.
The man actually ran an 'offense' that stuck Pau under the basket and pulled Darko out around the perimeter to run the offense through, and used the mighty Casey jacobsen/Darko Milicic pick.n.roll instead of Navarro/Gasol.
Idiot.

[DEEP3CL]

watched the game last night. good news Laker fans! Pau bulked up and there was no sign that he lost his speed with the added weight!

He doesn't look like he bulked up to me, personally from my stand point being a guy that lifts weights on a regular basis........Pau still looks the same.