Juan Carlos Navarro (basketball)

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Juan Carlos Navarro
Position Shooting guard/Point guard
Height ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg)
League NBA
Team Memphis Grizzlies
Jersey #2
Born June 13, 1980 (1980-06-13) (age 28)
Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
Nationality Spanish
Draft 2nd round, 40th overall, 2002
Washington Wizards
Pro career 1997–present
Former teams FC Barcelona (1997–2007)
Awards FIBA Under-19 World Championship MVP 1999
Catalan League Final MVP 2001
ACB Spanish League
2005-06 MVP
Official profile Info Page
Medal record
Competitor for Flag of Spain Spain
Men's Basketball
World Championships
Gold 2006 Japan Spain
European Championships
Bronze 2001 Turkey Spain
Silver 2003 Sweden Spain
Silver 2007 Spain Spain

Juan Carlos Navarro Feijoo (born June 13, 1980, in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona), nicknamed "La Bomba" (The Bomb), is a Spanish basketball player. The 1.92 m (6 ft 3¾ in) and 79 kg (175 lb) shooting guard/point guard currently plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.

Contents

[edit] Pro Career

[edit] FC Barcelona

Navarro started playing for FC Barcelona when he was a teen, making his ACB Spanish League debut on November 23, 1997, at the age of 17. That year he was selected to attend the Nike Hoop Summit, but he finally stayed in Europe playing for the Barcelona pro team. That was also the reason why he was not on the Spanish national team that won the AST tournament in Mannheim in 1998.

With the acquisitions of Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka in 2003, FC Barcelona won all the competitions they played in that year. It was a great year for the team. It was the first time the club won the Euroleague. By winning the Spanish ACB League, the Spanish King's Cup, and the Euroleague 2002-03 all in the same year, Barcelona won the coveted Triple Crown championship that year.

With Barcelona, Navarro won the Spanish ACB League championship 4 times, in the years 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2004. He also won with Barcelona the Spanish Cup championship 3 times, in the years 2001, 2003, 2007, the Spanish Supercopa championship in 2007, the Korac Cup championship in 1999, and the Euroleague 2002-03 championship. Navarro also helped to lead Barcelona to the Euroleague 2005-06 Final Four, where his team lost to CSKA Moscow in the semifinal game. Navarro's great Euroleague performances earned him selections to the All-Euroleague First Team for both the Euroleague 2005-06 and Euroleague 2006-07 seasons. In 2006, Juan Carlos Navarro earned the regular season Most Valuable Player award of the ACB Spanish League

[edit] Memphis Grizzlies

Playing for FC Barcelona Basquet with stars like Aleksandar Đorđević, Artūras Karnišovas, Rony Seikaly, Pau Gasol and Sarunas Jasikevicius helped to make Navarro a better player and he managed to earn a status as one of the most promising young European players early on in his career with Barcelona. All NBA mock drafts started to set him as a sure 1st round pick in the NBA draft.

However, in the 2001-2002 season Navarro had several problems with injuries and therefore he did not have a good season. Nobody seemed to see him as a 1st round pick in the 2002 NBA Draft because of this, but surprisingly, the Washington Wizards drafted Navarro in the second round (40th pick overall). Nevertheless, he preferred to stay with FC Barcelona after being drafted into the NBA.

On August 3, 2007, the Washington Wizards traded the draft rights of Juan Carlos Navarro to the Memphis Grizzlies, in exchange for a future first round draft pick. Navarro would be reunited with former FC Barcelona and Spanish National Basketball Team teammate Pau Gasol.[1]

Although initially there were a lot of doubts about Juan Carlos Navarro's ability to perform in the NBA, in his rookie NBA season, he proved to be an important member of the Memphis Grizzlies team, being one of the team leaders in three point shooting, and providing solid numbers when starting and coming off the bench. He was named to the 2007-08 NBA All-Rookie Second Team.

[edit] Spanish National Team

In the summer of 1998, Navarro was a member of the Spanish national team that won the FIBA Europe Under-18 European Championship. While on the Spanish roster, he was one of "The Golden Generation" boys of Spain (along with Pau Gasol, a current Los Angeles Lakers' player, and Raúl López, a former Utah Jazz player) that beat the United States junior national team at the 1999 FIBA Under-19 World Championship. Navarro was named the MVP of the tournament final and he was also selected as a member of the All-Tournament Team.

Navarro played with the Spanish national team at the 2000 Olympic Basketball Tournament in Sydney. He also played at the Eurobasket 2001 where he gave an awesome performance, winning two games during the tournament with buzzer beaters. He scored 27 points during the bronze medal game against the German national basketball team.

Navarro also won with the Spanish national team, the silver medal in Sweden at the Eurobasket 2003. Navarro however, did not play well at the 2004 Olympic Basketball Tournament. Although, he did score 18 points in Spain's loss against Team USA. Spain managed only a 7th place finish in the tournament.

At the Eurobasket 2005, the Spanish team only managed a 4th place finish. Navarro was the 2nd leading scorer of the tournament with an average of 25.2 points per game, finishing behind only Dirk Nowitzki in scoring average. Spain played the tournament without Gasol and Navarro lead Spain to a good finish considering this.

In August of 2006, he won the gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship with the Spanish National Team. In September of 2007, an injured Navarro couldn't help Spain at the Eurobasket 2007, held in Madrid, where they lost against the Russian national basketball team in the tournament's final on their home floor.

[edit] Championships

[edit] FC Barcelona

[edit] Spanish National Team

[edit] Personal Awards/Accomplishments

[edit] FC Barcelona

[edit] Memphis Grizzlies

[edit] Spanish National Team

[edit] References

[edit] External Links