Andrea Bargnani

Andrea Bargnani (born 26 October 1985) is an Italian former professional basketball player.

Bargnani began his basketball career in 2002–03 with Stella Azzurra Roma in the Italian four-tiered league Serie B2, averaging 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 23 games.

In 2003–04, Bargnani joined LBA side Benetton Treviso.

He posted averages of 4.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10 games.

He made eight appearances in the EuroLeague, recording 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per outing.

Incidentally, Bargnani faced his future team, the Toronto Raptors, on 20 October 2003 in a pre-season game at Air Canada Centre.

He tallied 13 points, five rebounds, one steal, and two blocks in 22 minutes in an 86–83 defeat to the Raptors.

In 2004–05, he averaged 6.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 28 LBA games for Benetton, and averaged 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds in 12 EuroLeague matches.

In the 2005–06 LBA season, he averaged 12 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.4 steals in 47 games for Benetton.

He posted a season high of 25 points against Rome.

He shot .483 from the field and .399 from three-point range, and led the LBA in blocks with 63.

In the 2005–06 EuroLeague season, he contributed 10.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals, while shooting .508 percent from the floor and .434 from three-point range in 18 games.

He posted a season-high 20 points against Panathinaikos and Strasbourg.

Bargnani was subsequently named the EuroLeague Rising Star, the award given to each EuroLeague season's best EuroLeague player aged 22 or under, for the 2005–06 season.

As a prospect, Bargnani drew many comparisons to German NBA player Dirk Nowitzki, mainly due to his ability to shoot from the perimeter, his mobility despite his size, and his ball-handling skills.

The 7 ft 0 in (213 cm) power forward-center played for Benetton Treviso in the Italian LBA and the EuroLeague before being selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors.

In the process, he helped lead Benetton to the 2006 LBA title.

Bargnani entered the 2006 NBA draft and was selected first overall by the Toronto Raptors.

He is the first European player, sixth non-American player, and second player without U.S. college or high school experience to be drafted first overall, after Yao Ming.

Bargnani made his regular season debut against the New Jersey Nets on 1 November 2006, posting 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks in eight minutes of play.

In the process, he also became the fourth ever Italian-born player to play in the NBA.

Like many rookies, Bargnani took some time to adapt to the league and as he slowly improved his game, his confidence and playing time increased.

In turn, the home fans soon warmed up to Bargnani; on 7 January 2007, 10,000 Bargnani figurines were given away at Air Canada Centre for the game against the Washington Wizards.

As the mid-season approached, Bargnani was selected as NBA's Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month (January 2007), joining teammate Jorge Garbajosa (winner of the award in December 2006) as the sixth Raptors player to win the monthly honour.

Together with Garbajosa, Bargnani was also selected to play in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge game.

After the All-Star break, Bargnani continued to work on his defence and shooting (averaging 14.3 points per game (ppg) and 3.9 rebounds per game (rpg) in 12 games in February 2007), and he was selected as the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for the second straight time on 1 March 2007.

Bargnani became the third Raptor ever to win the award twice, joining Vince Carter and Damon Stoudamire.

On 21 March 2007, Bargnani underwent emergency appendectomy surgery after being taken to hospital following illness experienced after practice the night before.

He recovered after about a month, and ended the season, averaging 11.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

His performances were credited as helping the Raptors to their first ever Division title, as well as their first NBA playoffs berth in five years; Bargnani came in second for NBA Rookie of the Year.

In the 2007 NBA Playoffs, Bargnani averaged 11.0 ppg and 4.0 rpg as the Raptors were defeated by the New Jersey Nets 4–2 in the first round.

On 8 May 2007, Bargnani and Garbajosa were named to the NBA All-Rookie team.

On 5 October 2007, the Raptors announced they had exercised a third year option on Bargnani, giving a guaranteed NBA contract through the 2008–09 season and retaining a fourth year option for the 2009–10 season.

Prior to the 2007–08 season, Bargnani was voted by the general managers of the league as the "international player most likely to have a breakout season".

He was selected to play with the Sophomores in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge during the NBA All-Star Weekend.

Bargnani was widely criticised for having a poor season.

His statistics had gone down, he was not grabbing enough rebounds, was unable to shoot well, got into foul trouble easily and did not drive to the basket enough.

He did not feature prominently in the playoffs either—in which the Raptors were eliminated by the Orlando Magic in the first round—and there were even calls for him to be traded.

However, Toronto did not give up on Bargnani yet and committed the entire summer coaching him to become a more effective interior player, forcing him to drive to the basket more and settle less for jump shots.

He spent 10 seasons in the NBA, including with the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, before ending his career with a stint in Spain during the 2016–17 season.