The American experience

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College experience

Lubos Barton and Andr� Barrett are the two current Bar�a players with college experience. The former played at the University of Valpara�so (from 1997/98 to 2001/02), while the latter was at Seton Hall. However, there have been other Bar�a players with college experience: Rodrigo De la Fuente came to FC Barcelona from Washington State University (1996-98); Arturas Karnisovas played for Seton Hall (1990-94), and another Lithuanian, Sarunas Jasikevicius, played at the University of Maryland (1995-98).

The American experience

Three of the players in the current squad have played in the NBA. Andr� Barrett has played for most teams while Juan Carlos Navarro has had most game time and made the greatest impact. The third is Ersan Ilyasova.

Newcomer Andr� Barrett has the most NBA experience of any current Bar�a player. A pro since 2004, the American point guard’s last team was the Los Angeles Clippers (13 games). Previously he’d played for the Houston Rockets (27 games) and Orlando Magic (11 games). He also had temporary contracts with the Knicks (three weeks), Suns (twenty days), Bucks (four weeks) and the Raptors (3 months). Barrett, however, made his name in the NBDL, the NBA development league, with the Bakersfield Jam and Austin Toros.

Ilyasova and the Bucks

Ersan Ilyasova has had a similar career to Barrett. The Turk was 18 when he joined the NBA in 2005. The Bucks, holder of rights to the player, sent him to the Tulsa 66ers in the NBDL. After a season in the development league his figures improved substantially (12.5 points and 7 rebounds) and that was enough to take him back to the Bucks, where he played in the 2006/07 season.

Navarro and the Grizzlies

Drafted in 2002, the shooting guard from Sant Feliu de Llobregat wanted to try to make it in America and Bar�a agreed to release him. He joined the Memphis Grizzlies after Washington transferred his rights on 3 August 2007.

In his debut season ‘La Bomba' achieved exceptional figures (10.9 points, 2.2 assists in the 82 games he played). Plus Navarro nearly achieved the three pointer record for a rookie. He was included in the second best NBA rookies’ team and played in the All-Star game in Las Vegas.

Santiago at Suns and Bucks

Bar�a’s latest signing, Daniel Santiago, also has NBA experience. He played for two American teams, at first in the 2000/01 and 2001/02 season, when the Puerto Rican was at the Phoenix Suns (playing in a total of 57 games).

Santiago’s second period in the USA was more recent, when he represented the Milwaukee Bucks in 65 games between 2003/04 and 2004/05. In total, 112 appearances in the NBA in which the centre scored 417 points and took 216 rebounds in 1,418 minutes.