The Spanish basketball had not seen a project like Santi Aldama for a long time. A player of 2.11 so agile and coordinated, with that fluidity to move and attack from outside ... There is a very recurring comparison when talking about Aldama, but before firing the senseless pressure you have to remember that, a few days after leading to the Spanish team towards gold in the European U18 and proclaim MVP of the tournament, will head to the United States. No Spanish team has offered a better alternative and there you can combine it with your university studies.
Aldama lit the way to gold with performances like the one he left before Croatia in the group stage: 16 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 7 blocks and 3 steals, although where he was most noticed was in the big moments: in the quarterfinals he derailed Russia with 17 points in the first part; broke the semifinals against Greece with a great third quarter; and went around the final against Turkey. The European Under 18 has been his great confirmation as a great pearl of Spanish basketball.
A pearl that will continue to be polished in the United States. Although he played the 2015 Mini Cup with the Herbalife Gran Canaria, the Junior Euroleague and the prestigious L'Hospitalet Tournament with Barça, and the interest of Real Madrid was not lacking, Aldama completed his training at the Canterbury Academy - a Canarian school that in In recent years it has been gaining weight in lower categories - and last November it was committed to the University of Loyola Maryland.
It is an alternative that begin to take more Spanish promises. In fact, he will share a team with another member of this Sub 18 gold, Golden Dike, a Malaga center formed in the lower categories of Unicaja and Real Madrid. It is a way that gains strength because it allows them to combine sport with studies (Aldama will do business) and because in Spanish basketball the minutes for young people are expensive.
Alocén, the exception
In this scenario, the figure of Carlos Alocén, leader of the Spanish team that conquered silver in the European Under 20, stands out. The Aragonese base has already begun to take the head in 2018 and this season, with the confidence of Porfirio Fisac, He has settled as one of the directors of the Casademont Zaragoza. A player with a privileged vision and who with only 19 years has stood out enough for Real Madrid to have the tie. Of course, it will continue yielded at least one more year in the whole set.
But the case of Alocén is an exception. Few find a clear path to the first team and this summer we have seen promises like Aleix Font (Brose Bamberg) and Sergi García (Rasta Vechta) seek in Germany the continuity and opportunities they have not had here.
It does not seem that it will be the case of Usman Garuba, the other great promise of Spanish basketball. The forward of Real Madrid has been standing out in lower categories for a few years and was the other great star of Spain in the European Under 18. Last season he already debuted with the white team in the Endesa League and, although he is still in the junior category, it does seem that In the medium term you will have the opportunity to go hollow
Now that Spanish basketball shows itself to life without gold juniors, the senses are refined looking for relief. And this summer, the first without the generation of the 80 -Navarro already played the 2000 Sydney Games-, has seen its three great projects for the future shine.
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