reflections
May 17th, 2008 Nesterovic Excercises 2008-2009 Option

According to the Toronto Sun, Raptors center Rasho Nesterovic has elected to pick up his 2008-2009 player option, which will keep him in Toronto for one more year.

Raptors centre Rasho Nesterovic exercised the player option on his contract for next season yesterday.

The 7-foot, 270-pounder averaged 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 71 games last season, his second with the Raptors.

Nesterovic, who will make $8.4 million US next season, has averaged 7.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in 699 career games with Minnesota, San Antonio and Toronto.

He was a member of the Spurs’ 2005 championship team.

That’s right, Stephen A. - “Rahh-sho Ne-ster-ovic.”

The ten-year NBA veteran may not have held career averages, but his play to close out the regular season was more than a pleasant surprise. When second-year disappointment Andrea Bargnani was demoted from the starting lineup in late March, Nesterovic grasped his new opportunity with the ambition of a new man. Throughout the final 20 games of the regular season, Rasho unexpectedly held averages of 15.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest.

The 2008-2009 season may very well turn out to be a career-year for the Yugoslavian big man. It’ll be interesting to see if he can pick up where he left off at the back-end of this season. God knows, Toronto could use a reliable center.

Should he not appease Sam Mitchell and his coaching staff, however, Toronto may finally have a trading chip to play with. Nesterovic’s $8.4 million expiring deal will be of value around the league.

Regardless, it’s safe to say that Nesterovic is going to make Bryan Colangelo a happy man at some point.

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Posted By: Dustin Chapman

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