Peter John Ramos is Going for Gold

by Jake Whitacre on Sep 2, 2009 9:25 AM EDT in Silly Stuff

You probably didn't wake up this morning and expect to see news on Peter John Ramos this morning, but every time we get a chance to talk about Washington's favorite Puerto Rican.

This week, the FIBA Amercias Championship is being played in Puerto Rico, and the home team is not doing a great job as host, dominating group play up to this point. They, along with Brazil, are the only two teams left that are still undefeated. Not only are they undefeated, but Puerto Rico hasn't even so much as faced a challenge, winning all five of their games by at least 15 points. They'll have their hands full against Brazil, who features Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao, but at worst it looks like Puerto Rico has a 50-50 shot of winning the FIBA Americas Championship this year.

A key to Puerto Rico's success this year has been Party John Ramos. Unlike 2004, when he was mainly a bystander while Puerto Rico demolished the USA in the Olympics on the way to finishing 6th in Athens, Ramos has been a vital part of Puerto Rico's success. He's third on the team in points (11.2 per game). He also leads the team in in rebounds (8.4 per game) and blocks (1.6 per game). His performance becomes more impressive when you compare his performance with the other players around him. Check out the leader board in rebounds per game at the Championship:

Ramosboards_medium

Ramos has some expensive bread sandwiching him on both sides. Villanueva signed a 5 year, $35 million deal this summer with the Pistons and Varejao re-signed with the Cavaliers for 6 years, $42 million. It almost starts to make you wonder what would've happen if the Wizards hadn't given up on Ramos after only one season. Almost.

Tweet Comment 7 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

lol I don't wonder

JaVale McGee is our project big man and is probably better then Ramos right now.

by DaGribb on Sep 2, 2009 10:39 AM EDT reply actions

Peter John Ramos

wasn’t that bad. He looked pretty good in practice. He just wasn’t good enough to see the game at nba speed. I think hes 24-25 might be coming into his prime soon. If you were trying to compete right now who would you take Party John or Hasheem Thabeet.
Javale just moves faster and jumps higher than the vast majority in the nba. The more Javale plays the better he will get.

by forthepeople on Sep 2, 2009 11:30 PM EDT up reply actions

From Javale's twitter feed.

http://bit.ly/Oa77J

by forthepeople on Sep 3, 2009 1:38 AM EDT up reply actions

If you think Party Peter is putting up nice numbers...

go over to www.eurobasket.com and check out OPech’s line in the European tourney! Something like 16-8 against pretty good opposition.

I was also amused to see that just as the Russians gave a “paszport” to an American point guard (Holden)… the Poles have done the same for David Logan, who is now happily tossing alley oops to Maciej Lampe and Marcin Gortat and pouring in points for the Polish Eagle as he once did as Division II player of the year at U of Indianapolis.

by khrabb on Sep 2, 2009 11:17 AM EDT reply actions

I think Pech will do well in Minnesota

Behind Kevin Love, Al Jefferson, Darius Songaila – there’s only Mark Blount and Brian Cardinal…..

Pech should be able to carve out some time in Minny….and with playing time (more than the 8.9 minutes over 67 games in 2 years he had with the Wizards), he may be able to actually develop….

Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......

by Rook6980 on Sep 2, 2009 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I still dont' get how Holden and Logan can play for European teams

Someone smarter on FIBA stuff should feel free to enlighten me.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Sep 2, 2009 10:26 PM EDT up reply actions

US Law allows American Citizens to carry...

dual passports. FIBA recognizes anyone who carries a passport of country X to play for that country’s national team.

In short, it is pretty transparent even if logic-defying. A Polish colleague who is a serious NBA fan thinks it is terrific that Logan is playing for the Polish team even though he apparently does not speak a word of Polish.

Logan regularly plays for the top Polish club team, which is based in Sopot, a lovely resort city that neighbors Gdansk, which is where the Solidarity movement that toppled the Communist state began in the 80s. Sopot also plays in the European Champions League, which means that Logan gets to play against the best in Europe including many other teams with American point guards (Holden, McIntyre, Greer etc) and now Ricky Rubio! Interestingly, before settling on Logan, Sopot had tried and dismissed such US PGs as Travis Best and DeJuan Wagner, who proved absolutely cancerous.

Bringing all this back home to our concerns, I have stated several times that I think Juan Dixon would be a BIG hit over here….

by khrabb on Sep 3, 2009 7:24 AM EDT up reply actions