Santi Aldama, the sacrifice of the Eurobasket and his great opportunity in the Grizzlies: "I think every shot goes in"

Santi Aldama

was never in a hurry, but now he speeds up.

"Improve 1% a day," he proclaims as his mantra.

He opted for a slow-burn formation despite proposals and expectations, far from the quarries of the big teams, first at the Canterbury Academy in Las Palmas and then in the NCAA, in a University with not much basketball cache.

"There is not only one way", he told this newspaper a few months ago.

As clear as he is now he is aware that the key moment in his career has arrived.

The great leap when he has not yet turned 22 years old.

He has been preparing for this since he played base as a child, although he only had to see his father (

senior, 2.13 meters) and his uncle, (

, 2.11), the brother of his mother, both former professional players, to intuit that he would be a giant.

After a first year of adaptation in the NBA and a summer of intense work "behind the scenes" in which, at the request of the Grizzlies, he refused to play the Eurobasket with Spain, the canary is ready to face his

season .

And as a headline.

"I feel ready," he challenges.

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The harsh return to reality NBA of the Spanish after the Eurobasket

• Drafting: ANDRÉS ARAGÓN

The harsh return to reality NBA of the Spanish after the Eurobasket

"He was little, he would have been 12 years old. He handled the ball very well, he played base, he shot. He attracted attention, of course."

The first meeting is never forgotten.

, now an assistant at the prestigious UCLA, which was then revolutionizing Spanish youth basketball from Torrelodones, traveled to Las Palmas with

.

Since that day, together with Aldama's family, he has managed the career of a player who accompanied him to the University of Loyola Maryland, where they soon glimpsed the obvious jump to the draft, despite the fact that during the journey Santi had to deal with an operation of knee and with all the drawbacks of the pandemic.

10 kilos more

"The first year in the NBA is never easy, it's not just basketball, it's life. You come out of a world of children and start making money, you live alone... He was lucky that he was chosen by a franchise that bets on the training of players, which was not urgent", confesses the Serbian, surprised by Aldama's summer.

"During last season he grew another two centimeters [he is already 2.14] and I think he has gained around 10 kilos of muscle. A body like his needs specific work," he says about Santi's mission, which is already seeing the results in a preseason in which he has unleashed all the expectations of his own franchise.

"Before I waited for them to crash into me. Now I'm the one who can initiate contact," said the power forward in a recent interview with Sporting News.

Aldama, whose little brother

has also made the leap to the US (to a

's injury

opens a door for him to start and that the Grizzlies have seen that his Spanish - yet another in the Memphis tradition, where the

brothers are legend - is the right man.

He was chosen in the all-star lineup for July's Summer League, where he shone with 31-point, nine-rebound performances.

"He is having a great summer, playing with a lot of confidence," his coach

, words that General Manager

.

In the five games played in preseason, all in the quintet, he has shot up his numbers: third scorer (12.2 points, 40% in triples) after

, second highest rebounder after

(7.2) , first stopper (1,2), fourth in minutes...

But, to reap these fruits and face a decisive course on pole, Aldama had to sacrifice what he really wanted, what would ultimately be a continental gold.

"Santi loves the national team, for him it is a source of pride, he carries it inside, I know how much he wants to debut," says Simovic about the 'forced' resignation from Spain.

Because Aldama, MVP of the Eurobasket under 18 in 2019 in a team that formed a lethal couple with

, was key in

.

After much thought and at the behest of the Grizzlies, he decided to decline the call and spend two months "developing his body."

"The Spanish team is going to have an incredible player for 10 or 15 years. If this season goes as well as it seems, then the team, the Grizzlies and Santi, everyone will be happy," Simovic reasons.

That reveals the progress of his pupil, focused on being able to integrate definitively into the NBA.

"The goal is to be in the rotation all year," says the Canarian, who last year played 32 games with the Grizzlies and several more with the Development League team (Memphis Hustle).

"He has improved a lot of things. The physical step forward is obvious. Now he can compete. He has also worked on shooting and defense. He knows that he has to earn his minutes from there and he has to be able to defend outside and inside, he He is going to face players who are beasts. He has to learn how to use his body and his size," says the Serbian coach, who confesses his conversations with his pupil.

"He sees it as an opportunity. He's a super smart guy, very calm,

It handles pressure pretty well.

Now the NBA is finding out about his quality.

And he is very motivated and excited.

He tells me: 'It's that every pitch I throw, I think it goes inside.'

He has a very high level of confidence, "says Simovic, who warns:" He has a fantastic opportunity in Memphis.

They trust him a lot.

And I think he's still at 50-60% of his max.

He's going to have a long NBA career."

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