Francisco Elson

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Francisco Elson
Elson with the San Antonio Spurs in 2007
Personal information
Born (1976-02-28) 28 February 1976 (age 48)
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Listed height7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High schoolMaria Regina Mavo
(Rotterdam, Netherlands)
College
Caja San Fernando
20032006Denver Nuggets
20062008San Antonio Spurs
2008Seattle SuperSonics
20082010Milwaukee Bucks
2010Philadelphia 76ers
2010–2011Utah Jazz
2012Philadelphia 76ers
2013Mahram Tehran
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points
1,726 (3.7 ppg)
Rebounds1,638 (3.5 rpg)
Blocks255 (0.5 bpg)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Francisco Marinho Robby Elson (born 28 February 1976) is a Dutch former professional basketball player. Elson was the seventh Dutch player to play in the

NBA champion, with the San Antonio Spurs
in 2007.

Youth and college career

Elson started his career at

AMVJ Rotterdam at the age of twelve. After a couple of years playing, he stopped after his older brother Patrick died of a heart attack while playing basketball at the age of 21.[2] His gym teacher at the Maria School asked him to return to the club at the age of sixteen. He played one game in the Eredivisie, the highest level Dutch league, in the 1994–95 season for Rotterdam.[3]

Elson was a member of the Dutch Under-20 National Team. He played two seasons at Kilgore Junior College in Texas before completing his college at the University of California, Berkeley. As a senior, he helped lead the Bears to the NIT Championship.[4]

Elson was inducted into Kilgore College's Hall of Fame in 2016.[5]

Professional career

Elson was drafted in the second round of the 1999 NBA draft from Cal by the Denver Nuggets, but did not commence play with them until the 2003–04 campaign. He played four years in Spain:

  • 1999–2001 with
    FC Barcelona
    averaging 3.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 32 games for his first season and 6.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 34 games for the second.
  • 2001–02 with
    Pamesa Valencia
    averaging 4.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in 34 games.
  • 2002–03 with
    Caja San Fernando
    averaging 9.7 point and 8.2 rebounds in 34 games.

Over his first two seasons with Denver, Elson was mostly a reserve. He averaged 3.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. In 2005–06, his third season with the Nuggets, Elson played in 72 games and started in 54 of them. He averaged 21.9 minutes, 4.9 points (on 53.2% shooting) and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Elson gained notoriety during Denver's 2004 playoff series with Minnesota through his physical attempts to contain Kevin Garnett. Elson knocked Garnett into the seats behind the basket with a hard foul early in a game and later in the game was hit in the groin by Garnett. Elson caused controversy when he described Garnett as "gay" for the groin shot. Elson later apologized to the gay and lesbian community for his comments.[6]

In July 2006 Elson signed a 2-year, $6 million contract with the

NBA Championship in 2007 after the Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers
.

On 21 February 2008 Elson was traded by the San Antonio Spurs along with Brent Barry to the Sonics in exchange for Kurt Thomas.[9] He spent most of this season coming off the bench for both the Spurs and the Sonics.

Elson later signed a two-year, $3 million contract with the Bucks to serve as

2008-09
, his first season with the Bucks, was the last of his NBA career where he started games with any regularity.

On 18 February 2010 Elson was traded to the

Primoz Brezec and Royal Ivey.[11] Elson missed most of the season after hernia surgery, and appeared in only one game with his new team.[12]

On 15 September 2010 Elson signed a guaranteed two-year contract with the Utah Jazz.[13] After his contract expired, he returned to the Netherlands for treatment on his knee.[14]

On 27 January 2012 Elson was signed by the Philadelphia 76ers to provide the team with front-court depth because of injuries at the position.[15] He signed two 10-day contracts, then was not re-signed for a third time after Spencer Hawes returned from injury.[16]

In January 2013, Elson signed with Mahram Tehran of the Iranian Basketball Super League.[17]

On 20 June 2013 Elson's retirement was announced on Dutch websites.

international basketball.[19] In March 2014, his retirement became official.[20]

National team career

Elson played 60 games for the

Personal life

Elson is fluent in Dutch, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Mandarin. He is of Surinamese descent.[22] His father is half Chinese and half African. His mother is half Indian and half African. Elson has a brown belt in karate.[23]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 †  Won an NBA championship

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Denver 62 14 14.1 .472 .000 .667 3.3 .5 .6 .6 3.5
2004–05 Denver 67 11 14.0 .468 .333 .570 3.0 .5 .5 .6 3.7
2005–06 Denver 72 54 21.9 .532 .200 .662 4.7 .7 .8 .6 4.9
2006–07 San Antonio 70 41 19.0 .511 .000 .775 4.8 .8 .4 .8 5.0
2007–08 San Antonio 41 3 13.0 .419 .000 .833 3.3 .4 .2 .3 3.5
2007–08 Seattle 22 2 12.7 .341 .000 .462 3.0 .4 .3 .3 3.0
2008–09 Milwaukee 59 23 16.6 .491 .250 .846 3.9 .5 .6 .6 3.4
2009–10 Milwaukee 11 0 5.6 .308 .000 1.000 1.2 .2 .1 .0 .9
2009–10 Philadelphia 1 0 4.0 .500 .000 .000 1.0 .0 .0 .0 2.0
2010–11 Utah 62 1 9.8 .478 .000 .839 1.9 .5 .3 .2 2.2
2011–12 Philadelphia 5 0 3.2 .333 .000 .000 .2 .2 .2 .2 .4
Career 472 149 15.3 .478 .188 .700 3.5 .6 .5 .5 3.7

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004
Denver 4 0 15.0 .583 .000 .500 2.3 .5 .5 .3 3.8
2005
Denver 1 0 6.0 .000 .000 .000 3.0 .0 .0 .0 .0
2006
Denver 5 2 15.0 .600 .000 .000 2.2 .4 .8 .0 1.2
2007
San Antonio 20 8 11.5 .591 .000 .700 3.1 .1 .4 .3 3.3
Career 30 10 12.4 .581 .000 .682 2.8 .2 .5 .2 2.9

See also

References

  1. ^ Francisco Elson's Bio on NBA.com Retrieved on 15 September 2008. Archived April 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Ian Thomsen's Fast Break, Sports Illustrated, March 14, 2005
  3. ^ "Francisco Elson Basketbal statistieken Spelers Dossier - NBB Database, basketball statistieken". db.basketball.nl. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  4. ^ Spurs sign Francisco Elson, spurs.com, August 2, 2006
  5. ^ Hall of Fame - 2016 Inductees
  6. ^ Elson apologizes to gay and lesbian community, Associated Press, April 29, 2004
  7. ^ Nuggets Don't Match on Elson, WOAI[permanent dead link], July 21, 2006
  8. ^ NBA.com - 2007-08 Season Preview; San Antonio Spurs
  9. ^ ESPN – Spurs get Kurt Thomas from SuperSonics for Barry, Elson and draft pick – NBA
  10. NBA.com
    . Retrieved August 14, 2008.
  11. NBA.com
    . February 18, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  12. ^ Cooney, Bob and Phil Jasner (19 February 2010). "Brezec, Ivey dealt to Bucks". Philadelphia Daily News. Philadelphia. p. 99.
  13. NBA.com
    . September 15, 2010. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
  14. ^ Tony Jones [@tribjazz] (April 13, 2011). "Jazz's Elson will not have offseason surgery on left knee. Still swollen, though. Will rest and receive treatment in Netherlands" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. CSNPhilly.com. Archived from the original
    on July 24, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  16. ^ "Turner's role is decreasing". Phillyburbs.com. March 2, 2012. Archived from the original on March 3, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  17. ^ "Elson kiest voor Iraans avontuur". nos.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  18. ^ "Francisco Elson kondigt afscheid aan". Nusport.nl (in Dutch). June 22, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  19. ^ "Francisco Elson: People need to stand up". Basketball+ (in Dutch). Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  20. ^ "SAS: Elson: "Ik ben nu definitief gestopt"". Sportamerika.nl (in Dutch). March 5, 2014. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  21. ^ "Oranje Internationals". Oranje Basketball (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  22. ^ "Francisco Elson, Spurs player with Suriname ties, inspires fan frenzy for NBA finals". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. June 14, 2007. Archived from the original on August 18, 2007.
  23. ^ Ian Thomsen's Fast Break, Sports Illustrated, March 14, 2005

External links