Spain - It's country before team for Raptors' Garbajosa
Jose Calderon was going to clear things up. The Toronto Raptors point guard was going to cut through the complicated mess around teammate Jorge Garbajosa's bum left leg and ankle - and the surgery that will sideline him indefinitely - and make a firm and decisive point about where his loyalties lie in a mini-drama that has entangled a wounded Spaniard, his country and the NBA club that pays his wage. "I love the Raptors," Calderon said. "I love Garbo. That's it.
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Jose Calderon was going to clear things up.
The Toronto Raptors point guard was going to cut through the complicated mess around teammate Jorge Garbajosa's bum left leg and ankle - and the surgery that will sideline him indefinitely - and make a firm and decisive point about where his loyalties lie in a mini-drama that has entangled a wounded Spaniard, his country and the NBA club that pays his wage.
"I love the Raptors," Calderon said. "I love Garbo. That's it.
After Jorge Garbajosa met with a specialist in Baltimore on Monday, the Raptors announced the player requires further surgery on his leg and ankle.
National Post file
The question is how it got to this point - how Garbajosa could decline surgery in the summer, surgery the Raptors recommended, and play for his country at the European championship in Madrid.
"It's different over there," Raptors forward Chris Bosh said Tuesday. "It's different when you are playing for your country.
"The (Spanish) have a whole different pride about it; their overall camaraderie with their team, the way they look forward to it every year ... and then the Eurobasket was in Spain.
"So, I am sure he was waiting on it for a long time."
After Garbajosa met with a specialist in Baltimore on Monday, the Raptors announced the player requires further surgery on his leg and ankle.
Bosh has found himself at a national team crossroads before. He played for the United States at the 2006 world championship in Japan and arrived at Raptors training camp with a sore left heel that bothered him all season long.
The American program called on him again this summer for the FIBA Americas championships in Las Vegas. But with the health of his left foot still in question, Bosh opted for rest.
Garbajosa chose his country and won a silver medal after the Spanish basketball federation took out a $1-million insurance policy on his leg. That policy expires this Friday.
The story took on some added spice as a glum Garbajosa, a member of the NBA's all-rookie team last year, sat on the Raptors bench in the early stages of this season.
Memphis Grizzlies star Pau Gasol, a Spanish teammate, suggested Garbajosa was being "punished" by Toronto for participating in Eurobasket. The Spanish papers published sensational stories. Conspiracy theories blossomed in Madrid.
And now the Raptors and Garbajosa are back to where they were in the beginning, with surgery - and a lengthy rehabilitation - the best option.
"The good thing is, now, we have to just take care of him," Calderon said. "Because we need him. He is a really good player for us. And that's it."
Not quite. Tonight is Calderon and Garbajosa bobblehead night at the Air Canada Centre. The Memphis Grizzlies are in town, with their two Spanish stars, Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro. Spanish television and print media will be on hand, too, for a live broadcast, airing in Spain.
"We came here to do the game," said Nicola Loncar, a Spanish TV basketball analyst. "It is a unique opportunity for us, especially now, with the four (Spanish) players."
Only three of them are healthy. The other is at crossroads, caught between the choices he made in the past and an uncertain road ahead