Guido Bargnani is for real

No, wait, wait a minute… Bargnani’s first name is Andrea, not Guido ! Yes, it’s actually Andrea, but he’s also a guido. Not Guido, but a guido. He’s italian, that’s my point ! He’s a ‘fella’ so…forget about that* 

So, why we talk about Bargnani in a Sixers blog? Well.. first we are guidos, second we like Bargnani and followed him for the last couple of years, third Bargnani plays tonight with his Raptors vs Sixers. I just started a thread about him in the Sixers board on philly.com, as I wanted to receive feedbacks from the other posters. 

Point is Bargnani is becoming an NBA player. He’s actually a REAL NBA player, averaging 10.4 per game. Well, not a great achievement for a the first overall pick of the 2006 draft, right? Probably. But the fact is Bargnani was surrounded by skepticism even before landing overseas (for us America is overseas…).

Remember his team mate Chris Bosh said something like “We needed another kind of player” after Bargnani was picked… what a warm welcome from the franchise player to his rookie, uh? Maybe someone was jealous… 

Bargnani is a player. Forget the “next Dirk Nowitzki” bullshit, we don’t know if he’s gonna be the next Dirk but this obsession for (dumb) comparisons is purely american. He might turn out to be the next Keith Van Horn (…), or even the next Vladimir Radmanovic as far as I know (just a little bit nicer than the serbian caveman… which is not saying much, I know). 

The point is finally Italy has an NBA player worth mentioning. Guido, pardon, ANDREA, scored in double figures in 20 of the last 25 games, hit a game winner @ Portland, had two games with more than 20 points, and made several key plays in clutch moments of games. That’s something that Keith Van Horn never did in 10 years, if you want to go on with the comparisons. 

Bargnani won a title in Italy with Benetton Treviso last year, and he already made all of the above. Now he’s (slowly) trying to do the same in the NBA. Give him credit. 

He can shoot the three or drive, he blocks many shots and is a good passer. Defense needs work, he still fouls too much, but rebounding is already improving. Bargnani is VERY INTELLIGENT, humble but self confident, very coachable. He’s a hard worker, a good team mate, and a nice guy. Follow the guido tonight, you’ll love him. 

(*= this is a reference from “Donnie Brasco”, guys)