Jorge Garbajosa is a player who succeeds wherever he decides to go because of his workmanlike attitude, combined with a tremendous feel for the game. A winner of several league and cup titles as well as Finals MVP awards with TAU Vitoria, Benetton Treviso and Unicaja Malaga, Garbajosa decided to look for a new challenge in summer 2006, joining the Toronto Raptors – whose Vice-GM and former Benetton Treviso president Maurizio Gherardini was instrumental in bringing him there – on a three-year-contract. The critics were quick to call him too unathletic for the fast NBA game, but Garbajosa proved all doubters wrong by giving a full display of his incredible toughness and his intangibles in general as well as an ability to quickly adjust to a new style in his rookie season. Unfortunately for himself and the Raptors, Garbajosa suffered a horrible leg injury late in the regular season. It was also another step in the mystification of Jorge Garbajosa: Undergoing surgery, Garbajosa refused to get a general anaesthetic because he wanted to see what the doctor was doing. He missed the 2007 NBA playoffs but insisted on playing for the Spanish national team in that summer’s Eurobasket, the beginning of the end of his NBA career. Garbajosa struggled to get healthy the next season, and after another conflict about the same matter in 2008, the Spainard was released into free agency before signing a lucrative contract with Khimki Moscow. Garbajosa returned to Spain for the 09/10 season, joining Real Madrid.
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