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BASKETBALL – Dominican Jassel Pérez in NBA third base due to Kobe’s inspiration

From his beginnings on the basketball courts in the province of San Cristóbal, the Dominican Jassel Pérez recorded that “work kills talent”, a thought taken from the “Mamba Mentality” created by his idol Kobe Bryant and that he has in mind. the prelude to the NBA.

“I have the mentality of Kobe. I trust myself and I always work, because work kills talent. Right now I practice my physique, I need it more in this type of NBA basketball and I practice shooting. Kobe, when it comes to shooting, always I put it in,” the forward for the Capitanes de Ciudad de México of the G League, the NBA Development League, explained to EFE.

Pérez, winner of the rookie of the year award in the 2021-2022 season of the Dominican League, is one of four Hispanics that make up the Capitanes roster in the 2022 Showcase Cup.

The 21-year-old from the Caribbean arrived as one of the main bets with which the Mexico City team plans to fulfill one of its main objectives as a franchise, to send its first Latino player to the NBA.

This occurred after confirming himself as one of the most promising talents in the Dominican Republic, a team with which he participated in the last AmeriCup.

The story of Pérez and Kobe Bryant has other similarities since the former player of the Licey Titans of his country practiced soccer from a young age, as well as basketball, as did the winner of five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. .

Jassel Pérez even became his country’s youth soccer team, while Bryant got closer to football during his childhood years when he accompanied his father, former player Joe Bryant, on an adventure through Italian basketball.

Both stopped playing soccer on the advice of their close circle, which made them see the talent with which they were born for basketball.

“My entire family is sporty, they play soccer and basketball, but the vast majority of my family left for basketball. Many people told me that basketball was going to take me far,” added the number 2 pick from the second round last year. G League Draft.

Like Kobe, who is a fan of Italian Milan, Pérez has a favorite European football team, Real Madrid, with whom he fell in love with Cristiano Ronaldo, another of the athletes he idolizes.

“I don’t play soccer anymore, before I was a striker. I think I still have something of a soccer player, the strength and speed in my legs, something that I worked a lot in that sport,” Pérez commented.

During his basketball career, Jassel has worn the number 10 and in Captains that number is occupied by Justin Minaya, for which he chose to honor Bryant’s memory with 24.

“Although I like Real Madrid and Cristiano, my greatest idol in sport is Kobe because he marked me in an unforgettable way. That man gave everything for his team,” he said.

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