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Pay wall.
“It’s like having one of your family members come back home,” Popovich said. “He’s a special, special man. Just a beautiful human being, and he will add a lot.”
https://www.expressnews.com/sports/s...c-15950599.php
Pay wall.
When Fabricio Oberto looks around the NBA these days, he sometimes barely recognizes the game he loves.
The former Spurs forward sees big men such as Anthony Davis putting the ball on the floor and pulling up for jumpers. He sees Nikola Jokic demonstrating a passing wizardry once reserved for the game’s smallest players. He sees everybody — no matter how gargantuan — shooting 3-pointers.
“Sometimes I wonder how I would adjust my game,” said Oberto, the 45-year-old former Spurs forward. “If you are a 3-point shooter, it’s way better.”
That is about the extent of the training required for Oberto’s new gig as a color commentator for the Spurs G League affiliate in Austin.
The Austin Spurs are scheduled to have a record 13 games televised on either Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Southwest Plus or nationally on NBA TV and ESPNU this season.
Oberto has returned to San Antonio to help remotely call the games being played in the Orlando, Fla., G League bubble.
He has already worked three games alongside play-by-play announcer Dan Weiss. His fourth comes at 2:30 p.m. Monday, when the Austin Spurs face the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on NBA TV.
For Oberto, who won a championship with the Spurs in 2007 and an Olympic gold medal with Argentina in 2004, the move to the G League broadcast booth has been a natural progression.
He has called the past seven NBA Finals for ESPN International.
“My way has always been to find a way to explain things in a really easy and simple way,” said Oberto, who spent four seasons with the Spurs from 2005 to 2009. “So if you have never seen a basketball game, you can understand what is going on.”
Oberto acknowledges the transition from thinking in his native Spanish to talking in English on the fly could be a challenge.
He believes he will catch up quickly, if his six-season NBA career was any indication.
“I used to get mad during games, and I would say something in Spanish,” Oberto said. “But all of a sudden, when you play one or two years, it’s ‘Shoot!’ … You start thinking in English.”
In whatever language, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is glad to have Oberto back under the club’s umbrella.
“It’s like having one of your family members come back home,” Popovich said. “He’s a special, special man. Just a beautiful human being, and he will add a lot.”
Oberto arrived from overseas at age 30. He was well established in the Spanish League, but late to an NBA career.
The lanky 6-foot-10 post player became a key part of the Spurs’ rotation in his second season, as the team took aim at its fourth championship.
Early in the campaign, Oberto helped ignite a victory over rival Phoenix with 22-point, 11-rebound performance. He was 11 of 11 from the floor that night, still a Spurs record for most field goals without a miss.
In that season’s Western Conference finals series against Utah, Oberto scored in double figures in three of five contests, and grabbed 10 rebounds in the closeout game that sent the Spurs to the 2007 NBA Finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
When the Spurs swept the Cavs, Oberto could add “NBA champion” to his résumé.
After the 2008-09 season, Oberto was traded to Detroit as part of a three-team deal that brought Richard Jefferson to San Antonio from Milwaukee.
Oberto ended up playing that season in Washington. He played five games with Portland in 2010-11 when a heart issue ended his NBA career.
All along, he missed San Antonio.
“It always feels like family here,” Oberto said.
Oberto eventually moved back home to Argentina, resurfacing to Spurs fans sporadically.
In February 2017, he welcomed a newly retired Tim Duncan on a motorcycle tour of his home country, chronicled on Oberto’s Twitter page.
In March 2019, he was on hand at the AT&T Center to speak at Manu Ginobili’s jersey retirement ceremony.
Having returned to San Antonio for the G League broadcasting job, Oberto has begun to reconnect with old teammates from his championship days.
One day earlier this month, he was invited to watch the Cornerstone High School team practice. The coach — Bruce Bowen — told Oberto to arrive at 5:30.
“I thought it was 5:30 p.m.,” Oberto said. “He told me, ‘No, we practice at 5:30 a.m.’ So I got up at like 4.”
That, too, could help Oberto with his new gig covering a league that doesn’t always play on the traditional nighttime schedule.
Oberto said he is looking forward to participating in the G League experience, in part because the players there remind him of himself.
Like many of the players in Austin, Oberto was never drafted. He had to claw his way into the NBA by sheer grit and determination.
“I am trying to go back to when I was 19, 20, 21, and trying to put myself in their shoes,” Oberto said. “You’ve got a lot of pressure to grow up and try to make it to the NBA.”
That part hasn’t changed since Oberto left the NBA, even if the game itself has.
Oberto attempted 835 field goals during his NBA career. Only four were from beyond the 3-point arc, and he made none of those.
Maybe a player like Oberto would not make it in today’s NBA. In his new life as a G League commentator, Oberto is eager to tell fans about players who just might.
“Until 7-footers start being dominant in the low post again, everybody is going to try to build (around the 3-pointer),” Oberto said. “But you’ve still got the extra pass, trying to play defense, trying to limit opponents in different situations.
“It’s still basketball, and I love it.”
Did not know he was held so highly while he was here.
He wasn't the Argentine power forward everyone was hoping would sign and play here, but he was pretty good.
Did Scola really want to start of Tim or was that some bs rumor?
Did his mic work this time? Lmao
I remember not being fan of his when he first started during the '06-'07 season but he was big during the '07 playoffs. I jokingly called him the transformer during that playoff run because it felt like he transformed into a legit player.
Start what?
That was super awkward to watch. I assume Bill/Sean could hear him, but someone should have tipped them off. Watching a guy give his first big interview and literally just talking to no one was embarrassing for Fabs
Scola thread!
He was a good team player. Got into the system and was always ready to pass. And a locker room good guy. Spurs often find a way to employ or get jobs for players like Oberto and management people as well.
He is doing a good job calling games with Dan Wiess.
Wait what happened?
Also, am I the only one that thinks his English isnt very good? I get that it's his second language but still.
During one of the Spurs games, Bill and Sean had Fabricio join as a guest (remotely) to interview him about his new role within the organization.
Problem was that his audio wasn't coming to the live television feed. It seemed like Bill and Sean could hear him because they were asking questions and responding to his answers...but nobody on TV could hear him.
It was a fairly long segment (2-3 minutes) and the entire time you just see Oberto looking at your screen and speaking inaudible words. I kept expecting them to cut it off at any moment and say "sorry, technical difficulties etc" but they just kept going all the way through.
He's pretty good commentating on ESPN, but is his English good enough to comment games? I never heard him speaking english much.
Oh, I remember him coming on. I just hate when they do those side segments during the game and always end up not paying attention to them. I hated when they brought Bonner on for his podcast during the middle of a game too.
Oberto was the epitome of team player and always focused thats why he was always anticipating a ridiculous Manu passes
He has one more NBA championship ring and Olympic gold medal than LMA will ever have, tbh...
Difference between #WinningBasketball and #NotWinningBasketball.
i remember during the game thread folks were talking about this. I could actually hear the conversation clear on my feed and I was watching the game on Fox Sports Southwest live. It was on Spectrum cable via internet on my television so maybe that had something to do with it?
funny enough one of the things he brought up in the conversation was he is worried about his English while doing the games. I’ve watched a good bit of the games and his English has been good to me. Sometimes he might get a little tongue tied but usually he explains what he means and keeps it moving.
I think him and Dan have done a good job.
SCOLA THREAD!
Would average 20/10 if he played right now
Always liked Oberto he was like all the great Spurs a great team mate with high Basketball IQ.
He looks and sounds like Javier Bardem. I also wish he and Dan would quit jabbering during live action. Call the ing game.
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