Rasho Nesterovič

Infobox NBA Player
name = Radoslav Nesterovič


height_ft = 7
weight_lb = 255
number = 8
position = Center
birth_date = birth date and age|1976|5|30
birth_place = Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
league = NBA
team = Indiana Pacers
college =
nationality = Slovenian, Serbian, Greek
draft = 17th overall
draft_team = Minnesota Timberwolves
draft_year = 1998
career_start = 1993
career_end =
former_teams = PAOK (1993–95)
Olimpija Ljubljana (1995–97)
Kinder Bologna (1997–99)
Minnesota Timberwolves (1999–2003)
San Antonio Spurs (2003–06)
Toronto Raptors (2006-08)
profile = radoslav_nesterovic

Radoslav “Rašo” Nesterovič (Serbian Cyrillic: Радослав Нестеровић - Рашо), usually referred to in English as Rasho Nesterovic (born May 30 1976), is a Slovenian-born Serbian basketball player currently playing for the NBA's Indiana Pacers.

Early life and career in Europe

Nesterovič was born to Serbian parents in Ljubljana, Socialist Republic of Slovenia, Yugoslavia. He played among the juniors in Partizan Belgrade.

PAOK Thessaloniki

Because of the Yugoslav wars, he moved to PAOK Thessaloniki. While playing there, he obtained a second citizenship (Greek) in order to avoid EU restrictions. In order to obtain Greek citizenship he had to administratively change his name in the eyes of Greek law. While in Greece, he thus competed as a domestic player under a name that appears in his Greek passport — Radoslav Makris. [ [http://195.56.77.208/player/?id=MAK-RAD-76&year=1998&team=873 Nesterovic playing history page on the official Italian league website] ]

Olimpija Ljubljana

Ahead of the 1995–96 season, he returned to his hometown to play for KK Union Olimpija. Competing in the domestic league, his averages were 30 minutes, 17 points and 14 rebounds per game. The summer 1996 offseason brought another significant feat for Nesterovič—playing for Slovenia youth national team he was the MVP at the 1996 European championship for players under 22 years of age. 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 Nesterovič's efforts. In that season, he played on 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 to Italian power Virtus (Kinder) Bologna during summer 1997. In the first season with his new club, he scored on average of 9 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the Italian domestic cup, but was much more successful in the Euroleague, where he scored on average 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 grand final, Nesterovič scored 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Nesterovič was a first-round 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.

Nesterovič 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. In his first season, he scored 8.7 ppg and grabbed 7.7 rpg. 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 national team, Beno Udrih, ultimately won an NBA title with the Spurs that year.

Toronto Raptors

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

On April 2 2008 at 7:34 pm EST, Nesterovič 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.

Indiana Pacers

On June 26 2008, it was reported that Nesterovič would be traded along with the Raptors' T.J. Ford, Maceo Baston and the 17th pick in the draft (Roy Hibbert) to the Indiana Pacers for Jermaine O'Neal and the 41st pick in the draft (Nathan Jawai). [ [http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/fordoneal_062608.html RAPTORS: Report: Jermaine O’Neal Headed to Toronto ] ] The deal was made official on July 9, 2008.

International career

Nesterovič was the captain of the Slovenian national basketball team until his retirement in 2008. He helped his team win 6th place at the 2005 Eurobasket in Belgrade, and secure a place in the Basketball World Championship of 2006. In Eurobasket 2005, he played an average of 21 minutes, where he scored 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds per game.

NBA career statistics

: "Correct as of 3 July 2008" [ [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/radoslav_nesterovic/career_stats.html Rasho Nesterovic Career Stats and Totals] , nba.com, accessed 6 December 2007.]

Regular season

-
align="left" | 1998–99
align="left" | Minnesota
2 || 0 || 15.0 || .250 || .000 || 1.000 || 4.0 || .5 || .0 || .0 || 4.0
-
align="left" | 1999–00
align="left" | Minnesota
82 || 55 || 21.0 || .476 || .000 || .573 || 4.6 || 1.1 || .3 || 1.0 || 5.7
-
align="left" | 2000–01
align="left" | Minnesota
73 || 39 || 16.9 || .461 || .000 || .523 || 3.9 || .6 || .3 || .9 || 4.5
-
align="left" | 2001–02
align="left" | Minnesota
82 || 82 || 27.0 || .493 || .000 || .549 || 6.5 || .9 || .6 || 1.3 || 8.4
-
align="left" | 2002–03
align="left" | Minnesota
77 || 77 || 30.4 || .525 || .000 || .642 || 6.5 || 1.5 || .5 || 1.5 || 11.2
-
align="left" | 2003–04
align="left" | San Antonio
82 || 82 || 28.7 || .469 || .000 || .474 || 7.7 || 1.4 || .6 || 2.0 || 8.7
-
align="left" | 2004–05
align="left" | San Antonio
70 || 70 || 25.5 || .460 || .000 || .467 || 6.6 || 1.0 || .4 || 1.7 || 5.9
-
align="left" | 2005–06
align="left" | San Antonio
80 || 51 || 18.9 || .515 || .000 || .600 || 3.9 || .4 || .3 || 1.1 || 4.5
-
align="left" | 2006–07
align="left" | Toronto
80 || 73 || 21.0 || .546 || .000 || .680 || 4.5 || .9 || .5 || 1.0 || 6.2
-
align="left" | 2007–08
align="left" | Toronto
71 || 39 || 20.9 || .550 || .333 || .755 || 4.8 || 1.2 || .3 || .7 || 7.8
-
align="left" | Career
align="left" |
699 || 568 || 23.4 || .499 || .083 || .578 || 5.5 || 1.0 || .4 || 1.2 || 7.0
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

Playoffs

-
align="left" | 1998–99
align="left" | Minnesota
3 || 0 || 9.7 || .500 || .000 || .000 || 2.3 || 1.0 || .0 || .0 || 2.7
-
align="left" | 1999–00
align="left" | Minnesota
4 || 4 || 31.5 || .440 || .000 || .500 || 3.3 || 1.5 || .8 || 1.8 || 6.3
-
align="left" | 2000–01
align="left" | Minnesota
4 || 2 || 12.3 || .385 || .000 || .000 || 3.0 || .8 || .2 || .8 || 2.5
-
align="left" | 2001–02
align="left" | Minnesota
3 || 3 || 30.7 || .484 || .000 || .444 || 6.7 || 1.0 || .3 || .0 || 11.3
-
align="left" | 2002–03
align="left" | Minnesota
6 || 6 || 28.2 || .500 || .000 || .667 || 5.0 || .7 || .2 || .7 || 7.0
-
align="left" | 2003–04
align="left" | San Antonio
10 || 10 || 26.1 || .433 || .000 || .167 || 5.5 || 1.0 || .3 || 1.1 || 5.9
-
align="left" | 2004–05
align="left" | San Antonio
15 || 0 || 7.6 || .417 || .000 || .000 || 1.7 || .1 || .1 || .3 || .7
-
align="left" | 2005–06
align="left" | San Antonio
9 || 1 || 12.7 || .579 || 1.000 || 1.000 || 3.3 || .1 || .2 || .6 || 2.8
-
align="left" | 2006–07
align="left" | Toronto
5 || 4 || 14.2 || .467 || .000 || 1.000 || 4.6 || .6 || .0 || .4 || 3.4
-
align="left" | 2007–08
align="left" | Toronto
5 || 2 || 15.4 || .500 || .000 || .500 || 2.6 || .6 || .2 || .4 || 4.6
-
align="left" | Career
align="left" |
64 || 32 || 17.2 || .468 || .500 || .500 || 3.6 || .6 || .2 || .6 || 4.0
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

References

External links

* [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/radoslav_nesterovic/index.html?nav=page NBA.com Official Profile]
* [http://planetrasho.wordpress.com/ It's Rasho's World]