Usman Garuba will have a new chance. On November 16, the former Real Madrid player was relegated to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the G-League, a subsidiary of the Houston Rockets., so that he was shot before the few minutes he was having with the Texan team. After 13 days, Stephen Silas, the team’s coach, recovers him for his plans with John Christopher and Daishen Nix, as Jonathan Feigen (journalist specialized in the entity) has advanced on Twitter. A return that can be good for the self-esteem of the player, who went to the NBA with high hopes but has not yet had many opportunities, finding himself relegated to a very remote part of the rotation and without having many minutes. Bad news, as he suffers the bitter part of the game even on one of the least aspirational teams in the North American competition.
Rockets recall Josh Christopher, Usman Garuba and Daishen Nix from the G League Vipers.
– Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) November 29, 2021
Just before he went on a tour of the Eastern Conference, a section that started with defeat at Madison Square Garden in New York, the Rocktes (worst team in the NBA: 3-16 right now after a stretch in which they added 14 losses in a row) they sent Garuba to the G League. A Development League that, remember, has been greatly enhanced by the NBA in recent seasons. There, young people in need of minutes and adaptation mix with meritorious ones looking for opportunities and even established players who pick up pace after long injuries. We have seen it recently with Serge Ibaka in Agua Caliente Clippers, where he was shot after his serious back injury. A personal decision aimed at helping your team in the best possible way after a prolonged break.
On his G League debut, a step sometimes necessary for players from Europe, Garuba went to 14 points without failure, although then he went from ecstasy to shyness in the following duels. The fact of playing with the reserve team can, at times, undermine the opportunity for young players (Garuba is 19 years old) looking to succeed in the best league in the world. In the Development League, Garuba met a new coach, Mahmoud Abdelfattah, and players who also tried an NBA they have not returned to: Mfiondu Kabengele, his partner in the inside game, was 27th in the draft in 2019 and from the Clippers has gone to the G League. Tyler Bey, 36 in 2020, was with Luka Doncic’s Mavericks last season. Opposite, during his debut, were the Capitanes of Mexico City, in which we find, for example, Alfonso McKinnie, a veteran (29 years) who in recent years has played in Warriors, Cavaliers and Lakers. Almost nothing.
In Houston they already warned before the start of the season that this would be the most logical route for Garuba. Mainly, because the template does not fit all: the Rockets chose first four rounds in the last draft, one of them another European center, the Turkish Asperen Sengun who is accumulating many minutes of NBA in a good start to his career. Garuba, who has only played 45 games so far, spread over seven games (1.7 points and 2.6 rebounds on average), has tried to take advantage of his passing the Valley Vipers so as not to rust, pick up rhythm and mechanisms. Getting to this new stage, something that he has only half achieved, alternating lights and shadows in the G League. And be ready for when the call from above comes. Something that has already arrived. Because yes, the NBA does not wait for anyone. But he always gives opportunities, at least one, to everyone. Almost anyone can succeed where success is more difficult than anywhere else. And that’s what Garuba will have to wait for. To measure up when the moment of truth arrives. The opportunity. its chance.
