Eduardo Nájera

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Eduardo Nájera
New Jersey Nets – No. 14
Forward
Born: July 11, 1976 (1976-07-11) (age 33)
Ciudad Meoqui, Chihuahua, Mexico
Nationality Mexican
Height 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight 235 lb (107 kg)
League NBA
High school Cornerstone Christian Academy (San Antonio, USA)
College Oklahoma
Draft 2nd round, 38th overall, 2000
Houston Rockets
Pro career 2000–present
Former teams Dallas Mavericks (2000–2004)
Golden State Warriors (2004–2005)
Denver Nuggets (2005–2008)
Awards 1996–97 Big 12 All-Freshman Team
1998–99 Second Team All-Big 12
1999–2000 Big 12 All-Defensive Team
1999–2000 First Team All-Big 12
1999–2000 Third Team AP All-American
2000 Chip Hilton Player of the Year
2006 Chopper Travaglini Award
Profile Info Page

Eduardo Alonso Nájera Pérez[1] (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈnaxeɾa][2]) (born July 11, 1976 in Chihuahua, Mexico) is a Mexican professional basketball player in the NBA, currently playing reserve forward for the New Jersey Nets. He is known for his rebounding and his tenacity on defense. He attended Cornerstone Christian Academy High School in San Antonio, Texas, United States.[1]

Contents

[edit] Personal information

Eduardo Najera is only the second NBA player that is Mexican-born. He is a son of Servando Najera and Rosa Irene Perez.[3]

Currently, he and Jennifer, his wife, have a daughter and a son.[4]

[edit] Basketball career

Najera played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Oklahoma, United States, from 1997–2000, becoming a major star there. He helped the team to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances during his college career, as well as finishing in the school's all-time top ten in nine statistical categories. Before being drafted into the NBA in 2000, Najera received rave reviews from scouts, who boasted on Najera's quick first step and extraordinary rebounding ability. He is only the second Mexican-born player to join the NBA.[2] He was the second Mexican player to be drafted into the NBA (Horacio Llamas being the first).[1]

Najera played for the Mexican team in the 1997 World University Games and helped them achieve a fourth place finish in the 1999 World University Games.[1]

He saw significant action as a member of the Dallas Mavericks in 2000–01 and 2001–02, but recurrent knee injuries limited his action in his last two years in Dallas.

He played at the first-ever Basketball Without Borders Americas tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the 2004 NBA Summer of Goodwill.[5]

He was then traded to the Golden State Warriors, where he put in modest minutes and was a solid contributor.

Najera with the Denver Nuggets

He was then sent to the Nuggets, where he played great despite injuries.

Also in 2006, an exhibition match was played in Monterrey, Mexico, between the Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets.

On April 27, 2006, Najera started his first playoff game for the Nuggets in Game 3 of their first round series facing the Los Angeles Clippers. He replaced Kenyon Martin who was suspended indefinitely for "conduct detrimental to the team".

He was partly involved in the December 2006 Knicks–Nuggets brawl. While not involved in the actual fighting, he did try to separate the players. He was ejected from the game.

On July 11, he signed a contract with the New Jersey Nets for 4 years $12 million.[6] As the oldest player currently on the team's roster, he is considered one of the team's leaders. And he stated that he would make it a point to turn the Nets' young forwards Yi Jianlian and Ryan Anderson and center Brook Lopez into stronger, tougher players. Najera turned down more money and a chance to return to his college state, Oklahoma City Thunder. He also turned down an offer from a championship contender in the New Orleans Hornets in order to take a chance to lead a young and talented New Jersey team.

[edit] College career stats

Season Age College G MP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS FG% 3P% FT% MP PPG RPG APG
1996–97 20 Oklahoma 30 739 72 178 3 15 64 92 167 32 38 17 36 87 211 .404 .200 .696 24.6 7.0 5.6 1.1
1997–98 21 Oklahoma 30 855 119 280 13 49 64 101 163 42 37 20 56 93 315 .425 .265 .634 28.5 10.5 5.4 1.4
1998–99 22 Oklahoma 32 1100 187 451 51 149 70 109 266 69 59 27 83 87 495 .415 .342 .642 34.4 15.5 8.3 2.2
1999–00 23 Oklahoma 34 1162 234 514 18 82 139 202 314 72 59 25 82 97 625 .455 .220 .688 34.2 18.4 9.2 2.1

[edit] Off the court

In 2000, Eduardo Najera was named Third Team All-American by both the Associated Press and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

In 2000, Eduardo Najera graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in sociology.

In 2000, Najera received the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame, an award given to a player who has demonstrated personal character both on and off the court.[2]

In 2001, Najera served as the United Nations Drug Control Programme Goodwill Ambassador for Sports Against Drugs. In 2004, he established the Eduardo Najera Foundation for Latino Achievement, which provides college scholarships for outstanding Latino students facing barriers to their educations, and in 2006, he received the Chopper Travaglini Award for demonstrating outstanding charity work in the Denver community.[7]

[edit] 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

[edit] Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2000–01 Dallas 40 4 10.8 .523 .333 .424 2.4 .7 .3 .2 3.3
2001–02 Dallas 62 11 21.9 .500 .000 .676 5.5 .6 .9 .5 6.5
2002–03 Dallas 48 12 23.0 .558 .000 .681 4.6 1.0 .8 .5 6.7
2003–04 Dallas 58 7 12.4 .444 .500 .652 2.7 .4 .6 .3 3.0
2004–05 Golden State 42 4 14.5 .407 .400 .644 2.8 .9 .4 .2 4.2
2004–05 Denver 26 0 22.1 .500 .000 .630 4.8 1.1 .9 .5 6.9
2005–06 Denver 64 3 22.6 .422 .333 .781 5.1 .8 .8 .5 5.4
2006–07 Denver 75 36 22.1 .576 .083 .715 4.1 .9 1.0 .3 6.6
2007–08 Denver 78 3 21.3 .473 .361 .708 4.3 1.2 .9 .5 5.9
2008–09 New Jersey 27 0 11.8 .446 .200 .364 2.5 .7 .4 .2 2.9
Career 520 80 19.0 .491 .317 .676 4.0 .8 .8 .4 5.3

[edit] Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2000–01 Dallas 7 0 6.3 .529 .750 .000 2.1 .1 .1 .1 3.0
2001–02 Dallas 8 4 15.3 .696 .000 .625 1.6 .1 .4 .0 4.6
2002–03 Dallas 19 5 20.7 .453 .000 .792 3.9 .8 .7 .2 6.1
2003–04 Dallas 5 0 11.4 .455 .000 1.000 3.4 .6 .6 .4 2.4
2004–05 Denver 2 0 6.5 .000 .000 .000 1.0 .5 .0 .0 .0
2005–06 Denver 4 3 22.3 .214 .000 .500 3.8 .5 .8 .0 2.0
2006–07 Denver 5 0 19.2 .235 .000 .500 5.6 .4 .4 .2 1.8
2007–08 Denver 4 0 19.5 .500 .400 .000 3.3 1.5 .8 .2 4.0
Career 54 12 16.5 .451 .417 .750 3.3 .6 .5 .2 4.1

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Meet Eduardo Najera
  2. ^ a b c NBA.com: Eduardo Najera Bio Page
  3. ^ Player Profiles by Interbasket, Eduardo Najera
  4. ^ NBA.com, Eduardo Najera, Bio Page
  5. ^ NBA.com, Eduardo Najera, Bio page
  6. ^ Nets reach agreements with Najera, Hayes - NBA - SI.com
  7. ^ http://www.nba.com/nuggets/community/eddie_choppers_award_2006.html

[edit] External links

v • d • e
New Jersey Nets current roster

2 Boone  | 8 T. Williams  | 9 Yi  | 11 Lopez  | 14 Nájera  | 17 Douglas-Roberts  | 21 Simmons  | 22 Hayes  | 34 Harris  | 44 Hassell  | 51 S. Williams  | 55 Dooling  | -- Alston  | -- Battie  | -- Lee  | Coach Frank
v • d • e
Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award winners

1997: T. Duncan  | 1998: H. Booker  | 1999: T. Hill  | 2000: E. Nájera  | 2001: S. Battier  | 2002: J. Dixon  | 2003: B. Miller  | 2004: E. Okafor  | 2005: R. Ross  | 2006: G. McNamara  | 2007: A. Law  | 2008: M. Green  | 2009: J. Brockman
v • d • e
2000 NBA Draft
First Round
Second Round
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