Three of the players in the current squad have played in the NBA. André Barrett has played for most teams while Juan Carlos Navarro has had most game time and made the greatest impact. The third is Ersan Ilyasova.
Newcomer André Barrett has the most NBA experience of any current Barça player. A pro since 2004,
the American point guard’s last team was the Los Angeles Clippers (13 games). Previously
he’d played for the Houston Rockets (27 games) and Orlando Magic (11 games). He also had
temporary contracts with the Knicks (three weeks), Suns (twenty days), Bucks (four weeks) and the
Raptors (3 months). Barrett, however, made his name in the NBDL, the NBA development league, with
the Bakersfield Jam and Austin Toros.
Ilyasova and the Bucks
Ersan Ilyasova has had a similar career to Barrett. The Turk
was 18 when he joined the NBA in 2005. The Bucks, holder of rights to the player, sent him to the
Tulsa 66ers in the NBDL. After a season in the development league his figures improved
substantially (12.5 points and 7 rebounds) and that was enough to take him back to the Bucks, where
he played in the 2006/07 season.
Navarro and the Grizzlies
Drafted in 2002, the shooting guard from Sant Feliu de Llobregat wanted to try to make it in
America and Barça agreed to release him. He joined the Memphis Grizzlies after Washington
transferred his rights on 3 August 2007.
In his debut season ‘La Bomba' achieved exceptional figures (10.9 points, 2.2 assists
in the 82 games he played). Plus Navarro nearly achieved the three pointer record for a rookie. He
was included in the second best NBA rookies’ team and played in the All-Star game in Las
Vegas.
Santiago at Suns and Bucks
Barça’s latest signing, Daniel Santiago, also has NBA experience. He played for two
American teams, at first in the 2000/01 and 2001/02 season, when the Puerto Rican was at the
Phoenix Suns (playing in a total of 57 games).
Santiago’s second period in the USA was more recent, when he represented the Milwaukee
Bucks in 65 games between 2003/04 and 2004/05. In total, 112 appearances in the NBA in which the
centre scored 417 points and took 216 rebounds in 1,418 minutes.
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