Fabricio Oberto

Fabricio Oberto

Oberto with the Wizards
Personal information
Born (1975-03-21) March 21, 1975
Las Varillas, Córdoba Province, Argentina
Nationality Argentine / Italian
Listed height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight 256 lb (116 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 1997 / Undrafted
Playing career 1993–2013
Position Center
Career history
1993–1998 Atenas (Argentina)
1998–1999 Olympiacos (Greece)
2000–2002 Tau Cerámica (Spain)
2002–2005 Pamesa Valencia (Spain)
2005–2009 San Antonio Spurs
2009–2010 Washington Wizards
2010 Portland Trail Blazers
2013 Atenas (Argentina)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men’s Basketball
Competitor for  Argentina
Summer Olympic Games
2004 Athens National Team
2008 Beijing National Team
FIBA World Cup
2002 Indianapolis National Team
FIBA Americas Championship
1995 Neuquen National Team
2001 Neuquen National Team
2003 San Juan National Team
2011 Mar del Plata National Team
South American Championship
1997 Maracaibo National Team
FIBA Diamond Ball
2004 Belgrade National Team
2008 Nanjing National Team
Pan American Games
1995 Mar del Plata National Team

Fabricio Raúl Jesús Oberto (born March 21, 1975) is an Argentine-Italian[1][2] former professional basketball player. At 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) and 256 pounds (116 kg), he played as a center. With the LNB club Atenas, in his native Argentina, Oberto began playing professionally in 1993, and later played overseas with teams in Spain and Greece. In 2005, Oberto signed with the San Antonio Spurs, a team of the American National Basketball Association, and won a championship with the Spurs in 2007. He is also a former member of the Argentina national basketball team.

Professional career

Argentina and Europe

At age 17, Oberto went to a trial at Atenas de Córdoba, one of the most important basketball clubs in Argentina, and was selected to start the following year, and started playing professionally later that year. In 1998, after being chosen MVP of the finals of the Argentine league, he transferred to the Greek League club Olympiacos,[3] starting his Euroleague experience that would take him to the Spanish League's TAU Cerámica a year later. After 2 seasons with TAU, he moved to Pamesa Valencia in 2002.

NBA career

In 2005, after voiding his contract with Pamesa, Oberto signed a 3-year, US$7.5 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA, where he joined fellow Argentine Manu Ginóbili. He kept jersey #7, the same number used with the Argentine national team. Oberto was the oldest rookie in Spurs history at the age of 31.[4]

During the first year of his NBA stint, Oberto was no longer the key player he had been in Europe, playing less than 9 minutes per game on average. He nonetheless was very satisfied with his role on the Spurs, a perennial championship contender.

In his second NBA season, Oberto became more of a factor in the Spurs rotation—starting in some games and getting his first double-double on November 8 when he scored 22 points (11/11 field goals) and pulled down 10 rebounds.[5] He also became a pivotal player for the Spurs during the 2006–2007 Western Conference Finals, averaging 31 minutes and 14 points in the first two games of the series.[6]

On June 23, 2009, Oberto was traded to the Detroit Pistons as a part of a three-team trade among Pistons, Spurs and the Milwaukee Bucks, which included Richard Jefferson.[7] Then he was immediately waived by the Pistons.

On August 11, 2009, he was officially signed by the Wizards.[8] Since jersey number 7 was already taken by Andray Blatche, he chose to wear number 21 because of his birth date (March 21) and in honor of one of his idols, former teammate Tim Duncan.[9] After a single season in which he got limited playing time as the team struggled through the Gilbert Arenas gun incident and ultimately began to rebuild, he became a free agent once more in the summer of 2010.

Oberto once more was part of the Argentine National Team for the 2010 FIBA World Championship, and was an important contributor to Argentina's fifth-place finish. After his solid play during the World Championship in Turkey, he received multiple offers from European teams, most notably Efes Pilsen[10] and Real Madrid.[11] Oberto, however, decided to continue to wait for an opportunity to sign with an NBA team. He eventually reached an agreement to join the Portland Trail Blazers for the 2010–11 season.[11][12][13][14] However, on November 4, 2010, after playing five games for Portland, he began experiencing palpitations related to a previous heart condition and decided to retire in order to preserve his health.[15][16]

Return to activity

On January 2013, Oberto signed a contract with his former team, Atenas de Córdoba, returning to the Liga Nacional de Básquetbol after 14 years. Oberto was hired for the remainder of the season as a replacement for center Julián Aprea, who had been separated from the team by coach Alejandro Lotterio and then dismissed at the end of 2012.[17][18][19][20]

Argentine national team

Oberto started playing with Argentina shortly before his 20th birthday in 1995, and since then has won a number of tournaments including the 2004 Olympic gold medal match.

In July 2011, Oberto announced that he was coming out of retirement to play in the FIBA Americas Championship. He said that doctors had cleared him to participate.[21] However, he could not participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics because of personal problems.[22]

Titles and medals

Clubs

Argentine national team

Personal life

Oberto was born in Las Varillas, Córdoba, Argentina. Oberto and his wife, Lorena, have a daughter, Julia, who was born in the summer of 2005.[4] He also enjoys playing the guitar and his favorite bands include Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, U2 and Metallica.[4]

On June 4, 2009, Oberto underwent a successful ablation procedure. The procedure was done to correct the electrical system of the heart that was sending Oberto into atrial fibrillation. Oberto’s procedure was performed at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute in Austin by Dr. Andrea Natale.[24]

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
2005–06 San Antonio 59 0 8.3 .473 .000 .556 2.1 .5 .2 .2 1.7
2006–07 San Antonio 79 33 17.3 .562 .000 .647 4.7 .9 .3 .3 4.4
2007–08 San Antonio 82 64 20.1 .608 .000 .607 5.2 1.2 .5 .2 4.8
2008–09 San Antonio 54 11 12.5 .587 .000 .571 2.6 1.1 .1 .2 2.6
2009–10 Washington 57 20 11.4 .625 .000 .765 1.8 .9 .2 .2 1.5
2010–11 Portland 5 0 9.0 .600 .000 .500 1.4 .0 .0 .0 1.4
Career 336 128 14.5 .576 .000 .617 3.5 .9 .3 .2 3.2

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2006 San Antonio 7 0 4.9 .333 .000 .250 .9 .1 .1 .4 1.0
2007 San Antonio 20 12 20.8 .625 .000 .571 4.9 .7 .3 .2 5.6
2008 San Antonio 17 9 19.5 .609 .000 .700 4.2 1.2 .4 .3 3.7
2009 San Antonio 2 0 11.0 .667 .000 1.000 2.0 .0 1.0 .0 6.0
Career 46 21 17.4 .603 .000 .615 3.9 .8 .3 .3 4.2

References and notes

  1. ↑ Euroleague.net OBERTO, FABRICIO Nationality: Italy.
  2. ↑ ACB.com F. Oberto nacionalidad|licencia: ITA
  3. ↑ "Fabricio Oberto vuelve a la Liga Nacional". La Rioja Basquet (in Spanish). 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
  4. 1 2 3 NBA.com: Fabricio Oberto Bio Page
  5. ↑ Spurs respond in OT after Duncan misses late FTs
  6. ↑ http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/10197603
  7. ↑ "Pistons Acquire Fabricio Oberto in Three-Team Trade with San Antonio and Milwaukee". NBA.com. 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  8. ↑ "Wizards Sign Fabricio Oberto". NBA.com. 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  9. ↑ "Me quieren para que los haga más inteligentes en la cancha". Diario Olé (in Spanish). 2009-08-12. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  10. ↑ "Oberto usa Blazer". Diario Olé (in Spanish). 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  11. 1 2 "Oberto es el quinto Stone". Diario Olé (in Spanish). 2010-10-23. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  12. ↑ "Sources: Blazers sign Fabricio Oberto". ESPN.com. 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  13. ↑ "Blazers sign C Oberto, waive F Pendergraph". NBA.com. 2010-10-26. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  14. ↑ "Trail Blazers sign Fabricio Oberto". trailblazers.com. 2010-10-26. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  15. ↑ Fabricio Oberto announces retirement
  16. ↑ "Se retira Oberto". Diario Olé (in Spanish). 2010-11-04. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
  17. ↑ "Atenas dio de baja a Julián Aprea", La Voz del Interior, 27 December 2012
  18. ↑ "Atenas dio de baja a Aprea", LNB website, 27 December 2012
  19. ↑ "Fabricio Oberto, un aterrizaje galáctico en Atenas", La Voz del Interior, 2 January 2013
  20. ↑ "El regreso más esperado", Clarín, 2 January 2013
  21. ↑ ARG - Oberto ready to go
  22. ↑ Fabricio Oberto no irá a los Juegos Olímpicos
  23. ↑ atenas.com
  24. ↑ San Antonio Spurs official site

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