Jaime Echenique is the great novelty in the call of the Colombian basketball team

The list of sixteen called up to the Colombian basketball team has already been made public, which will face a new double date in the dispute to access the next qualifying phase for the 2023 Fiba World Cup that will take place in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. Among them, the name of Jaime Echenique stands out, a player at the service of the Washington Wizards affiliate team who will debut with the national team, after four years of starting his professional career.

It will be a highly demanding framework for the debut of the Barranquilla center with the national team, since the team led by Guillermo Moreno will face Mexico on August 25 at the Chihuahua University Auditorium Gymnasium, and the United States at the Coliseum Elías Chegwin from Barranquilla on August 29.

These matches will be their debut in the second qualifying round, where they share a group with the United States, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Previously in the first round, Colombia advanced as third in their group along with Brazil and Uruguay, at the expense of Chile, product of two wins and four losses. One of those victories came against favorites Brazil, in what was the first victory in history against the South American giant.

Echenique’s call to the national team comes at a great moment of form for the center from Barranquilla, who has shown great growth since he played just three minutes in his first and only game to date in the NBA against the Cleveland Cavaliers in December 2021.

The remainder of the 2021-22 season he played for the Capital City Go-Go, the Wizards’ affiliate team in the G-League. In 28 games played he averaged 17.4 points; 10.4 rebounds; 1.2 assists and 0.9 blocks, with 57.2% shooting from the field.

In July he participated with the Wizards in the Summer League, with the clear objective of guaranteeing a place in the rotation of the team from the capital, or to attract the attention of one of the other 29 NBA franchises. In the tournament played in Las Vegas, Echenique played four games, in which he showed his ability to contribute both in attack and defense. His best game was against the current NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, completing a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds, to which he added 2 blocks.

In total, there are 16 players who make up the squad for this double qualifying date, mostly from international basketball. In addition to Echenique, among the most prominent names stand out Brian Angolaforward at the service of AEK Athens and who in the first qualifying round led the Colombians in scoring with an average of 20 points.

Other notable names include point guard Hansel Attentionat the service of the Oviedo Basketball Club of Spain and responsible for the creation of the game in Colombia, the power forward Andres Ibarguen of the Prat Basketball Club of Spain and leader in rebounds with an average of 9.

The pivot is also in the call Juan Telloa starter during the first round and who will presumably see fewer minutes with the arrival of Echenique.

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