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Old 09-30-2005, 02:09 AM #1

BallStorm
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: France
Posts: 1,938

Unhappy Rigaudeau to retire !

Antoine "Le Roi" Rigaudeau , announced this day that he stopped his sportive career . At 33 years old he spent 18 years on bball courts , playing firstly in Cholet , and then in Pau Orthez , Kinder Bologne and Valence .He also spent a few weeks in Dallas , a rare failing in an overall extremely succesfull career .


Antoine RIGAUDEAU
borned :17 december 1971 in Cholet
PG/G
size: 2.01 m/ 6'7
Weight: 95 kg

127 selections in French national team .

Clubs :

1987-95 : Cholet Basket (173 matches)
1995-97 : EB Pau-Orthez (45 m)
1997-02 : Kinder Bologna (Ita) (166 m)
2002-03 : Virtus Bologna (Ita) (15 m)
Dallas Mavericks (NBA) (11 m)
2003-05 : Pamesa Valencia (Esp) (49 m)

Palmarès:

1996: French champion
1998: Euroleague champion
Italy champion
1999: Itlay cup champion
2000: Silver medal in Sidney
2001: Euroleague champion
Itlay champion
Itlian cup champion
2002: Itlalian cup champion
2005: Bronze medal in eurobasket 2005
MVP of the french championship 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 (Cholet) et 1996 (Pau-Orthez)


The best french player ever just retired . A sad news , but in the mean time he chose to retire before getting to old , when he was still more than able to play at a high level , and in this extent this decision deserves our respect .He chose also to retire just after a strong result in the eurobasket . I would not have liked to see him being prevented from playing up to his level because of declining physical abilities . This news is quite a surprise still , since we expected a decision regarding his future with the french team (and the worldchampionship in Japan) , but not concerning his professional career . He has not yet given any pecise indication as to what he would do after his sportive career , but I hope he will find a way to help the french basketball with his unique experience of the high level . In the past , he dropped a few hints meaning it was his intention to remain in basketball after his career would be over , so we will probably have the occasion to see him again ..but wearing a suit this time ..
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Old 09-30-2005, 05:09 AM #2

Sashikas
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Vilnius/Kaunas, Lithuania
Posts: 492

Re: Rigaudeau to retire !

Though I never really liked him a lot, I always admired him for his silent leadership of the teams he was playing for. I will always remember, how he initiated the run of Virtus Bologna in the second half of the Euroleague finals '99 vs. Zalgiris.

Respect.
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Old 09-30-2005, 10:30 AM #3

mvblair
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dayton, OH
Posts: 4,690

Re: Rigaudeau to retire !

100% Respect.

Rigaudeau's "failure" in Dallas is not his personal fault. The truth is that Mark Cuban was searching for a "Holy Grail" and took a European veteran who did not fit with what Dallas needed.

Rigaudeau's successes stand alone: EL Championships and domestic championships. He was a player.

Matt
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Old 09-30-2005, 03:43 PM #4

J-Will2
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Posts: 1,324

Re: Rigaudeau to retire !

Well, at 33, he was still able to kick a$$ against our NT on EC.

Respect.

D-
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For the record, us Yankees don't watch basketball eating McDonald's cheeseburgers. This is an awful stereotype on your part. You are not respecting the diversity of American culture. We have many more restaurants besides McDonald's: Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy's, SubWay, Pizza Hut, etc. In fact, I don't watch basketball with a cheeseburger, I prefer a fried chicken sandwich (Wendy's Spicey Chicken Filet, if you buy it as a combo-meal, it's only $5.32).

Next time you want to make fun of Americans for eating cheeseburgers, please remember that while, yes, we eat cheeseburgers for lunch, we eat many different types of fast food for dinner.
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Old 09-30-2005, 10:51 PM #5

Big Lebowski
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 103
Re: Rigaudeau to retire !

One of the best players ever in the European basketball; this is the classical news I hate to receive, but I appreciate a lot the fact that Le Roi decided to stop before collapsing. Too many injuries in his career, a pro career started when he was just something more than a child: he has received achievments and victories, and he has always shown to be a great person far from the court too. There's an episode concerning him very nice... Le Roi was eating with his wife in a restaurant of Bologna during his first season with Virtus, and another couple was sitting near them. They were smoking, and Antoine asked them the courtesy to stop doing that. The others accepted, and when they went to pay, they found that Antoine already made that for them.

Delightful player and delightful person, today basketball is poorer than yesterday. Merci Antoine, pour tous les emotions que tu nous as donné pendant ces années... bonne chance pour ton futur, bonne chance pour ceux qui devront te replacer dans nos coeurs...


Old 10-01-2005, 12:26 AM #6
stuart
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Location: San Francisco, California, USA
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Re: Rigaudeau to retire !

Much respect to The King...

Stuart
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Old 10-01-2005, 06:25 PM #7

Saskibaloia
Member

Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Sydney
Posts: 717

Re: Rigaudeau to retire !

Quote:
Originally Posted by mvblair
Rigaudeau's "failure" in Dallas is not his personal fault. The truth is that Mark Cuban was searching for a "Holy Grail" and took a European veteran who did not fit with what Dallas needed.





AMEN BROTHER!!!

That is SO TRUE!!!

In another discussion forum I was the only one to understood why he was not able to perform in the NBA.

He’s quality. You just have to watch the 2000 Olympic Gold Medal Game and you can see the authentic meaning of a TEAM PLAYER and one that leads by example.

What a living legend!!!