Czech pivot Jan Vesely (32 years old, 2.13) has been announced by Barça as the first signing of the season. The azulgrana team does its homework on time and after problems in the inside game during the Endesa League final and the casualties of Brandon Davies and Roland Smits, it is reinforced by a center with one of the most successful CVs on the continent. Vesely will be Barça for the next three seasons.
The new Barça player has developed a large part of his career at Fenerbahce in Istanbul, where he has played for the last eight seasons and has won practically everything. In Turkey he has won 4 Turkish League titles (2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022) and three Cups (2016, 2019 and 2020). In this last edition he has also been MVP of the League.
He hasn’t done badly in the Euroleague either, since this season he has played 22 games with an average of 13.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and a PIR of 18.2. In the top European club competition, Vesely was MVP in 2018-19 and was included in the best quintet during the 2019, 2018 and 2017 seasons, the year in which he was champion with the Ottoman team.
The Czech center also has experience in the NBA, where he was drafted at number 6 by the Washington Wizards in 2011. He played two and a half seasons in the capital and then was transferred to the Denver Nuggets, where he put an end to to his adventure in the North American League in the summer of 2014.
“I spoke with Jasikevicius before signing. I like his game idea, his way of understanding basketball. He was a great player, a great point guard. He understands how basketball should be played and he is one of the reasons I decided to come.” , explained to the Vesely club media, that he is “excited” to play in front of his new fans at the Palau Blaugrana, a track that “was not easy as a visitor”.
With Vesely, Barça gets a player with an enormous power of intimidation, with ease to score in the area and enormous guarantees to aspire to everything for another season. It is expected that in the near future Barça will announce the arrival of the German Oscar da Silva, in this case a young promise who will also underpin the Barcelona painting.
“We will incorporate exciting players, we will make the changes that we believe from the technical direction because we have many players who are ending their contracts,” said the manager of the section, Juan Carlos Navarro, on Thursday, who recognized the need for self-criticism after an end of “bad” season with the defeat in the final four and in the Endesa League final against Real Madrid.
