Newsgroup: it.sport.basket
Titolo: Daniel Santiago nell'NBA

MI scuso con i non anglofoni, ma mi sembrava il caso di riportare il
giudizio di un tifoso dei Suns su un giocatore che, forse, qualcuno
qua ha gia' sentito nominare... :-)
Per la cronaca, ne parla bene!
[BEGIN QUOTE]
Went to the game last night against Vancouver. 
See if you can guess which Suns player I'm referring to here:
Late in the game, one of the Vancouver players passes the ball to
Bibby; 
unfortunately, Bibby was breaking to the basket and the ball sails out
of 
bounds with nobody within twenty feet of it. A Suns player trots over
quickly 
to put the ball back in play, various Grizzlies looking at each other
in 
embarassment, and a certain Suns player streaks down the open court,
handles 
the loooong pass nicely, dribbles a few times to the basket with one
defender 
catching up, and executes a beautiful sort of reverse-hammer dunk
using the 
rim as protection from the lone defender.
A bit later, Bibby is making one of his patented quick-handed dibbles
in 
traffic heading for the Suns' basket; as he goes past this same player
he's 
suddenly dribbling on air and the same Suns player, maybe even a bit
tired 
since he's logging 32 minutes for the game, is roaring down court by
himself 
on a fast break; he's fouled from behind so doesn't get the hoop this
time. He 
shoots 8-11 on free throws on the game, though, so the foul isn't that
effective.
Who is this? (No fair looking over the box score.)
Kidd?  Nope, he's resting on the bench 2nd and 4th quarters.
Penny? He's in street clothes. So is Jake. Googs didn't come at all.
Shawn Marion? He played that well, yep, but he's on the bench, too,
after 
taking a hard fall that seemed to stun him a bit.
Cliffy? He shot 3-pointers on fire, but, no, not him, nor Rodney, nor
Mario 
Elie, nor Justin Love
Answer below:
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Daniel Santiago.  7' 1'' Center.  25-year-old Rookie pickup from U.
New Mexico 
by way of an Italian team, I believe.
I see no way this guy doesn't make the team. Given, "Big Country"
Reeves and 
Ike Austin aren't exactly the most challenging centers in the NBA, but
this 
guy got essentially all the playing time after Dudley started both
halves 
and was pulled after looking completely ineffective each time. 
He's not bulky, but he's not a clumsy Shawn Bradley sort either; has
long arms 
and uses them pretty well on defense, not getting called for quick
fouls on 
wild hacking motions. Tended to play maybe a bit flat-footed, using
his 
natural height and arm length more than getting up in the air a lot,
BUT 
seemed to have a decent rebounding style of tipping the ball to
himself, 
keeping it in action rather than ripping it out of the air. Most of
all, I was 
impressed in concluding he looked like sort of a "thinking team
player"... on 
offense he was constantly moving around, in and out, setting screens,
doing 
pick-and-rolls, getting into the weak side with arm in air calling for
ball, 
moving to top of key for pass, then moving the ball off to a guard or
forward 
and breaking inside again.
On defense, despite his relative lack of bulk, he didn't let himself
get 
pushed around... Dudley seemed to wind up pushed away by both the
opposing 
centers, Santiago pushed back, or just sort of gave ground but shifted
to 
another decent position, countering with arm length and foot speed.
Perhaps he 
had  an over-tendency to shift to helping out underneath and left
Reeves 
especially open for a few outside shots, but that may well have been
the Suns' 
instructions to him.
On offense, he wasn't a ball-hog, but wasn't at all afraid to shoot
from close 
in, seemed to have prospects for free-throw range shooting too; nice
smooth 
free throw touch, 8-11 as I mentioned. He also seemed to fit in well
with the 
team... fair amount of congratulatory butt-slapping for him from Suns
like 
Kidd and Cliffy.  If you'd peroxided his hair blond, put him in Jake's
numbers, I'd've said, "Wow, the Suns got a steal in the draft like
they did 
with Marion."
IF Jake can play this well, too, I dunno, these three centers may need
to draw 
straws for which is on injured reserve at any given time. I'd vote for
Dudley 
going there first unless Jake is a total bust early-on. The program
listed 22 
names on this initial roster, too. This is sad in a way... it looks to
me like 
several players in guard-forward positions may have to be cut this
year who 
might've made the squad over the previous several seasons.
Roger Wells
Tucson
Ciao, ciao
--
Ryoga Hibiki
alias  -Marco Fracasso-       fan #1 di Sergio Baracco
icq: ryoga #48412761    e-mail: 
ryoga...@tin.it
__________________________________________________
War es ein Gott der diese zeichen schrieb?
(Goethe, Faust)

 I see no way this guy doesn't make the team. [...]
Santiago e' IMHO un centro di seconda fascia Nba: puo' partire anche in
quintetto in squadre che non abbiano i Shaquille, Robinson, Ewing... come ad
esempio proprio i Suns. Vedremo. Qui in Italia spesso difettava di
concentrazione, ma quando aveva voglia (dopo il difficile inserimento
iniziale) era tra i migliori.
Godeva oltretutto del fatto di giocare con compagni che sanno far felice un
centro (Pozzecco, ma anche Vescovi e Meneghin).
--
Saluti.
Larry Ferry

 and breaking inside again.
Sempre di più convinto che Daniel ogni domenica mattina deve andare in
chiesa a pregare, e ad accendere un cero per ringraziare il Buon Dio di
avergli fatto conoscere tal Dodo Colombo.
Ciao Matteo

 centro (Pozzecco, ma anche Vescovi e Meneghin).
Scusa, ma megli di Kidd e Penny, chi lo fa godere un centro??????? :-)
Ciao,
	Andrea