Paolo Banchero he has to postpone once again the appointment with his first win in Nba. The first choice of the 2022 draft, fresh from the best debut since that of Lebron James and 20 points against Atlanta, included in the starting quintet, scores 23 points (even if the percentages from the field are 6/19) with 5 rebounds and 3 assists but fails to avoid Orlando’s defeat to the Celtics.
But who is the rising star of the NBA? Born Paolo Napoleon James Banchero, he will turn 20 on November 12 and is considered the brightest talent in world basketball. In a few days from Italy an expedition led by the national coach, Gianmarco Pozzecco, and by the president of Federbasket, Gianni Petrucci, will start to convince him to wear the blue jersey. Because Banchero is an American basketball player but with Italian citizenship for a couple of years for the right of blood: the grandparents of father mario, a former football player and now the owner of a butcher’s shop, were Ligurians from Valbrevenna, then emigrated to the USA at the beginning of the twentieth century to work in the coal mines. A mission that should have fertile ground considering that Banchero is proud of dual citizenship and loves to share contents that recall Italy on social networks. Some time ago he talked about his desire to wear blue but now the scenario has changed at the speed of light and the boy is now more than just a talent with a great future and the United States admire him because he has the stigmata of the champion. Banchero these days is a permanent presence in the specialized American media: first absolute choice in the NBA 2022 draft, like Andrea Bargnani sixteen years ago who, however, could not keep up with expectations, his debut in the Orlando Magic was pyrotechnic with dizzying numbers (27 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks). To be clear, Lebron James, the current superstar of American basketball, did much less in time than him. A performance that made everyone shout about the new phenomenon of world basketball and that the Seattle-born boy replicated without the slightest effort in subsequent games.
On the other hand, that Banchero had something special it was understood in the years spent at Duke University, one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States, when his strength and talent were clearly above average. A frightening body, 208 centimeters by 113 kilos, which moves with the grace of a dancer, a pivot with a play hand that knows how to combine substance with quality and show, a mix that in the NBA has its charm and can also be quite profitable . A predestined, the mother Rhonda she was an ace in women’s basketball, which the whole world now admires and who can make basketball Italy a powerhouse of the ball in wedges.
