Miami (USA), Jul 8 (EFE).- Both Willy and Juancho Hernangómez they see their future, for the first time in a long time, away from the United States. They have been seven seasons looking for a place among the best, but the last two years have caused a reflection that brings them closer to Europe with the desire to prove their worth.
The lack of opportunities with the Pelicans in the case of Willy and having become ‘transfer fodder’ on Juancho’s side keep them away from that idea that was always ironclad to remain in the NBA despite the siren songs that came from the old continent.
In 2016 both undertook the path to the best basketball on the planet together. Willy had been chosen in 2015 but he extended his career in the ACB with Real Madrid for another year, while Juancho came straight from the ‘draft’, with some Nuggets who made the first decisions of a project with ring pretensions.
Now, Willy has an official offer from Barcelona, while some rumors place Juancho also in the orbit of the Barça club.
WILLY, FROM MORE TO LESS
Willy’s American dream could not have started better, since he made the leap hand in hand with his great friend Kristaps Porzingis to end up in a historic franchise like the Knicks and knew how to take advantage of opportunities.
He played 72 games, 22 of them as a starter, and averaged 8.2 points and 7 rebounds per game in 18.4 minutes on average. The 24 goals that he endorsed against San Antonio and Toronto will remain to be remembered, accompanied by 13 rebounds against the Spurs and 11 against the Raptors.
That, together with his consolidation in Jeff Hornacek’s rotation, allowed him to be chosen in the best rookie quintet of the 2016/2017 season, sharing it with Joel Embiid and ahead of names like Jaylen Brown, Jamal Murray o Brandon Ingram.
The instability in the sports management of the Knicks led Willy to the Hornets, where he stayed for two seasons and did not have the expected continuity. Both in Charlotte and later in New Orleans, the franchises bet more on other interiors despite the fact that the Spanish’s numbers in the minutes played were good.
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Seating Willy seemed easier than doing it to others: he was a guy who didn’t create problems and when he went out on the track he gave everything.
Both in the Hornets and in the Pelicans, his weight in the team went down as he increased in the Spanish team. The more important it was for coach Sergio Scariolo, the less he was considered in the NBA.
Probably the most difficult moment was the one he lived in the last year, when he arrived in New Orleans with a Eurobasket MVP under his arm and they denied him a start to another franchise, assuring him that he would have minutes. That promise was never fulfilled and the decisions of coach Willie Green ended up undermining his hopes.
JUANCHO AND THE BITTER SIDE OF THE NBA
If there is something especially hard for an NBA player, it is not finding stability and seeing how their rights pass from one team to another without having opportunities. It is when they become coins of exchange and live with the suitcase prepared at the door of the hotel. It is the nightmare that Juancho has lived in the last two seasons.
The 2021/2022 course began in the Celtics, he continued it with a fleeting spell for the Spurs and finished it off with 17 games for the Jazz. In the Raptors he ended his seven seasons in North American basketball this year, which began with the Nuggets and the Wolves.
His best years were the first three in Denver, where he found his place and his role: from the bench but feeling part of a winning project.
His time in Minnesota was also successful and in the 2020/2021 season he was able to play 52 games and be regular in his game with 8.4 points per game.
Being ‘labeled’ as a shooter hurt him in this NBA that lives by and for the triple and that has authentic specialists in those shots. His other virtues went unnoticed by many coaches and, like his brother, the MVP of the Eurobasket final did not serve to gain minutes in Toronto either.
Without a team since he was cut by the Raptors in February, it will always remain in his biography that he was the actor in charge of giving life to Bo Cruz in the movie ‘Hustle’, a unique experience with Adam Sandler and that would never have come if he had not Been in ‘the land of opportunity’.
Now he becomes a very attractive forward for European basketball and perhaps it is time to accept some of the proposals that he had rejected in recent years.
Two brothers with a similar path, without receiving the opportunities they deserved in the NBA. Europe appears on the horizon and it could be the season of redemption for the Hernangómez.
nacho garcia
(c) EFE Agency
2023-07-08 18:00:18
#Hernangómez #seek #redemption #NBA
