By Panos Katsiroumpas/ info@eurohoops.net
Laboral Kutxa had a great year culminating in their presence in the Final Four in Berlin. However, James, Causeur, Bertans, Bourousis, have bid farewell to Vitoria, with Hanga and Adams being the next ones likely to leave…
Despite this and without yet being apparent along what lines the roster of the Basques is going to proceed in the new season, Querejeta made two great signings with the acquisition of Beaubois but mainly that of Andrea Bargnani. The Italian is a great player but one whose career could have had a much higher ceiling if he worked harder. There is no question whether his talent is enough for Baskonia, but what is going to be interesting is how the Italian looks at this new challenge in his career. First, let’s get to know him and then we will analyze the characteristics of his game.
Who he is
Andrea Bargnani made his first professional steps in Roma and from there he was transferred to Benetton Treviso, then a leading team in Italian basketball. Essentially that’s where he made the big bang, when at the age of 20 he was already the team’s star and one of the most talented players in the world.
He registered for the draft of 2006 and was selected with the No1 pick, which made him the first European who achieved this in the history of the NBA. His ability to shoot from the perimeter, his movement with the ball on the floor in spite of the 213 centimeters of his body, but also the plasticity of his moves, made many to compare him with Dirk Nowitzki.
He had huge prospects, but he was never able to become the franchise player that the Raptors where dreaming of when they selected him. Most of his years fluctuated at satisfactory levels but without ever showing a clear improvement. He played for seven years in Toronto, having double-digit numbers in points in every one of those years, the best being 2010-2011 which he completed with 21 points and almost 6 rebounds on average.
In 2013 he was transferred to New York, once again having a role but not being a protagonist in a team that played very bad basketball and didn’t have any chances of being in the postseason. He spent last year in neighboring Brooklyn, having the lowest averages of his career in the NBA. He returns to Europe after 10 years, looking to help his new team but also himself.
What he can offer
Of course, there is no question about whether Bargnani has talent or is a good player. The question is what his perspective is going to be regarding his return to Europe and the appetite he’s going to show in adapting to the standards of his new team.
Offensively the Italian is a super-weapon as he has a huge range of moves and options that makes things very difficult for any defense that he faces. He can be a threat from any part of the court with his shooting ability, had a career best of a little over 35% from outside the three-point line in the NBA, while he can also create a threat through the pick-and-roll, short roll and his shooting from 4-5 meters. He can attack facing the opponent and despite his size he has high quality ball handling skills when he puts the ball on the floor. Even though he’s not crazy about contact, he can score from inside the post, mainly thanks to his very balanced fade away shot that is quite reminiscent of Nowitzki. He generally likes to move along the perimeter and this can provide many spaces in which he can act, especially against heavier bodies. The biggest enigma is how to hide his defensive weaknesses. He’s a poor defender in the pick-and-roll, while switching defenses are not his forte since it’s hard for him to keep up with smaller and more flexible opponents.
In team defense he seems to lose his role and his concentration, while in the post as well it looks like he has several weaknesses, because like we said earlier, he’s a player that doesn’t like contact. Summing up, we can say that the Basques are taking a risk, but coming off of Bourousis’s amazing season, and taking under consideration that he too didn’t seem to have a role in Real, they’re hoping to hit the nail in the head with yet another case of a player whose career can once again take off in Vitoria. To what extent this becomes a reality is one of the biggest questions of the season that gets under way in October.