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Usman Garuba made his NBA debut fulfilling the dream of any basketball player. Were the last eight minutes of a game without history in which the Rockets lost 124-106 at Minnesota. They knew him gloriously and I will never forget them. The pvot, born in the Madrid hospital on October 12, became the seventeenth Spanish to play in the best league in the world and the youngest of all of them. With 19 years and 226 days exceeds in precocity Serge Ibaka. For Usman it was the great milestone of a career that began more than a decade ago and did not promise to begin with.
The first day that Garuba came to train with the team benjamn from Azuqueca de Henares He was eight years old. No one from the club had warned that a boy was coming to test. Not knowing quite what to do with him, they made him run in a straight line. It was difficult for him to maintain verticality. Its enormous size for its age made it an uncoordinated child. “He had very long body segments. It falls all the time. Imagine if we already gave him a ball … “, says his coach at the time, David Serrano, known as Dave.
The age at which the Spaniards debuted in the NBA
- Usman Garuba 19 + 226
- Serge Ibaka 20+42
- Sergio Rodrguez 20+144
- Juancho Hernangmez 21 + 28
- Ricky Rubio 21 + 66
- Pau Gasol 21 + 118
- Willy Hernangmez 22+151
- Lex Abrines 23 + 86
- Ral Lpez 23+197
- Rudy Fernndez 23 + 207
- Nikola Mirotic 23+260
- Marc Gasol 23 + 274
- Jos Manuel Caldern 24 + 35
- Victor Claver 24 + 65
- Fernando Martn 24+220
- Juan Carlos Navarro 27 + 140
- Jorge Garbajosa 28 + 317
It is the same that, based on a lot of work, soon after dominated the training categories from the Real Madrid quarry and with the Spanish national team. Using his physique, he was superior to everyone despite being a year or two younger than the rest. His passage to professionals was doubted, where the muscle is equalized, but he also marked differences, especially with his extraordinary intensity and mobility in defense. Last season he was already a key piece even playing in Euroleague. The NBA call was inevitable: number 23 of the draft chosen by the Rockets and to fly.
After the Games, whom he attended with the selection, joined the preseason of the Houston team. Despite the accumulated fatigue, I left good feelings. Finally yesterday made his official NBA debut in the first game of the season. And I took advantage of the time. He jumped on the track with 8:22 left to go and the Rockets lost 111-78. Sum four points, two rebounds and with him on the court his team won by 17. From the first moment he showed his intensity causing mistakes in the rival, retrieving a ball and placing two plugs, one of them spectacular on the 2.20 meters wingspan of Naz Reid. He also received another from Malik Beasley for trusting. Rookie toll.
“Wait that you learn a lot and help us with your defense. He is young, he has to develop his skills. At the beginning it will be hard because not part of the Top 10 of our rotation. I will have to continue growing as a player, “he analyzed. coach Stephen Silas about his performance. There are no doubts about his ability to learn. It has been proving it since the day he started training and did not stand.
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