Garbage Man Indeed

Three games into the season, near-perfect, save for a freakish Ray Allen three-pointer, and the grievances begin. Who from? The underplayed, yet solid Rasho Nesterovic? The fast-and-loose Juan Dixon? The stooge, Joey Graham? No, the intrepid, hirsute, “warrior,” Jorge Garbajosa. And yes, it’s largely an intentional misinterpretation by the Toronto Sun who ran the headline “Garbo Sits and Stews” based on the below quote:

"I don't know," (Garbajosa) said, when asked why he has averaged only seven minutes in the team's first three games. "I practise normally. I play in the European championships. I am fine. Everything is normal."

But the “complaint” reeks when you consider its source: probably the most over-rated player on the Toronto Raptors.

Garbajosa was the player that everybody wanted to love. Ever since Charles Oakley left the Raptors, Charles Oakley (and his groupie Doug Smith) rarely stopped saying how Toronto needed another Charles Oakley. In the summer of 2006 the Raptors found this man, signing Garbajosa for $12 million over three years. He “left it on the court” supposedly, winning one Euroleague MVP and two Spanish Cup Finals MVPs. Then the season came and the effort was there. Garbo tried hard, and all of those fans who loved him before he even played a single game tried hard to keep loving him. The result: 28.5 minutes/game, 8.5 points/game, 4.9 rebounds/game and 1.16 steals/game while shooting 42% from the field and 34% from three.

The Garbo fan loves to make the case that Jorge's contribution can't be quantified. Then they go on to point out his steals total which, for an out-of-position, 6'9" small forward was impressive. But you can't have it both ways, and in this case, i feel that the stats got his game right. Choose any game that Garbajosa played in last year and you will see a player lurching between great instinctive defense, and unathletic fumbling; long-range streak shooting, and front-iron bricking; no-look gems, and no-brain turds. The very injury that ended his season last year - and delayed his progress this year - was an example of the angel-hair line between playing hard and playing dumb.

That injury, or the events that followed it, are what some believe is preventing Garbo from seeing the floor this year. When Garbajosa passed on surgery to his gruesomely broken leg in order to play for Spain in the European Championships this summer, Raptors management couldn't have been pleased. Are Garbajosa and the front office in a stare-down over this? Doubtful, since Sam Mitchell seems obstinate, sometimes to the point of idiocy, in nearly everything that he does.

Instead, I favour Occum's razor: Garbajosa is outclassed this year. The acquisitions of Jason Kapono and Carlos Delfino have left even the 44th-chance Joey Graham on the bench (Graham didn't even dress for Sunday's game). And with Bosh showing that he's almost there against the Celtics, they've also left Garbajosa, the Juan Dixon of our front-line and one of the few combo-forwards in the NBA, with the following stat line for 2007:

7.3 minutes/game, 2 points/game, 1 rebound/game while shooting 22% from the field.

Garbajosa had another interesting quote this past January after winning the NBA's Rookie of the Month award for December 2006. “If I'm the best rookie in the league," he said. "Then this league is shit.”