The Campazzomanía it does not stop and continues to gain followers. For Argentine basketball, this is great news regardless of the final result: the activity welcomes the fury that has been installed since the arrival of Facundo Campazzo to the NBA was confirmed – even before.
It is enough to review what happens in the official NBA store that sells the official jerseys to the whole world through the web. The Denver Nuggets have three jerseys for sale and there are six sizes for each: from “small” to “3-plus.” The Statement Edition version (light blue) with the number 7 and the Argentine’s name has five of them sold out and the only size available (M) has only 9 shirts. The other two models also have some sold out sizes.
In the universe of social networks, which are not definitive but serve as a small sample, everything that the Denver communication team does and involves Campazzo measures much better by far exceeding the rest of the publications in interactions.
What an example: the video summary of the great individual performance of Nikola Jokic in the debut against Sacramento accumulated until this Christmas Friday afternoon 77 “retweets” and 636 “likes”.
On the other hand, two photos of Campazzo, barely accompanied by the phrase “Official NBA Debut”, accumulated 675 “retweets” and no less than 10,000 likes. He repeated with the tweet, minutes later, of the Cordoba’s first basket in the league: he added 612 and 7,300, in addition to having almost 200 comments between both publications.
The Argentine’s valuation, in any case, exceeds the albiceleste fanaticism. Also to the local Denver press, who had their doubts or directly did not know him and now affirms that the Cordovan can make an important contribution. It reaches, for example, a coach like Jeff Van Gundy, who led the New York Knicks to the 1999 finals and three other conference semifinals, as well as being the coach of the US national team.
“He is the player I am most interested in seeing this year. It is fierce. He is a quilombero. It’s his nature, that’s how he became such an amazing player. He is going to grab the pineapples before they put him to shame, “said the coach, not only highlighting the game (especially his” ability as a passer “) but also the attitude of the Argentine.
Jeff Van Gundy in his time with the Knicks: in 1998, with a Fabricio Oberto who went to prove himself in the United States. Photo Clarín Archive
Van Gundy had already expressed his admiration for Campazzo in 2017, when he faced him in the Americup. And now he couldn’t help but be part of the campaign for Campazzo, which even leaves other marks, the indelible ones.
The living example of this is Sebastián Palonsky, a 21-year-old young man who chose to immortalize the Cordovan in his skin. The one in charge of doing it was Fernando Liseri, the most recognized tattoo artist in the basketball environment and who has even already done work on the skin of several players of the National Team and the Golden Generation, but also on hockey lionesses and volleyball players like Luciano From Cecco.
The kid tattooed a very particular image: that of Campazzo with the glasses of journalist José Montesano while celebrating the victory against France that allowed Argentina to qualify for the final of the 2019 World Cup in China.
“Sebastián wanted to tattoo Facundo but he wasn’t sure what to do, so I suggested that to him.” Liseri tells Clarín. Beyond commenting on the idea, the author did not have much faith either …
“I was a bit nervous because I wanted it to turn out well but I don’t specialize in realism and portraits; that’s why I made it a vector type,” confesses the tattoo artist, who was also delighted when Palonsky saw the finished product: the image convinced him and he ended up falling in love.
A seduction like that is what led many to ride the campazzesca wave. It will be a question, now, of knowing how to measure expectations. Not even Ginobili, four times champion and the best in history, was the undisputed starter. Nor did he need it to transcend.
Without being champions, Andrés Nocioni was able to get an ovation from the United Center that Michael Jordan conquered and Luis Scola made thousands of Houston fans wear a wig to imitate him. Campazzo has just started on his way, but he has something to make noise with.
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