The progression of Santi Aldama (Las Palmas, 20 years old) has been as natural as it is extraordinary. He grew up playing for his school team, the Canterbury Lions de Gran Canaria, until he came of age. And, after winning the European Under-18 with the national team, he went to the United States to study Business Studies at Loyola Maryland University, while playing the NCAA with them. His irrepressible talent has broken all the percentiles and has overcome the braking of a knee operation and the pandemic. He was elected in number 30 of the draft, He came to the Memphis Grizzlies, the American cradle of the Gasols, and will be the first Spanish to make his NBA debut since the university league, without stepping on the ACB.
Question. These are difficult times, but nothing has stopped him. He reaches the NBA with only 27 games in the college league.
Answer. It has been a great journey in no time, yes. When I take perspective, I see how fast everything has gone despite the difficulties. In the summer of 2019 we won the gold in the European U-18, just after I arrived at Loyola, and, as soon as I started, I had to have surgery on my right knee (due to a calcification of the patellar tendon). That first season I only played 10 games because the pandemic stopped everything. Then I had to start again and, although the second year was also short and conditioned by the covid, things turned out well (21.2 points and 10 rebounds on average). It has been a very difficult time, but it has also helped me to identify what is important and has given me time to work on things that, under normal circumstances, I would not have been able to. On a physical, technical, mental level …
P. How did you get the urge to grow up in the face of anxiety about problems to prevail?
R. I always try to take everything with philosophy and support myself a lot in the family. We have all gone through phases of fear, ignorance, frustration … But I tried to overcome the incredible by making the most of the time. After the injury and the break I trained a lot individually, to get used to my body again and to polish all the possible details. The NBA was always there, but I isolated myself from future visions and focused on daily improvement. I have never set a time to get things done. The NBA was my dream, but I never thought about whether I would arrive at 20 or 25. I worked for the moment to come and it has come now.
P. What player are you today and what player do you want to become?
R. I am young, I have to be a sponge and learn a lot. I want to be a great player. I want to be the best version of myself. But to get to that point, everything goes through constant improvement, attention to every detail and growth at all levels. It is a question of balances. I have to be able to gain weight and be more agile at the same time. Gain muscle mass, but keeping your legs quick. Then, on the court, I have to continue developing the shooting, the movements, the speed in defense, the game readings … I am focusing on all that, without leaving anything aside.
P. Is there an obsession in the NBA for putting hunk to young people as Luka Doncic said when he arrived?
R. In my case they want to make me strong but working my body with meaning. The obsession is not that you gain weight but that you gain strength. Now I am 2.11m without shoes, 2.14m with shoes, and I weigh 102 kilos. So I still have room to gain muscle.
P. And, in the game, how is this evolution from the perimeter towards painting being?
R. I grew up playing base and as an outsider and that learning helps me a lot in today’s basketball. It is important to have that mobility and versatility. Now I have to work on development from the inside, learn where I have advantages, get to know the rivals. It is an advantage to go from the outside to the inside rather than from the inside to the outside. But here the players have a thousand resources and the main thing is to identify my strengths to take advantage of them and my shortcomings to correct them. I have to look at the great players to see what they base their game on and be able to internalize it in mine.
P. How do you see the eternal debate between European and American basketball?
R. Here we dedicate a lot of time to individual and team work. Basketball is faster and freer by definition. We have many resources to develop our training and it is played at a very high rate. In European basketball you have to have a lot of systems in your head because it is a more tactical game. But each thing has its beauty. I love watching European basketball and being able to play in the NBA.
P. What rookieDo you experience the pressure of feeling examined on a daily basis or the peace of mind of having room for learning?
R. I am very demanding of myself and I always ask for more. But, from day one, the coach (Taylor Jenkins) told us that the year of rookie It is a year of adaptation. We have many things to learn, without being less demanding, because they help us a lot in our training so that we can adapt quickly. I work every day as if it were my last. I always try to give my best, without looking at what phase I’m in, I can’t be at that.
P. How do you feel about the debut?
R. I get a smile. It is a dream come true, without a doubt. And it excites me. I want it to arrive now. One of my great goals was to get here, but I want to spend a long time and fulfill many more dreams within it. I want to enjoy the road, live and take advantage of the present. But getting here should be just the beginning of something bigger. And for that, it is only worth working and working. Dreams are only fulfilled with work, this is not a matter of waking up one day and seeing yourself in the NBA. If the path that I have followed has brought me here, I have to continue along that line. Trust everything I’ve done so far, trust my close circle, and keep fulfilling dreams.
P. At what point have you dropped out of school?
R. I’ve been in my career for two years and I have another two left, but now it’s time to put them on hold. This season I have a lot to learn in the NBA and I can’t dedicate myself to everything. But the idea is to resume studies in the short or medium term. My lifelong dream is to be a basketball player, but getting my degree is also a dream.
P. During the convalescence from the operation and in confinement, he got fed up with watching basketball videos, more as an amateur or for professional interest?
R. I love watching basketball as a fan, it amuses me. But I also see it with the gaze of a gamer. When I see concrete actions and how the players use their bodies, I imagine myself executing those actions and I think about what I would do and how I would do it. Even though you are sitting on the sofa, I begin to feel as if my body is internalizing the action. In times of pandemic when I couldn’t train, I visualized a lot of movements like this and that helped me later to transfer them to the track.
P. Are you obsessed with any of those famous player moves?
R. There are many, but if I had to pick one, I’d stick with it fadeaway by Dirk Nowitzki, it is one of my favorites, I loved it since I saw it as a child. Afterwards, I have seen many times the highlights from Michael Jordan or Toni Kukoc to try to learn something. But great players do many things instinctively that are inimitable, so you just have to look, smile and enjoy.
P. Without going into comparisons, how do you assess the legacy of Pau Gasol?
R. The greatness of Pau is infinite. I don’t know him personally, but he has meant so much in my life and that of so many Spaniards that in the end you feel him as part of you. Coming here to Memphis and seeing that everyone speaks so highly of Pau, Marc… it makes you feel that legacy and feel pride. I think of Pau and I go back to all the summers that made us vibrate with the national team. Those 40 points against France in the Eurobasket of 2015 and the image of his scream after putting the last mate I have it engraved in my head. Every time I enter the pavilion there is a mural with the names of all the players in the franchise and I always look at those of Pau, Marc and Juan Carlos Navarro and that gives me extra motivation to train hard. Just knowing that they have been here and feeling their mark is already exciting.
P. What would you ask Pau Gasol before starting the trip?
R. I would ask him: what is it that you learned at a point in your career that you wish you had known before? The races are very long and you never stop learning, but it would be nice to know things that you are going to find.
P. Is he a mythomaniac to the point of thinking about the day he will play against LeBron James or some other star in the league?
R. Not at all. I am a very perfectionist, I want to always win and that everything turns out perfect, so I do not think about the stars that I will have in front of me. I have been watching LeBron for many years and he is a great figure for all of us who love basketball, but in the end it is about playing and trying to win and I will only think about that.
P. He makes his debut against the Cleveland of Ricky Rubio, whose motto is never too high, never too low (never too high, never too low), which goes a long way with his serene ambition.
R. I’m a huge fan of that motto. It sounds a lot like the way I see things, yes. Neither the day you have a great game are you the best, nor the day things don’t turn out you are the worst. Whatever you do, tomorrow’s work is work, work and work… That is the best routine to follow.
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