Francisco Elson

Francisco Elson
Center
Personal information
Date of birth February 28, 1976 (1976-02-28) (age 35)
Place of birth Rotterdam, Netherlands
Nationality Dutch
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
College California
NBA Draft 1999 / Round: 2 / Pick: 41st overall
Selected by the Denver Nuggets
Pro career 1999–present
Career history
FC Barcelona (1999–2001)
Pamesa Valencia (2001–2002)
Caja San Fernando (2002–2003)
Denver Nuggets (2003–2006)
San Antonio Spurs (2006–2008)
Seattle SuperSonics (2008)
Milwaukee Bucks (2008–2010)
Utah Jazz (2010–2011)
Career highlights and awards
NBA Champion (2007)
Stats at NBA.com

Francisco Marinho Robby Elson (born February 28, 1976 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch professional basketball player. At 7' 0" (2.13 m) and weighing 235 lbs (107 kg), he most recently played for the Utah Jazz of the NBA. Elson is the seventh Dutch player in the NBA.[1]

Currently Elson is the captain of the Netherlands national basketball team. He led the team in the 2007 euro-qualifiers. In 2008 Elson was once again the key player in the Dutch National Basketball team. In 2009 he will join the team again looking forward to qualify for the A-division in European basketball.

Contents

Personal

Elson is fluent in Dutch, Spanish, and English and maintains an off-season home in the Netherlands. He is of Surinamese descent.[2]

Elson represents the Netherlands as captain in international basketball.

Career

Elson started his career at AMVJ Rotterdam (now Rotterdam Basketball) at the age of twelve. After a couple of years playing he stopped. His gym teacher at the Maria School asked him to return to the club at the age of sixteen. Played with, amongst others, Peter van Rij (Fairfield and Charleston Southern) in the junior team of coach Jan Bruin in 1975. Benched in first team Rotterdam Basketball.

Elson was a member of the Dutch Under-20 National Team. He played two seasons at Kilgore Junior College in Texas before completing his college at the University of California, Berkeley. As a senior he helped lead the Bears to the NIT Championship.[3] Elson was drafted in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft from Cal by the Denver Nuggets, but did not commence play with them until the 2003–04 campaign. He played four years in Spain:

Over his first two seasons with Denver, he averaged 3.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. In 2005–06, his third season with the Nuggets, Elson played in 72 games, starting in 54 games. He averaged 21.9 minutes, 4.9 points (on 53.2% shooting) and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Elson gained notoriety during Denver's 2004 playoff series with Minnesota through his physical attempts to contain Kevin Garnett. Elson knocked Garnett into the seats behind the basket with a hard foul early in a game and later in the game was hit in the groin by Garnett. Elson caused controversy when he described Garnett as "gay" for the groin shot. Elson later apologized to the gay and lesbian community for his comments.[4]

In July 2006 Elson signed a 2-year US$6 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs.[5]

On February 21, 2008, Elson was traded by the San Antonio Spurs along with Brent Barry to the Sonics in exchange for Kurt Thomas.[6]

Elson later signed a two-year, $3 million contract with the Bucks. He was Andrew Bogut's primary backup.[7]

On February 18, 2010, Elson was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers along with Jodie Meeks in exchange for Primoz Brezec and Royal Ivey.[8]

On September 15, 2010, Elson signed a multi-year veteran contract with the Utah Jazz.[9]

NBA career statistics

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

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Denver 62 14 14.1 .472 .000 .667 3.3 .5 .6 .6 3.5
2004–05 Denver 67 11 14.0 .468 .333 .570 3.0 .5 .5 .6 3.7
2005–06 Denver 72 54 21.9 .532 .200 .662 4.7 .7 .8 .6 4.9
2006–07 San Antonio 70 41 19.0 .511 .000 .775 4.8 .8 .4 .8 5.0
2007–08 San Antonio 41 3 13.0 .419 .000 .833 3.3 .4 .2 .3 3.5
2007–08 Seattle 22 2 12.7 .341 .000 .462 3.0 .4 .3 .3 3.0
2008–09 Milwaukee 59 23 16.6 .491 .250 .846 3.9 .5 .6 .6 3.4
2009–10 Milwaukee 11 0 5.6 .308 .000 1.000 1.2 .2 .1 .0 .9
2009–10 Philadelphia 1 0 4.0 .500 .000 .000 1.0 .0 .0 .0 2.0
2010–11 Utah 62 1 9.8 .478 .000 .839 1.9 .5 .3 .2 2.2
Career 467 149 15.4 .478 .188 .700 3.5 .6 .5 .5 3.5

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Denver 4 0 15.0 .583 .000 .500 2.3 .5 .5 .2 3.8
2004–05 Denver 1 0 6.0 .000 .000 .000 3.0 .0 .0 .0 .0
2005–06 Denver 5 2 15.0 .600 .000 .000 2.2 .4 .8 .0 1.2
2006–07 San Antonio 20 8 11.5 .591 .000 .700 3.1 .1 .4 .3 3.3
Career 30 10 12.4 .581 .000 .682 2.8 .2 .5 .2 2.9

References

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Raemon Sluiter
Rotterdam Sportsman of the Year
2003
Succeeded by
Koos de Ronde
Preceded by
Robin van Persie
Rotterdam Sportsman of the Year
2007
Succeeded by
Robert Lathouwers