Last summer, Europe was a threat for indignant NBA stars like Andrei Kirilenko. This year, the Old World leagues are having a measure of actual NBA impact, grabbing a would-be one-and-done teenager and pulling NBA-level players like Juan Carlos Navarro and Jorge Garbajosa. Add Carlos Delfino, as a Hebrew-to-English translation from Detroit Bad Boys reveals the former Piston and Raptor has signed with Khimki Moscow.

Delfino was one of 3,000 marginal swingmen in Toronto last season, splitting minutes with Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, Joey Graham, Andrea Bargnani, and Juan Dixon. The Piston had been rumored to be interested in bringing the Argentine (a fan favorite in Motown) back to Detroit. Truth be told, adding another swingman with the roster in flux (pending Joe Dumars' plans) wouldn't have been prudent at this juncture. Delfino has a secure income early in the transaction period this way; he might have been awaiting an NBA answer as late as Labor Day.

The interesting note to me: Khimki won't compete at Europe's top level next season. The team isn't one of the 16 set for the Euroleague competition, instead a contestant in the ULEB Eurocup. Khimki is said to also be chasing Garbajosa, and is most certainly making a play to get into the Euroleague in 2009-10. Still, it's a bit nutty that a legit NBA player like Delfino would opt for Europe's second tier -- and maybe only the third best team in Moscow -- over waiting out a new NBA deal.

Typically, player contract buy-outs in the NBA come solely for financial considerations. The heaviest spate of buy-out action came in 2006, when the league instituted its limited amnesty program, allowing teams like Dallas to save some luxury tax cash by cutting overpaid men like Michael Finley loose. Rarely -- Steve Francis in Portland is the only one who comes to mind -- do teams buy out a contract because of a broken relationship or bad attitudes. It's always money.

Toronto won't be saving much cash at all in buying out Jorge Garbajosa, as the Toronto Globe & Mail reports has just happened. After last summer's saga with the Spanish national team, this break-up is solely based on hurt feelings and an incompatible relationship. For his part, team boss Bryan Colangelo pulls the old "it was mutual" bit.

"It's bittersweet," Colangelo said. "Because no matter what the financial benefits of the deal we don't have the player. We missed him last season and now we won't get him back and have to find what he brought to our lineup and that's not easy."

We're sure Garbo needs a hug, too. The G&M's Michael Grange's first guess has Jorge returning to a top Spanish club after the Olympics; dude's 31 years old, coming off a second knee surgery -- yeah, nary an NBA team's offering enough to keep Garbo stateside.

I remain wary of the dichotomy present in Toronto: the team is built on the backs of a Euro style and myriad international players, but Colangelo seems uneasy with allowing his players to be farmed out during the summer international season. (San Antonio shows the same paradox, asking Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto to forgo FIBA play last year.) The stance makes practical sense in dollars and cents, but it comes off incredibly shrewish.

The Jorge Garbajosa saga continues to bode poorly for NBA-FIBA relations, as the Raptors have sued the Spanish basketball federation over an insurance pay-out tied to Garbo's injury and subsequent appearance on behalf of Spain in the 2007 European Championship.

Garbo's broke his leg last spring and missed the Raptors postseason. The franchise and player battled over treatment -- the Raps requested a second surgery, Garbo insisted he'd be well enough without it to play for Spain in August. At the last minute, Spanish basketball agreed to cover Jorge's NBA contract with an insurance policy for any injuries sustained in the tourney. Garbajosa made it through FIBA Europe, but the leg became a major problem (again) early this season, forcing another surgery (which is what the Raps wanted last summer) and causing Garbo's season to end.

It appears Spain hasn't paid out on that policy. Without finding word from Spanish media on their side of the story, it would appear the federation will argue the further injury to Garbo's leg came during the NBA season and not as a result of FIBA play. The specific details of the insurance policy (and final agreement between franchise and federation) were not clear in August, and remain that way today.

Hate to say I told you so. No one can fault Garbajosa's pride in country -- patriotism and spirit of brotherhood are noble qualities. But he and the Spanish federation created a vortex of distrust which could have serious, serious repercussions going forward.

Jorge Garbajosa ignored the advice of the Raptors and played in the European championship this summer. Even though that decision has backfired -- the team now claims that he needs another surgery before his leg will completely heal -- and his 2007-08 season may be completely derailed, don't expect to hear any bitterness from his teammates. From the Toronto Star:

"I didn't have a problem with it," [Chris] Bosh said yesterday after it became official that the Raptors' team doctors think a second surgery is necessary on Garbajosa's left leg and ankle. "If he wants to play, he wants to play. He's a man, he's going to make his own decisions whether you like it or not; if he's going to make that decision, I support him."

It's interesting to hear Bosh's take because he was in a similar situation as Garbajosa last summer: he pulled out of contention for a spot on Team USA once his foot started acted up.

This Jorge Garbajosa thing has taken several turns toward farce. Over the weekend, we found out Garbo would be seeing a specialist on Monday; he did so, and the result is another surgery on his broken leg and likely the end of the season for one of Toronto's vital cogs. We knew the insurance issues -- Spanish basketball stuck a $1 million insurance policy on Jorge's leg so he could forego surgery in August and instead play in the European championship against Toronto's wishes -- could cause problems between the league and FIBA. We understated this rather dramatically.

Last season, Jorge Garbajosa's ankle got mangled in especially gruesome fashion. (You may want to skip that link if you haven't been to brunch yet.) Instead of rehab, he performed some sort of hobgoblin magick and got 'healthy' in time to play for his nation in the FIBA European Championships (though not without some anger from the club that pays Garbajosa millions of dollars). Spain, the heavy favorite, lost in the Finals, though Garbajosa played a lot and looked well. The Raptors were understandably frustrated by the whole thing.

Now? Garbajosa might miss the rest of the season as surgery (surprise!) might be needed to fix Jorge's ankle, says this CBC Sports report out of Ontario. Doug Smith of the Toronto Star corroborates with words from Bryan Colangelo that Garbo is scheduled to visit a specialist this week to find the best course of action. Even if Jorge doesn't have to miss the season, it doesn't sound like he'll be ready to contribute to the Raptors' cause any time soon. And that's a problem... not necessarily because Toronto desperately needs him to compete (Jamario Moon has been a nice surprise, and you've gotta believe Chris Bosh will come around), but because Spain took out an insurance policy on Jorge's leg, which is now injured.

Can Toronto seek out the insurance payment if Garbajosa misses the year? Their argument: If he'd stayed off the leg during the summer and had the second surgery we requested, he wouldn't be hurt again. The insurer's likely counter: He didn't get hurt again during FIBA Europe, he got hurt during the NBA season. Who knows whether Toronto would pursue this avenue to recoup the $4 million due Jorge this year; and hey, it might not get that far if Garbajosa's OK. But this could be a disastrous case going forward for international players seeking their team's permission to play abroad in the summer.

Lately I've heard some rumblings from a few different people that the NBA needs to start recording the hockey assist -- that is, crediting a player for making the pass that sets up the pass that results in a score. Sounds a bit confusing, doesn't it? When you describe it, I suppose it does, but it's a simple thing and something they've done in hockey forever. Plus, Raptors coach Sam Mitchell thinks that it might actually benefit the flow of the game, at least among players concerned about their individual statistics. From the Toronto Star:

"If I'm T.J. Ford, I want the assist," said Mitchell, by way of example. "So instead of me swinging it to (Jorge Garbajosa) and Garbo swinging it to Anthony Parker in the corner and Anthony Parker shooting the wide-open shot, if I'm T.J., why don't I just see if there's a way I can skip Garbo and throw it to Anthony Parker directly?"

Ford's logic, in this completely hypothetical sketch, is understandable. NBA point guards are often judged, however erroneously, by one statistic – assists per game. So the best play for the team isn't always the best play for either a player's reputation or his net worth.

Ideally you'd like to think that players just play without any concern for the box score, but considering the phenomena of the "contract year" is a very real thing, we all know that's simply not the case. Incorporating another statistic that could hypothetically reward players for being less selfish would only be a good thing.

Don't expect the NBA to suddenly adopt it, though. First it'd have to gain traction at a site like 82games.com, just like how plus/minus stat (another good idea directly lifted from hockey) did in recent seasons. And then, once the NBA is ready to "unveil" it, they'd likely find a way to cash in by finding a sponsor first -- just like how the NBA wants us to call the plus/minus stat the "Lenovo Stat," the hockey assist would likely be dubbed something ridiculous like the FedEx Stat. But I'd be OK with that -- whatever it takes to get the ball rolling for more innovative ways of analyzing the game is fine with me.

For most NBA teams, traveling to Europe for an exhibition is a novelty at best and an annoyance at worst. For the Raptors? It's just a great big team-building exercise. Jose Calderon explains in the Toronto Star:

"We [Calderon and Jorge Garbajosa ] want to get all the team together to go to some Spanish restaurants and show how Spain is our country," Calderon said. "And the same in Italy with Andrea (Bargnani).

"We are going to be a better team because sometimes you play better with your teammates once you know them outside, personally. In this kind of situation, we can make more family, more of a group."

By now, many (most?) teams have at least one or two foreign players, but the Raptors have five non-Americans under contract, not to mention three European training camp invitees (Roko Ukic, Uros Slokar and Girogos Printezis) and two Americans (Anthony Parker and Maceo Baston) who have played the majority of their professional career overseas. For most of these guys, taking a trip to Europe is literally no different than taking a trip to Indiana -- it just takes a little longer.

Call this the summer of ridiculous insurance policies for NBA players wishing to represent their home country in international competition. Boris Diaw and the French hoops federation combined to convince the Suns the franchise would be financially protected if Boom Boom broke something at Eurobasket. For Toronto's Jorge Garbajosa, it took until the 11th hour (and then some) to get clearance to play for Spain.

It took a series of all-night meetings and negotiations involving the Raptors, the Spanish basketball federation and insurance companies before the 29-year-old got final approval to play.

The Raptors, mindful of Garbajosa's place on their roster and the $8.4 million (U.S.) they owe him over the next two seasons, aren't overjoyed that he'll play, but the insurance issue gave them enough peace of mind to withdraw their objections.

Jorge has repeated how important pulling on a Spanish team jersey is to him, and that's fantastic. We should note, though, that Spain has little but pride to play for this month. As the defending world champions, Spain already has an Olympic bid sewn up. I'm sure they'd love to be European champions again... but is it enough to risk Garbo's burgeoning NBA career? I'm sure no one's forgotten his gruesome leg injury which has caused all this trepidation.

Meanwhile, Garbo's success in this issue gets Toronto out of playing the part of heel. Funny, these ultra-international NBA teams -- the Raps, San Antonio, Phoenix -- are the ones creating hurdles for their players to go overseas in the summer. (The Spurs essentially told Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto 'no' and made Tony Parker get insurance.)

I'm guessing Bryan Colangelo isn't a popular man in Spain right about now. Just a hunch. From the Toronto Star:

The Raptors have ruled forward Jorge Garbajosa out of playing for Spain at the upcoming EuroBasket tournament, the club announced yesterday.

"Despite Jorge feeling and looking ready to play, the medical findings suggest otherwise," Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo said in a statement.

Garbajosa suffered a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments during a Raptors game in Boston in March.

The Raptors said Garbajosa was recently evaluated in Toronto by Raptors medical, training and coaching staffs, and was able to perform on-court drills proficiently and without pain. But a detailed review and assessment of the various images and scans taken have revealed insufficient healing of the fractured fibula.

To their credit, the Raptors did try to make this happen, but apparently the team was unable to find an adequate insurance policy should Garbajosa re-injure himself. Considering Garbajosa saw Pau Gasol, his teammate on Spain's national team, break his foot during the World Championships last summer, I'm sure he has to understand.

Besides, there's no room for moping in Toronto's locker room: Chris Bosh, a sure-fire lock to make Team USA, also pulled out of international competition this summer before of lingering plantar fasciitis in his right foot. The newly-acquired Carlos Delfino suffered a knee injury last week and almost had to pull out of the FIBA Americas tournament in Las Vegas, but it turns out his injury wasn't all that serious and he was in fact able to play for Argentina.

Previously on FanHouse:
Jorge Garbajosa Is Ready to Play