Say I’m proud and excited to get to the NBA would be an understatement. When you are 1.80 (or maybe 1.78) and you come from a country where basketball is secondary, because almost everything is football, you are not supposed to end up playing with the best in the world.
But here I am, 29 and on the verge of becoming the shortest player with no college basketball experience in league history.. (I found out about this recently).
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Like many of my future teammates, playing in the NBA has been a lifelong dream. When I was a kid, my friends and I played as Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, and Vince Carter and we pretended to be in the NBA.
To be honest, for much of my life I didn’t think playing in the NBA was really achievable. It was only later in my career, once I was at Real Madrid, that I even looked at it as a goal and maybe not a particularly realistic one..
But at one point I thought it might be NBA stuff and I had a pretty decent shot. I heard there was interest and when I realized 3-4 months ago that interest would materialize into actual offers this year, I decided to do everything I could to achieve it here. We decided as a family that we were not going to miss this opportunity. I didn’t want to look back into the future and regret not seeking a contract in the United States.
That said, it was not an easy process at all. I mean, the basketball part was easy, because playing is what I enjoy doing. But when you’re not playing games, your mind wanders whether you like it or not. He wanted to go to the NBA, but he had to play the first part of the season in Europe. So it was like competing and being in free agency at the same time. Not ideal!
I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights thinking, “What if I get injured now and can’t go to the NBA when it’s at my fingertips? How difficult is it going to be to move to a new city in a new country? Will my family settle in and be okay? “Once the games started, that was no longer a thought. But before and after? It was there all the time..
It was stressful and not just for me. I spoke to my brother after reaching a deal with the Nuggets and he told me that he spent many sleepless nights and was also anxious at the prospect of me being so close to reaching the NBA. She says she couldn’t stop crying once the dream finally came true. My mother was also concerned because, well, that’s what mothers do, right? She was not delighted with my decision to leave Real Madrid from the beginning, because she loved seeing me with Real and she loved the city … although now she agrees with my choice.
In addition to being very happy to become an NBA player, I am also very happy to be with the Nuggets. There was a slight interest from New York and Minnesota made a tough run for my services with my friend Pablo Prigioni, checking all the time, but it was impossible to say no to Denver. The fact that they are a playoff team where you can compete for big things and get a lot of visibility, it really influenced my decision. Not to mention, they have a bit of an international flavor, which made Denver even more appealing.
Also Manu Ginobili, Andrés Nocioni and Luis Scola gave me their approval on the organization and the city. At that time, they helped me. Luis’s advice has been very important throughout my career. He’s the one who really convinced me that to move to the next level I had to take better care of my body and be even more professional. I was lucky to meet him in the Argentine National Team.
In case you didn’t know, I’m a little scared of flying. I think I have improved a lot on that recently because I chose one of the teams with long flights almost everywhere. I don’t know if I could have done this in the past. Anyway, I still need my window seat so I can look out and relieve some of the tension. I know it’s stupid, but it helps me a lot when I can’t travel with my wife and hold her hand to be more relaxed.
It goes without saying that signing with the Nuggets is a dream come true, but it is by no means a mission accomplished for me. I come here to stay and have a relevant career in the NBA.
I don’t know how much playing time will be available to me in Denver, but I know that my old antics to get the attention of the coaches may not turn out well here. I was the type of person who would sit next to the audience and move around a lot and do my best to get attention, even spitting on the floor and rubbing my shoe there. I’m not proud of that. It made Argentine coach Néstor García nervous. He seemed to say “Enough, Facu! If I see you! You are going to enter the field, stop! “
I’m really looking forward to starting the NBA season now, especially to play guys like Stephen Curry and Damien Lillard and see if I can measure up to them..
Fortunately, I can play against both of them in the preseason, so I will have an early idea of what to expect. Hopefully it will be as exciting as the path that got me here.
The letter that the Cordovan wrote was published on December 1 in the HoopsHype website.
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