Let’s go to the night of July 29, 2021, the day of the NBA Draft. He is in the living room of his house, with his family and friends. What comes to mind when you remember that picture from a few months ago?
Buffff… [segundos de silencio]. They really are like a lot of emotions put together. My name came out and I fulfilled a dream surrounded by my own, with all those who have supported me for so long. It is difficult to sum it up to describe it in words. There were so many emotions put together that I can’t come up with a word that concentrates them all. What is certain is that it was an unforgettable night.
They all stayed awake except their grandmother, according to what I have been told …
[Risas] Of course it was almost five in the morning! But it was getting my name out and it was like a boost of energy.
Did you know that 30th pick was for you?
No the truth. It was all so fast that I did not know who was going to choose me in the end because it is a lottery. At any moment he could not fall.
It did not come to light that he did any prior private training, that he met with a franchise. Had he spoken to Memphis?
No. I did not do training or interviews. What I did know was that many teams had called my coaches and so forth. It was something they told me. I chose not to do them because I was based on the season I had done last year with Loyola Maryland. It was what I decided with my inner circle: to focus on improving my game and wait for Draft night.
«It took me a while to assimilate that they had chosen me; when I got here and my routine started I felt it »
How long did it take to assimilate that he was selected, that he had a hole in the NBA?
The next morning I still didn’t believe it, but the next week I was still assimilating it. When I got to Memphis and started working every day that’s when I realized I was in the NBA. It was when the routine started, when I started to train, to work. At that moment I assimilated that I had achieved the dream and that I only had to work to continue with others. But it takes a while to take in because I’ve worked for this my whole life.
Since that night of the draft, what has been the biggest change?
Everything has changed so much that I cannot say something in particular. But, for example, looking for a flat, furnishing it, all this has not been a big change for me. However, I have gone from studying and training to spending the day training, morning and afternoon.
Now how is your day to day?
We are in the Training Camp, our preseason, and it is very intense. I wake up quite early, arrive at the pavilion and have breakfast. Then I have to work with the physiotherapists and go to the gym to do weights. The following is two hours of training. Actually, I hit myself all morning and most of the afternoon in the pavilion. When I get home, I start with the steps that I have to do and others. That, a little television, dinner and sleep. The Training Camp is very intense and short at the same time because on Tuesday we have the first game.
He reaches the bed and falls like a sack.
Total. They are intense, but the team has a very large group of people to recover and that we are in physical fullness. You can’t really be in better hands.
Are you comfortable in the city? Does the franchise strive to make you comfortable and more so being a rookie in the team and the league?
Yes, they are delivered. They take care of anything you need, there is always someone to help you. I am taking the pulse of the city little by little. As I said, I already have a place to live and a car. I’ve been here a little over a month and I still have a lot to see.
Have they already stopped you on the street?
Ever in the supermarket. It is easy to see me, as I am so tall, there is always someone who recognizes you or if they do not ask you. The truth is, people love basketball here and are a huge Grizzlies fan. They wish you luck, they welcome you, they ask for a photo and with a smile. You feel the affection.
Memphis is the ideal team. It is a young group, with very good chemistry and in the same direction »
From Maryland to Tennessee. I had been living in the United States for two years, but this change of states should also be noted.
It is very different because in Baltimore I was at university and practically my life was there, I did not move around the city much because I had all my life on campus. And cities are different and similar at the same time. In Baltimore he had the port and he had the sea; I don’t have it here, but there’s the Mississippi River.
Before coming to Memphis, it was Las Vegas and that Summer League. What balance do you make of those days?
It was a good first contact. It is the closest thing to the NBA game that I have played and it helped me to know what to expect. It helped me to understand the game a little better, to see myself, to have the feeling of playing again and working based on those feelings.
The evolution was upward from the first matches to the last. What happened?
I hadn’t played for a long time, which is not the same as working individually. That’s clear. From the first game to the last I received a lot of support and tools to improve: you have a video session after each game and that makes you progress. I took the point to the rhythm and every day I felt more comfortable. If I had played two more games, I know it would have been better. In the end, you get used to it.
Landing in Las Vegas, landing in the city of Memphis, but how was the landing in an NBA locker room?
Very good. We have an incredible group. We are a very young team, with a good vibe and I only have good words because on and off the track there is chemistry. It has been very easy for the new ones to adapt to the group.
Who has sponsored you in the dressing room?
Everyone is waiting for us to join the group, but it is true that there is one above the rest: Steven Adams. Is a crack. Whenever he is around, everyone talks about him. It looks. He is the one who has sponsored me the most. He already has a lot of experience in the league and having someone on his profile, with his advice, listening to his stories from when he was a rookie … He has insisted a lot that if you are there it is because you are worth it and because they have seen something in you. That makes us all trust everything. It is very comfortable to play with people who show that trust in their teammates.
“The whole team is watching the new ones, but Steven Adams is the one who has sponsored us”
A crack, until you collide with him in a contact …
Yes, yes … It’s strong, it’s hard to move. Well, rather he moves you [Risas].
And what was it like playing and meeting Ja Morant?
It is not a secret: it is a piece of player. Training with him is impressive because he is very fast and has a prodigious vision of the game. Beyond that it involves everyone: if you are alone, it will find you. And it does. You are open and it sees you. It is very comfortable to play and live with him.
Are you happy with where you have fallen?
Yes, it is ideal. It is a young team, a similar group of people. But also for the coaching staff. There is very good chemistry and they all row in the same direction. It’s a great site and everyone is on the same page. I feel the confidence of the team in me, they give you all the possible means to develop yourself individually and as a team. Now I just have to keep dreaming.
What has Coach Taylor Jenkins asked of you?
In attack, that we show ourselves as we are; in defense, that we apply ourselves to the maximum, that we speak, that we communicate, make an effort, sprint to each side … We have heard a lot about the ‘rookie’ year, which is a long and hard adaptation phase, that we have no fear to ask and make mistakes.
Does it give some vertigo to see anything about debuting in the NBA? Are you worried about the level you can put in?
Worry at all, this is basketball. I have a lot of desire, a lot of ambition and desire to do well. The main thing is to work and I am going to do that, both physically and purely in relation to basketball. I have based everything on work and that will not change.
«I spoke with Marc Gasol and he has given me some advice, such as where to live here. Based on that I asked »
Does the NBA and its context impose a lot, everything that revolves around it?
The NBA is what it is, the best league in the world. It is an honor and a dream to be here. In the end, as I say, you have to focus on working, improving and helping the team win because that is what is wanted and what is asked for.
To speak of Memphis and Spain is to speak of Pau and Marc Gasol. Have you been bombarded with the subject a lot? Have you had the opportunity to speak with any of them?
90% of the people I have talked to remind you of the story that Pau and Marc did here. Everyone has great respect and admiration for them for what they did for and with the Grizzlies. And yes, I have spoken with Marc and he gave me a little ‘feedback’, to help me locate myself in Memphis, with the areas to live because I had no idea. He gave me a couple of zones for his personal experience. Based on that I asked and I cannot complain about the choice.
The last time we spoke, he commented that his weight was 110 kilos and that he arrived in Baltimore in 90. Have you been asked to gain weight? Do you have a plan?
Yes, they want something to go up, but it is not something imminent, they want it to be something little by little. The main idea is not that, they want to build muscles and body with meaning, without rushing.
He will wear the number ‘7’ on the shirt. In the Greyhounds it was 34 and in the Summer League it was 23. Why this number?
I wore 7 on the national team and I wore 7 in my last two seasons at Canterbury. It does not have a special meaning behind it, but I have a lot of love for this number for that.
First Canterbury, Loyola Maryland in the NCAA and now Memphis in the NBA. It is not the easiest or best known way for a European to reach the NBA, but there it is. In the end, they were right …
Each one has its own way. This was not planned, it was a combination of things and work. It was trusting work. I had some very good years at Canterbury, which shows that they work very well there. Then I had the opportunity to have a scholarship at Loyola, the perfect place for me, and now I am here. Life takes many turns. The important thing is to work and really all their paths are different, no matter how much some may seem, but if there is something like it, it is the work that must be applied to get here.
“I chose number 7 because it is the one I wore with the national team and at Canterbury. I am very fond of him »
He starts the preseason on Tuesday against the Bucks of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Almost nothing.
Against the current champions. That’s good, measuring ourselves against the best is what we aspire to as a team.
What personal goal do you set for this season?
Win as many matches as possible. As a year of ‘rookie’, I know it will be a season of adaptation, so take it to learn and live it.
I read that he was going to carry a ribbon of the Virgen del Pilar in his backpack. Do you have a wink for the Canary Islands?
Incidentally, I have always carried it, but I always have a picture of the Virgen del Pino in my wallet. I always carry it.
Go to the next page >>
.
