Even before the showdown with the reigning German champions FC Bayern Basketball in Munich on Sunday evening (ended after this issue went to press), Bundesliga basketball team Ratiopharm Ulm announced on Saturday that they had signed the 2.11 meter tall center Joel Soriano. The 26-year-old Dominican is moving from Zaragoza to the Danube and has signed a contract until the end of the season.
Last Wednesday, Soriano played another competitive game for Zaragoza, and on Saturday he was already on the plane Deutschland. Soriano is considered a physical center with strong rebounding and efficient finishing. Ulm’s sports director Thorsten Leibenath is convinced that the 26-year-old can quickly help the Bundesliga club, which has been fluctuating again and again this season: “Joel will give us additional quality and depth with his skills and presence at both ends of the field. After LJ Figueroa, we are pleased to welcome the next national player from the Dominican Republic to Ulm.”
The 2.11 meter giant played 24 games for the team of former Ulm assistant coach Jesus Ramirez. Soriano, who was born in New York, was loaned to the northern Spanish club in the summer by the EuroLeague team from Valencia. Zaragoza has ended the collaboration, so Joel is technically moving from Valencia to Ratiopharm Ulm. For Zaragoza, he averaged 7.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in an average of 14 minutes of playing time in the ACB. In the FIBA Europe Cup they averaged 6.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 15 minutes. The season before, after a few months in the G-League, he moved to Valencia shortly before the play-offs. In just under eleven minutes of playing time, he averaged 4.3 points and 4 rebounds. In the end he won the runner-up in the Spanish league with Valencia.
Soriano spent the summer with the Dominican Republic national team in the FIBA AmeriCup. The final stop was the quarterfinals against the eventual champions from Brazil with the ex-Ulm natives Caboclo, Dos Santos and De Paula – despite Joel’s 12 points and four rebounds.
Before he moved to Ratiopharm Ulm, the wires between Zaragoza and the OrangeCampus were particularly hot – Joel Soriano already has a very good friend in the Ulm team. Together with Chris Ledlum, he shone in his final year of college at St. John’s Red Storm under coaching legend Rick Pitino. While Chris Ledlum impressed as a power forward with 9.5 points and 6.9 rebounds, Joel Soriano was his congenial partner at the center position with 14.1 points, 1.8 blocks and 9.5 rebounds. It wasn’t until the semifinals against the eventual winner U-Conn (90:95). The 26-year-old from New York has signed a contract with Ratiopharm Ulm for the remainder of the season.
