Next Saturday, August 21, we will have the presence of one of the best Uruguayan basketball players of all time. Esteban Damián Batista Hernández will arrive in order to offer a clinic to lovers of the sport of “la Naranja”.
This is a professional player who recently played defending the National Club of the Uruguayan Basketball League’s jersey and in the last hours requested a transfer to the Hebraica and Macabi Club. He was the first Uruguayan to make his NBA debut; signed by Atlanta Hawks on September 12, 2005. He made his NBA debut on November 2, 2005, playing six minutes against the Golden State Warriors.
On Saturday morning (10:00 time) Batista will be at the Siñeriz basketball court and at four in the afternoon (4:00 p.m.) he will do it in the gym of the National Basketball Club, in what is an unmissable opportunity for players, coaches and basketball lovers from Rivera.
TRAJECTORY
In 2000 he was discovered by chance by a fan of the Welcome Athletic Club. He saw him traveling on a bus from Playa Pascual (30 kilometers west of Montevideo) where he was residing at the time. Thanks to his stature, the fan asked him if he played basketball professionally and Batista replied that he did not practice this sport.
Later he received an invitation to try himself on the team and there his professional career was born. It was in 2001 when he debuted as a professional player in Welcome and his team obtained second place in the National Tournament.
The same happened the following year defending the same team. He went on to defend Salto Uruguay in the 2003 Uruguayan League and was champion of the Uruguayan League in the 2004/05 season. In that season he was elected the best basketball player of the year by the Uruguayan Olympic Committee.
After having been Uruguayan Champion of the Basketball League, with the Salto Uruguay team, by beating Paysandú BC in the finals and having eliminated the Aguada team in the semifinals.
He got third place in the South American tournament in Montevideo (Uruguay). And he was signed by Real Madrid (Spain) and later loaned to Pozuelo (Spain). With Uruguay he participated in the Pre-Olympic Tournament in San Juan (Puerto Rico) where the team ranked ninth.
In the first half of 2005, he played with Nacional in the Metropolitan Tournament (Uruguayan second division) where he lost the last final due to promotion to the League against Sayago. At the end of this tournament, he spent most of the season with Trouville.
In the South American Club League, his team was part of Group D, playing 3 games (2 defeats, 1 victory). He played two games with the Liceo Mixto Los Andes in Chile. With the selection of Uruguay he achieved fourth place in the South American Tournament that was held in Brazil.
Later he went to Aguas de Calpe (LEB of Spain) and with the Uruguay team he ranked eighth in the 2005 FIBA Americas Tournament played in the Dominican Republic. Despite the fact that his team did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Japan, Batista became one of the stars of the tournament, ranking first in the rebounding category (15.6 in 8 games / 8 defensive and 43 offensive). He was the ninth leading scorer in the championship with 18.0 points per game in eight games (144 total).
Esteban played the 2007-08 NBA preseason with the Boston Celtics. Then he performed for a season and a half in the Fuenlabrada Basketball. In 2011 he signed with the Caja Laboral Baskonia of the ACB league.
His mentor and agent is Oscar “Osky” Moglia, who was a player for the Uruguayan National Team and several teams in Argentina, Uruguay and Spain. Moglia made formative divisions of the Welcome Athletic Club until 1981 and is the son of Oscar Moglia, the most famous player in the country, who had legendary performances in the fifties and sixties.
PALMARÉS
– At the club level:
2007 Euroleague Vice Champion, with Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel).
2007 Israeli Basketball League Champion, with Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel).
2014 Turkish Basketball Cup Champion, with Pınar Karşıyaka (Turkey).
2015 Basketball Cup Champion of Greece, with Panathinaikos (Greece).
2015 Campeón Lega Basket Serie A, with Olimpia Milano (Italy).
2016 Italian Basketball Cup Champion, with Olimpia Milano (Italy).
2016 Campeón Lega Basket Serie A, with Umana Reyer Venezia (Italy).
2019 Argentine League Super 20 Cup Champion, with San Lorenzo (Argentina).
– With the national team:
2003 Third place in South American Basketball in Montevideo.
2006 South American Basketball Runner-up in Caracas (Venezuela).
2007 Third place in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
2008 South American Basketball Runner-up in Puerto Montt (Chile).
2016 Third place in South American Basketball in Caracas (Venezuela).
