‘A site among the best’.Juan Carlos Navarro's stage in the NBA
Do you have a gun? ’.On August 2, 2007 Juan Carlos Navarro was hysterical at the Hotel de Concentration of the National Team in San Fernando.There were less than 24 hours left to exhaust the deadline that FC Barcelona had given to resolve their future and the Grizzlies did not find an agreement with Washington, the franchise that had its rights since the 2002 draft.Pau Gasol, the main architect that ‘the bomb’ final.
Back to Barcelona by Dusko Ivanovic was not an option.This scene is rescued by journalist Luis Fernando López in ‘These wonderful years’, an excellent intimate story of the generation of gold juniors.Actually the deadline had initially been on July 25, the day before starting the concentration for the Eurobasket that Spain organized, but the hardness of Ernie Grunfeld in the negotiations had forced to give a little more rope.Washington had just renewed Deshawn Stevenson and had chosen Nick Young in the Draft.
Navarro had no place, but the wizards knew their value.According to the Washington Post, up to five teams had been interested in ‘La Bomba’.One were the Miami Heat, who had already asked in previous summers.In mid -Julio Pat Riley he had traveled to Barcelona, allegedly to tantar Navarro, but the Wizards were not going to transfer him to a rival of the Southwest Division.The only real option was the Grizzlies, because in fact there was no reversing."There is no possibility that you will continue in Barça.The decision is made, I want to go ”.They weighed more their desire to try on the NBA, share adventure with Pau and leave Dusko Ivanovic and a Barcelona in crisis behind.In the last three years he had only won one drink.
Pau Gasol, the key
Pau Gasol was his great courage in Memphis, but in turn Navarro was his only motivation to stay in the Grizzlies.The previous season the Sant Boi pivot had publicly requested the transfer.The three times they had gotten into playoffs had fallen 4-0 in the first round.Memphis had got rid of Shane Battier, another of the team's pillars.The months that had been lost due to the fracture in the foot he suffered in the World Cup condemned the team options.And he hadn't done good crumbs with Tony Barone, his fifth coach in six years."It's hard to maintain concentration for 48 minutes with the level of frustration so high around us," he said.
The Grizzlies did not let him leave, but in return Pau gained weight in the decisions of the franchise.That summer of 2007 Memphis had hired Marc Ivavoni, assistant to Mike D’A Antoni in the Phoenix Suns - and former player of the Caja Ronda, everything must be said -.When the new coach traveled to Barcelona to meet with his new star, Gasol again recommended the signing of Juan Carlos Navarro.«I always drop his name.If I came, I would give me a joy.It would not make much sense so that he arrived at the team and I asked for the transfer ».At the Bahía Sur de San Fernando Hotel, Gasol did not stop talking on the phone with the Grizzlies while Navarro climbed the walls. ‘Do you have a gun? ’.
Risk and mortgage
At the beginning of summer Navarro he had met with President Joan Laporta to facilitate the departure of the club he had belonged since he entered as a child in 1992.The president of FC Barcelona reduced his clause of 10 million euros to 3.5.NBA franchises could only "help" with 500.000 dollars without having for the salary limit.The rest would have to put the player.That was also one of the problems that August 2.This summer was published that the Grizzlies had offered the Theo Papaloukas, the other great European star of the moment for three years.But, at least for Juan Carlos, the reality was very different.
The amounts were well below what I expected and ended up resigning the idea of signing for a single season, hoping to do well and aspire to better offers the following year.The Grizzlies finally achieved their rights in exchange for a first protected round (for curious, Memphis would recover the pick two years later in the transfer of Javaris Crittendon and would choose Xavier Henry with the number 12 of the 2010 draft).And on August 3, on the horn, ‘La Pump’ reached an agreement with the franchise: it would sign a one -year contract for 540.000 gross dollars, one of the worst of that NBA.
Dream and loneliness in Memphis
Navarro could not wear his number 11 in the Memphis Grizzlies because he was the one chosen by Mike Conley, the rookie selected in the first round of that year.He stayed with the 2 as a wink to his daughters, Lucía and Elsa.The jump would also be for them and for their wife, Vanessa (after a life together, they married that year to facilitate the obtaining of the papers in the United States).Navarro already presented credentials in the first preseason game, a defeat against Unicaja Málaga in which he was maximum scorer with 21 points.
Back in the United States, he destroyed the Timberwolves with 22 points, nine in the last quarter to overcome a duel in which the Grizzlies had come to lose by 14.Soon Mike Miller baptized him as ‘Instant Grit’, in reference to one of those instant soups that are made in the microwave.The ‘La Bomba’ doll was heated right away.It was hard for him to enter the first games, but broke two weeks, machine -giving the New Orleans Hornets (current movie) with 28 points and an 8/9 in triples.The next night he started, although in reality he would spend all year alternating: he left 30 times in the initial quintet, but never in more than seven games in a row.What was defined was his role: a dumpist with a licensed to throw but with less creative load than he had shown that he could assume.
Navarro was chosen for the All-Star Novice match, but the one that was going to be a great appointment was blurred when two weeks before the Grizzlies transferred Pau Gasol to Los Angeles Lakers Lakers.The first months had been hard for the family, especially for his wife and two daughters.Pau had served as an umbrella and without him, Memphis became bigger and others.Navarro would still have a brilliant moment in the second half of course.He played the 82 games, averaged 10.9 points per night and stayed only two triples (156) to beat the historical record for newbies that Kerry Kittles had (today in the hands of Donovan Mitchell with 187).But the Grizzlies had lost 60 games, his family was not comfortable in Memphis and that contract he hoped never came.
Return to Barcelona
The previous summer, shooters like Jason Kapono or Matt Carroll had signed contracts for just over 5 million annually.That was the type of contract that his agent thought he could aspire, and the minimum he needed to be able to face the first payment of his clause with FC Barcelona.There were several interested teams, but no offer was high enough and, upon his return to the city, the Barca club found very changed.To begin, in the middle of the season Barcelona had dismissed Dusko Ivanovic and his position was now occupied by Xavi Pascual.
He had given full powers to Chichi Creus to direct the basketball section and was willing to a great investment to assault the Euroleague.The sports world uncovered the contacts already in the month of April, as soon as the regular NBA season.Barcelona offered to cancel the debt of its clause and a contract of 15 million euros for 5 seasons.The return home for vacation was final.“In the NBA I had a secondary role and here I can be a reference.You have to know how to be in all situations, but I prefer this pressure ".That season Barcelona won the ACB, came to the Final Four de Berlin and Navarro was chosen MVP of the Euroleague.The next, Europe was his again ... Navarro NBA
