This article is a little dated April 24th but i thought i would post it just cause of all the talk about him in our forum lately. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">More than 100 players made their Euroleague debuts this season and many young players took on highly significant roles. To name the best among the youngest was not easy, but Euroleague head coaches were decisive in voting Andrea Bargnani of Benetton Treviso as the Rising Star Trophy winner for 2005-06. The two-year old Rising Star Trophy recognizes the best Euroleague player of the season under 22 years old. All players younger than 22 on July 1 of the summer before the season starts are eligible. The world-class talent of Bargnani, 20, shined brightly for Benetton. The 2.09-meter forward wowed fans and experts alike with his skill at almost every facet of the game, including an incredibly smooth long-distance shot for a player of his size. Evidence of his diverse talent is that Bargnani ranked among the Euroleague's top seven players in both three-point shooting percentage and blocked shots during the regular season. Tiago Splitter of Tau Ceramica finished second in the voting for the award, Sofoklis Schortsanitis of Olympiacos third and Marco Belinelli of Climamio Bologna fourth. The Rising Star Trophy is among several end-of-season honors awarded by Euroleague Basketball. Already announed have been the Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy, which went to Bargnani's teammate at Benetton, Drew Nicholas, and the Best Defender Trophy, won for the second time by Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos. The all-Euroleague team nominees will be announced shortly. The all-Euroleague first and second teams, plus the Euroleague MVP, will be awarded at the Euroleague Official Dinner on Saturday, April 29, during the Final Four in Prague. Bargnani started the season slow due to injury and fouls, scoring just a point in Benetton's first three Euroleague games. He showed signs of recovery in the fourth game, Benetton's only home loss of the season, against Tau Ceramica, in which he had 9 points in 12 minutes. After that, he was not only consistent, but consistently unstoppable. Bargnani played 16 minutes or more in 12 of the remaining 14 games until the end of the Top 16 for Benetton. And in those 12 games, he averaged 15.3 points, something only a handful of the Euroleague's most seasoned pros could match. It should also be noted that Bargnani was playing alongside Drew, the top regular season scorer in the league, and without Nikos Zisis, the team's designated assist man, whose season was ended by injury after seven games. Bargnani finished averaging 10.9 points over 18 games while shooting 55.8% on two-pointers, 46.6% on three-pointers and 71.1% on free throws. He was second on Benetton in three-pointers made (23), rebounds (4.1 per game), steals (1.3) and blocks (0.9). As important as the numbers was Bargnani's sense of the moment. His biggest performance came in the second game of the Top 16, when he had 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals and a block in 30 minutes of a victory over mighty Panathinaikos. Benetton lost in a four-way tie at the end of the Top 16 and therefore missed the Quarterfinal Playoffs. Bargnani follows another big man from an Italian team, Erazem Lorbek of Climamio Bologna, who won the award in its first edition. Bargnani will be awarded the Rising Star Trophy at the Euroleague Official Dinner in Prague on Saturday night of the Final Four. Apr 24, 2006 Euroleague.net </div> http://www.euroleague.net/noticia.jsp?temp...rnada=23&id=901
