Carlos Alocén’s Return: The Comeback of a Rising Talent

Alocén fights for a ball (EFE/ Enric Fontcuberta./Archivo)

“I don’t know, I think so, we hope so […] “It could be that he came back, although it could also be that he didn’t.” Chus Mateo begins to contemplate a possibility long kept in the drawer, there was no other option, on the part of Real Madrid basketball: the return of Carlos Alocén. It is not certain that the handy point guard will finally return in the ACB match against Andorra this Sunday, in the heat of the WiZink Center. However, the scenario is contemplated sooner or later. And it is no small thing, because the young man has not been able to play a single minute since February 13, 2022.

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⏳ Madrid training today, note that Alocen already participates in the 5×5 game (“contact” situations). What’s more, in the video a triple is hit, a bomb by elevation and a past hoop going up the baseline. There can’t be much left, come on, I say. pic.twitter.com/yk72ZjD4S3

— Victor Colmenarejo (@karusito83) November 1, 2023

At the end of the third quarter of a league game that Madrid was playing at the time, in Málaga and against Unicaja, Alocén broke down while making a basket attempt. The images left by the moment did not predict a promising future for him: he had to throw himself on the ground and left the track with help and tears in his eyes. A few hours later, the worst prognoses were confirmed: “Complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee.”

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Since then, little or nothing has been heard from Alocén. The long recovery that lay ahead of him dragged on and no one seemed to remember him until now, when he is now medically discharged and has been able to return to training with his teammates. His caution, in the face of a serious injury like the one he suffered, has prevailed at all times. As soon as he has minutes, the doubt will be inevitable: how will he reconnect with the track?

Alocén on February 13, 2022, as soon as he was injured (acb Photo / M. Pozo)

Trained in the lower categories of Basket Zaragoza, Alocén was always one step ahead in terms of talent and maturity. For example, the precocity at the time of debuting in the top category with the team from his homeland: 15 years and 10 months, in the 2016-2017 season and precisely against Real Madrid, in what would later be the flag of he. Nobody had any doubts about him when it came to placing him as one of the pillars of the future of the orange ball sport in Spain.

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2019 was a dream year for him. In February, he debuted with the senior team in a qualifying window for the World Cup that La Familia would later conquer. In July, Real Madrid made a clear commitment to him, paying his termination clause to Zaragoza and signing him for five seasons. Of course, he continued playing on loan in the Aragonese capital for another year: he was Best Young Player of the ACB twice (2018-2019 and 2019-2020) thanks to his participation there.

Since July 2020, Alocén has belonged to the white discipline. “I come to raise my game to a level that I have not reached yet. It is true that I have many things to improve, such as my outside shot and my physique. And take more and more steps to get what I want, which really means being here for many years,” he acknowledged upon his arrival. However, he never finished being a protagonist in Madrid: he had Facundo Campazzo, Nico Laprovittola, Thomas Heurtel, Nigel Williams-Goss and Sergio Llull ahead of him, who can also act as game director.

He won’t have it easy at the moment either, since he is going to rejoin at a particularly lucid moment for Campazzo and Sergio Rodríguez. This Thursday, in the Euroleague, both gave more than 10 assists in the same game. A milestone, by two players from the same team, in the history of the top European competition. And Llull is still there, acting as ‘one’ if necessary. But he trusts Alocén, as was demonstrated by renewing him until 2025 this summer.

Alocén, against Madrid when he played in Zaragoza (EFE/Manuel Bruque)

One Euroleague, one ACB and three Super Cups appear in his record. His numbers are something else: 5.2 points, 2.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds in his entire Spanish career; 3.6-2.1-1.4 in the Old Continent. It is legal that unknowns are the order of the day, and even more so with inactivity of more than a year and a half.

Even so, with just 22 on his identity card, Carlos Alocén has room to recover that spark that made him so special. Wow, it was magic: as if it weren’t enough that Madrid was quick to acquire his services, he considered presenting himself to the NBA Draft in 2021. He ended up withdrawing his candidacy, but the data makes it clear that, if everything is going well, our basketball scene may have reasons to rejoice with its revival.

2023-11-24 12:53:00
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