Nesterović with the Toronto Raptors. |
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Position | Center |
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Height | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
Weight | 255 lb (116 kg) |
Born | May 30, 1976 Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia |
Nationality | Slovenian / Greek |
Draft | 17th overall, 1998 Minnesota Timberwolves |
Pro career | 1992–2011 |
Career history | Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) (1992-93) PAOK (Greece) (1993-95) Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia) (1995-97) Kinder Bologna (Italy) (1997-99) Minnesota Timberwolves (1999-03) San Antonio Spurs (2003–06) Toronto Raptors (2006-08; 2009-10) Indiana Pacers (2008-09) Olympiacos (Greece) (2010-11) |
Awards | FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship MVP 1996 1× NBA Champion 2005 |
Radoslav "Rašo" Nesterović (Serbian Cyrillic: Радослав »Рашо« Нестеровић, Slovene: Radoslav »Rašo« Nesterovič), usually referred to in English as Rasho Nesterovic (born May 30, 1976), is a retired Slovenian professional basketball player. He holds citizenship in both Slovenia and Greece.[1] In the NBA he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, and Toronto Raptors. Nesterović retired in 2011.[2]
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Nesterović was born in Ljubljana, Socialist Republic of Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia. He started playing basketball with the KD Slovan youth team. Later, he played with the junior club of Partizan Belgrade and made his debut during the 1992–93 season.
Because of the Yugoslav wars, he moved to PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek League. While playing there, he obtained a second citizenship (Greek) in order to avoid EU restrictions. In order 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 Makris.[3]
Ahead of the 1995–96 season, he 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 Euroleague Final Four in Rome, thanks in no small part to Nesterović's efforts. In that season, he played an average of 24 minutes, scoring 14 points, and grabbing 8 rebounds per game in the Euroleague.
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 9 points and grabbed an average of 12 rebounds per game in the Italian domestic league, but he was much more successful in the Euroleague, where he scored 11.2 points and grabbed 8.4 rebounds per game. He helped Virtus win the Euroleague title, playing alongside legendary players such as Predrag Danilović, Zoran Savić, and Antoine Rigaudeau. In the Euroleague final, Nesterović scored 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.
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.
In his first season with San Antonio, he 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.
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.[4] 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.
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).[5]
On July 30, 2009, Nesterović officially was signed by the Raptors, reportedly with the biannual exception of $1.9 million for one season.[6]
For the 2010-11 season Nesterović returned to Europe when he signed a two-year contract with the Greek League powerhouse Olympiacos Piraeus.[7] He was released by Olympiacos in July 2011.[8]
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 2005 EuroBasket 2005, he played an average of 21 minutes, where he scored an average of 16 points and grabbed an average of 7 rebounds per game.
Legend | |||||
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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 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
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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 | .6 | 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 | 1.0 | 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 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
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1998–99 | Minnesota | 3 | 0 | 9.7 | .500 | .000 | .000 | 2.3 | 1.0 | .0 | .0 | 2.7 |
1999–00 | Minnesota | 4 | 4 | 31.5 | .440 | .000 | .500 | 3.3 | 1.5 | .8 | 1.8 | 6.3 |
2000–01 | Minnesota | 4 | 2 | 12.3 | .385 | .000 | .000 | 3.0 | .8 | .2 | .8 | 2.5 |
2001–02 | Minnesota | 3 | 3 | 30.7 | .484 | .000 | .444 | 6.7 | 1.0 | .3 | .0 | 11.3 |
2002–03 | Minnesota | 6 | 6 | 28.2 | .500 | .000 | .667 | 5.0 | .7 | .2 | .7 | 7.0 |
2003–04 | San Antonio | 10 | 10 | 26.1 | .433 | .000 | .167 | 5.5 | 1.0 | .3 | 1.1 | 5.9 |
2004–05 | San Antonio | 15 | 0 | 7.6 | .417 | .000 | .000 | 1.7 | .1 | .1 | .3 | .7 |
2005–06 | San Antonio | 9 | 1 | 12.7 | .579 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 3.3 | .1 | .2 | .6 | 2.8 |
2006–07 | Toronto | 5 | 4 | 14.2 | .467 | .000 | 1.000 | 4.6 | .6 | .0 | .4 | 3.4 |
2007–08 | 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 |
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by |
FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship MVP 1996 |
Succeeded by Igor Rakočević |
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