Jaime Pradilla, the "Felipe Reyes" who has knocked down the door of the national team: "He has no ceiling"

On the first day of concentration, at the beginning of August,

told

: "It looks like you're going to stay a long time."

A month later, the Valencia Basket power forward is the starter of the Spanish team that on Saturday, against Lithuania in Berlin (8:45 pm, Four), seeks the quarterfinals after an excellent first phase in Tbilisi.

It is the boom of a "fated" young man.

Because if this new Spain has something, it is opportunities for those who want to take advantage of them.

And of that, of opportunism, of ambition and impudence, of "self-confidence", something already knows at 21 years old Pradilla, who got on the ship of the absolute as if he were a pirate on board: since He made his debut last November and has played all the matches for the national team.

In his case, it wasn't the first time he'd kicked down a door.

Everything had started long before for this young man from Zaragoza, but that day, at La Fonteta, in that League of the pandemic resolved behind closed doors, Jaime made himself known to the world.

"We knew about him a little from the lower categories of the national team, but not even in LEB [in Palencia, on loan from Zaragoza] had he stood out too much," recalls

, the Valencia Basket assistant who now works day by day with Pradilla .

Although he had debuted in ACB in 2018 as the second player born in the 21st century, those 14 points and seven rebounds against Gran Canaria and the 12 two days later against Real Madrid caught everyone's attention.

Shortly after, the Taronja club was going to pay the more than 200,000 euros of its clause to the then Casademont.

"we were surprised"

You have to travel a little further back.

"Since he was a child, it was clear that he was going to arrive," recalls

, now the sports director of HLA Alicante (LEB Oro), then in charge of the morning quarry, the man who discovered Pradilla when, at the age of 12, he signed him from the CB Zeta, still a student at the Salesians of Zaragoza.

The youngest of three brothers -Adrián came to stand out in training-, he soon jumped with the one-year-olds and formed a special duo with

: "They amazed when they were children for their ability to associate, for an improper tactical maturity, outside of normal. We were surprised."

Pradilla, who fit in from the first day in the group of the team with which he made his debut in Skopje in the World Cup qualifying windows, shares a room with captain

.

And he didn't blush when choosing

's 4 .

He was champion of Europe under 16 and under 18 with the generation of 2001. Without an outstanding physique, with his 202 centimeters he was able to 'dry' his teammate

in the key match against Montenegro.

Something that surprised in the bowels of Valencia Basket, because they are not usually a dance partner in training.

With whom Pradilla brings it is with

, a competitiveness/friendship that has strengthened him.

ALBERTO NEVADOFEB

Maroto, who tutors Pradilla's progress in endless individual sessions at L'Alqueria - "he just wants to learn, his classic question is 'when can we train'" - highlights, above all, the mentality of his pupil.

"Circumstances have favored him, but you have to know how to take advantage of opportunities. It's difficult to get into the national team at his age. Also at the beginning of the season, with our plague of casualties, he knew how to take a step forward", emphasizes the coach taronja, who emphasizes two aspects of Pradilla that need to be improved: his physique and his outside shot, and who describes a player "a bit stubborn, very handy in that sense".

"He needs to understand, he has trepidation. If he frowns...Once he's convinced, he goes 100%," he describes.

At the club, aware of the showcase that the Eurobasket is creating, they are working on the evolution of a power forward in whom they have so much hope.

Despite going in the midst of a pandemic, he adapted wonderfully to the city.

He bought a flat attached to the new Valencia Basket pavilion, the Casal España Arena, which will be inaugurated in the coming months.

He dropped out of the last draft, but he's not going to be short of girlfriends.

"Jaime is predestined to dominate Europe. He has no ceiling. There are many NBA teams following him and it would not be unreasonable," says Arbalejo, who is also an international scout for the Utah Jazz and whom Jaime "in some things" reminds him of

.

"He has privileged, spectacular feet and hands, an innate intuition. It's something he possessed since he was a child. Things inappropriate for his age came naturally to him," concludes Luis Arbalejo.

"He rarely makes a bad shot", Scariolo has been highlighting, of whom he has skipped several steps: with less than 17 minutes per game, he is fourth in efficiency and scoring (8.6 points with more than 50% success) of the team .

Not too many would have bet on Pradilla as one of the final 12 on the Eurobasket list.

Tomorrow he will be at the forefront, face to face with Sabonis and Valanciunas.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• eurobasketball

• Europe

• Pau Gasol

• Montenegrin

• Saragossa

• Spain National Soccer Team

• Lithuania

• berlin

• Four

• Palencia

• real Madrid

• Alicante