Usman Garuba went around the world in 80 days when it seemed like it was falling on top of him. The privilege of a trip to the past to return to that point where everything could have begun and where it will begin again.
“I’m going to prove everyone wrong. Mark my words,” the center proclaimed. August 22as soon as he was cut by the Thunder in the middle of vacation, his favorites, the ones every summer with the Spanish team, days after traveling to Indonesia from Spain to start the World.
And when, The Family eliminated by Canadait seemed that he could head back to Spain as a port of re-entry into Europe, speculation announcing with great fanfare a return to the Real MadridGaruba took the opposite direction and returned to the NBA, landing in San Franciscothe Golden Gate as a bridge back to the best league in the world after a few weeks in limbo.
Between July 1, when the Rockets they transferred him to the Hawks as a place of passage prior to his arrival in Oklahoma, and on September 15, when his incorporation into the Warriors, 76 days had passed. But Golden State had longed for him for many more years, for that old crush from two summers ago that they decided to formalize in a contractual relationship with a two-way contract.
“We had an interview with Garuba before the draft and we really enjoyed that conversation”
Larry HarrisAssistant General Manager of the Warriors
“It all started in the 2021 draft,” he says Larry Harris, assistant general manager of the Warriors. “We had a 30-45 minute interview in Las Vegas prior to the draft and really enjoyed the conversation. In the end we chose Moses Moody at 14 (Garuba was picked at 23 by the Rockets), but even once drafted we continued to follow him. We liked your skill set, his ability to defend, pass and rebound, especially at the power forward and center positions. He really fits what we do, he can play there in the future alongside Draymond Green and Kevon Looney,” argues, with notable enthusiasm, Harris, dazzled by Usman, still 21 yearsbut starting to become infatuated with him when he was still a child.
“We have been following him for years, since he was very young, when he played in Spain. I have to give a lot of credit to our three international scouts, one of them lives in Spain. They have always been following him, wanting to know more about him,” adds Larry Harris in his conversation with MD in a nod to the other Spaniard who works for the Warriors, Albert Robledillo. Journalist and scout of European players for Eurohopes, and Golden State recruited him in the middle of the 21-22 season and he received his copy of the ring as part of the success of the California franchise’s seventh crown.
Albert Robledillo, the other Spaniard in the Warriors
Assigned
Although with his ups and downs, Garuba was a gem that was trading upwards in his second season in the NBA after the boost of the Eurobasket of 2022 but devalued as a bargaining chip by all those who were wrong about what the interior said.
The Rockets removing him from his future in the new project Making Udoka despite the defensive vocation of the former Celtics coach. The Hawks did not even consider him – they traded him a week later – despite the fact that they lack versatile interiors. The Thunder with the unfulfilled promise of their General Manager, Sam Presti, who assured Garuba that they were counting on him and would follow him during the World Cup, which Oklahoma did not even wait for it to start to get rid of the Spaniard.
From a team that has not been to the playoffs since the goodbye of James Harden in 2021, another that has not quite found the formula to be important in the postseason in a consistent way and another without getting past the first round or entering the title phase since 2016 to the best dynasty of the last decade with four rings since 2015 . With Stephen Curry and his imposing entourage, to which he has joined Chris Paul. And the Warriors, giving free rein to their illusion, hope that Usman Garuba can be the heir to one of the leaders of the dynasty.
“I see a lot of similarities between Garuba and the young Draymond Green”
Larry HarrisAssistant General Manager of the Warriors
“It would be fantastic if he could become a player like Draymond Green. We are talking about a Hall of Famer, but in terms of player profile I hope he can become that player. I can see many similarities In the way Garuba plays with young Draymond Green, he is going to learn a lot from Draymond. And he will improve like Draymond did. You never know, Draymond was selected in the second round (of the draft, at number 35) and is a Hall of Famer. Garuba wants to give the best version of himself in the NBA, he is most excited about how far he can take his game with us,” explains the Warriors assistant general manager.
“If he looks like Draymond Green, we’re going to have one hell of a player,” jokes Larry Harris.
In another kind of sign of destiny, of that feeling between the San Francisco team and Garuba that has always remained alive despite the distance, one reads the other’s mind. The Warriors are looking inside Pomegranate sugarcane the Draymond Green of the future, but that’s what Usman has always wanted to be.
“I want to be like Draymond Green,” the former Real Madrid player admitted to MD last season. “People have compared me to Draymond, and my type of game is that style, maybe I can play more five because I am taller (2.03 compared to Green’s 1.98), but, looking to the future , is the type of player I want to be. Having that style, I can stay in this league longer,” explained the insider. His coach then, Stephen Silasalso saw the reasonable resemblance between Garuba and the bustling interior:
“Green has been winning the basketball he has over the years, it has not been immediate. Garuba is a slightly calmer boy than Draymond, but I see similarities between them,” the coach acknowledged with a laugh.
In terms of player as Harris points out and without attempting a comparison as to what he can become, Garuba is a Draymond Green in spirit with his unbreakable and defiant character in the face of challenges but also in essence, accredited with that coveted profile of not being the best of all in anything but good in everything like few others, capable of defending any player, from dealing with heavier ‘centers’ in the paint to dealing with a point guard on the perimeter.
“My type of game is in the style of Draymond Green”
Usman Garuba
Effective rebounder on both sides of the court, efficient blocker and very intelligent in distribution from the short roll, with ambition to improve, represented last year in his progression as shooter in ‘catch and shoot’ situations, from 25% in triples in his rookie season to almost 41% last year, still with a low volume (0.8 attempts) but on a clear upward trend.
Although traditional statistics do not quite do justice to its impact with 3 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in 13 minutes – and as happens to so many other players with so many intangibles – Usman Garuba is the only one in the entire NBA since there are records who has averaged 1.5 steals, 1 block, 10 rebounds and 40% from the perimeter for every 36 minutes in a single season as he did last year in a data noted by Sergio Rabinal in Sporting News. The center has been focused this summer on continuing to improve his offensive game.
Draymond Green, defending Davis in the playoffs
Getty Images
“He is on a two-way contract (between the Warriors and the G-League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors). He can become a scorer and grow in other small things, but he already brings many things, he is a great defender, a great rebounder… He has to improve consistency as a shooter and he can be a good scorer as he has shown in the NBA this year And in summer. He adapts to our game, which is a little different styles,” explains Harris, who also talks about what he asks of Garuba. more short term:
“We simply ask that you continue to develop, improve your confidence as a shooter, take experience and minutes. He has a more advanced game than players his age, he knows what to do on defense, how to rebound, pass the ball… There are many things with the ball that Draymond Green already has. It is a question of experience, but if he puts that together and develops his offensive game, he will have a long career in the NBA,” highlights the Warriors executive, who is looking for players like the Spaniard or Lester Quinones, Most Improved Player in the G-League last year, reinvigorate the generational change, attenuated after the departures of James Wiseman y Jordan Poole with the saturated salary bill with a lot to do with it, although Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody are still on the roster.
Garuba’s role this season
El General Manager de Golden State, Mike Dunleavy Jr, already warned in The Athletic a few days ago that the idea is for Garuba to have minutes this season. The first big moment for the interior in the Bay team could be advanced in a team in which the players with a two-way contract are important with the cases Anthony Lamb y You Jerome last year as more recent examples.
“Can he have an important role this year? It depends on the coaching staff. Our two-way players played a lot last year, they have opportunities, it is up to them to demonstrate their potential,” says Larry Harris, supporting the idea of Dunleavy Jr. The versatile center will have a lot of tough competition in the paint between Looney, Green, the newcomer Dario Saric or Kuminga. But, who knows if the ankle injury of the one who is going to be his ‘in situ’ teacher, Draymond Green, could not already open a first way for him to show himself.
Steve Kerr, whom the Warriors want to renew as Klay Thompsonis the one who could become the definitive mentor of Usman Garuba from the bench, the player that the Warriors have never gotten out of their heads since he entered his eyes in Spain and his ears in Las Vegas in the summer of 2021, the who has always wanted to be like Draymond Green when he grows up, the soul of the Bay and, coinciding with Larry Harris, believes he can have a long career in the NBA if he completes the multipurpose player project that he already is and captivates Golden State. “We are excited about him,” says Harris, to close the conversation. Garuba and the Warriors were destined to meet again.
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2023-10-01 04:33:37
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