Rasho Nesterović

Rasho Nesterović
Nesterović with the Toronto Raptors in 2007
Personal information
Born (1976-05-30) May 30, 1976 (age 48)
Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalitySlovenian / Serbian / Greek
Listed height7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
NBA draft1998: 1st round, 17th overall pick
Selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves
Playing career1992–2011
PositionCenter
Number8, 12
Career history
1992–1993Partizan
1993–1995PAOK
1995–1997Union Olimpija
1997–1999Virtus Bologna
1999–2003Minnesota Timberwolves
2003–2006San Antonio Spurs
2006–2008Toronto Raptors
2008–2009Indiana Pacers
2009–2010Toronto Raptors
2010–2011Olympiacos
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points5,519 (6.8 ppg)
Rebounds4,143 (5.1 rpg)
Blocks934 (1.2 bpg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

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

Playing career

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Early life and career in Europe

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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

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During the Yugoslav wars, Nesterović 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 "Rasho" Makris.[4][5]

Olimpija Ljubljana

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Ahead of the 1995–96 season, Nesterović 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 1997 EuroLeague Final Four in Rome. In that season, he played an average of 17.0 minutes per game, averaging 8.0 points, and 4.3 rebounds per game in the EuroLeague.[6]

Virtus Bologna

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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 8 points and grabbed an average of 6 rebounds per game,[7] in the Italian domestic league. In the EuroLeague, he scored 6.5 points and grabbed 6.0 rebounds per game.[8] He helped Virtus win the EuroLeague title, playing alongside legendary players such as Sasha Danilović, Zoran Savić, and Antoine Rigaudeau. In the EuroLeague Final, Nesterović scored 6 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.[9]

NBA debut: Minnesota Timberwolves

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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. Although the Timberwolves were offering him a contract worth $12 million more, Nesterović opted for the move to Texas for a shot at the NBA title.[10]

San Antonio Spurs

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In his first season with San Antonio, Nesterović 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

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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.[11] 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."[12]

Indiana Pacers

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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).[13]

Return to the Toronto Raptors

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On July 30, 2009, Nesterović officially was signed by the Raptors, reportedly with the biannual exception of $1.9 million for one season.[14]

Return to Europe: Olympiacos

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Nesterović with Olympiacos in 2011

For the 2010–11 season Nesterović returned to Europe, when he signed a two-year contract with the Greek League powerhouse Olympiacos.[15] He was released by Olympiacos in July 2011.[16]

National team career

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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 21.7 minutes, scored an average of 6 points, and grabbed an average of 6.2 rebounds per game.[17]

Post-playing career

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Nesterović was a Secretary-General of the Basketball Federation of Slovenia from November 3, 2014, until his resignation on July 11, 2023.[18] In 2015, he was elected a member of the FIBA commission of players.[19]

Personal life

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Nesterović has a sister and five children.[3] He is the godfather to Luka Dončić, the third pick of the 2018 NBA draft. He speaks Serbian, Slovenian, Italian, Greek, and English.[citation needed]

NBA career statistics

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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
 †  Won an NBA championship

Regular season

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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

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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

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  1. ^ Talkbasket.net - Nesterovic agrees with Olympiacos. Archived August 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Nesterovic ready to begin next chapter in basketball life Archived November 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b "Rašo med Beogradom in Ljubljano" [Rašo Among Beograd and Ljubljana]. Slovenske novice (in Slovenian). Delo, d. d. August 1, 2011.
  4. ^ Nesterovic playing history page on the official Italian league website.
  5. ^ Radoslav Makris Naz. Sportiva: GRE (in Italian).
  6. ^ RADOSLAV NESTEROVIC UNION OLIMPIJA LJUBLJANA PPG8.0 RPG4.3 APG0.0
  7. ^ Radoslav Makris MEDIE STAGIONE (in Italian).
  8. ^ RADOSLAV NESTEROVIC VIRTUS BUCKLER BOLOGNA PPG6.5 RPG6.0 APG0.3
  9. ^ VIRTUS BUCKLER BOLOGNA AEK BOXSCORE
  10. ^ Drago Perko (February 7, 2017). "Nesterović se je odpovedal milijonom, da bi postal prvak Lige NBA!" [Nesterovic gave up millions to become an NBA champion!] (in Slovenian). kosarka.si. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  11. ^ "Raptors Acquire Rasho Nesterovic In Exchange for Matt Bonner, Eric Williams & a Future Second Round Pick". NBA.com. June 21, 2006. Retrieved July 25, 2009.
  12. ^ SLAM (December 2006). "Issue 103, pg. 26".
  13. ^ "Pacers announce two trades; acquire seven players". NBA.com. July 9, 2008. Retrieved July 25, 2009.
  14. ^ "Raptors Sign Rasho Nesterovic". NBA.com. July 30, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
  15. ^ Olympiakos signs Rasho Nesterovic to a two-year contract
  16. ^ Olympiakos releases Nesterovic
  17. ^ Slovenia 8 - Radoslav Nesterovic Main Statistics Points per Game 6 Rebounds per Game 6.2 Assists per Game 0.5
  18. ^ "Rašo Nesterović ni več generalni sekretar Košarkarske zveze Slovenije". KZS. July 11, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  19. ^ "Bright stars of international basketball headline FIBA Players' Commission". FIBA.basketball. January 28, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
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