Mauricio Codocea
09/16/2021 6:01 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 09/16/2021 6:01 AM
Leandro Bolmaro, already presented in the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA, will be
one of the four Argentines
who will start this season in the best basketball league in the world, along with the already "walked" Facundo Campazzo and Gabriel Deck and waiting for what it could also be Luca Vildoza's debut.
You are living a new life.
How have these days been and what awaits the Cordovan from Las Varillas in the United States?
The presentation in society of the former player of Bahía Basket and FC Barcelona, who signed with the team for
four seasons and almost 12 million dollars
, showed it with a bit of nerves but also a smile and total satisfaction.
As he said:
"It's a dream come true
.
"
That joy was something particularly recognized by the coach,
Chris Finch
.
The first word the coach defined him with was "
bold
."
He said he first saw it live in Argentina's preparation before the Olympics.
And he detailed: "
We love it
. He competes, he moves well without the ball, he
fits in with what we have here
, he is a great complement and those are things that allow him to enter the field and help quickly. This is his moment. That kind of energy and excitement that he has is what he brings to the field; he is always smiling and happy and that helps build the culture and the soul of the team. "
The kid, who just turned 21 years old last Saturday, is fully committed to his task of carving out a niche in the league.
Take advantage of the fact that for now he is staying in a hotel a few meters from the Target Center in Minneapolis, the Timberwolves stadium, and spends
up to five hours a day training
, between the exercises he has with the members of the staff and
the reinforcement of individual preparation that he faced by own decision
.
Bolmaro, between coach Chris Finch (left) and the president of the franchise, the Colombian Gersson Rosas.
Photo @Timberwolves
"The passion, competitiveness, and motivation that he has leads him to give everything in practice, in the gym, in every place, and we want that in our character, in our DNA," said Gersson Rosas, president of the team, in the introduction of the Argentine. And that is where
all the guns
of the young man
are pointing
, who barely had the luxury of going to two sporting events as "outings": a game of the Minnesota women's team, the Lynx of the WNBA, and one of the baseball team. , the Twins.
The Colombian executive also said that the Cordovan should be given credit not only for the knowledge of what a transition can be due to what he experienced when he went to Europe but also for how he has learned to handle English, a language whose study he
deepened very strong
in recent months and in which he was already encouraged to speak in his first contact with the media.
Those who see him up close and talk to him daily say that Bolmaro
adapted quickly to the
NBA
ball
(that this year he left behind the link with Spalding and returned to being Wilson, as during much of the first period of the league ) and that his 3-pointer, a pitch he's putting a lot of emphasis on, is finding good form, something that will be vital to his aspirations on offense.
In context
The other great business that the Cordovan can do is, as with his countryman Campazzo, through defense.
And there Bolmaro found
a very particular teacher: Patrick Beverley
, a
bulldog
who has just played the last league finals with the Los Angeles Clippers and is one of the best in the field.
In some training, even,
Lea
already surprised with her defensive capabilities, something that was recognized by her teammates.
In that sense,
Coach
Finch said: "We have no other expectation than to play hard. He
can defend various positions and fits well into the system
. The expectation is that he arrives, works hard and his time will come. Talented players are always made. place in this league. "
And he highlighted, precisely, what happens between the Cordovan and the ex-base of the Clippers and the Houston Rockets: "He has to learn from the speed of the NBA and the study, but you can
already see a relationship being
built between Pat and him."
It makes sense: Beverley is a connoisseur of European basketball (he debuted in Ukraine, in fact, and went through Greece and Russia) and in the presentation he could be seen making good friends with Leandro before the press conference.
🎂 HBD @BolmaroLeandro !!
🎂 pic.twitter.com/YlOzn9Dmd8
- Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) September 11, 2021
Bolmaro, for his part, knows that the first thing will be to win a place and he is willing to do whatever it takes: "
I'm going to play doing what the coach asks me to do
."
Strictly basketball, his options seem to be good moves, benefited by a team that, beyond seeking to improve (it comes from being 13th among the 15 in the Western conference), has no important obligations.
There are two names that will be a fixture on the perimeter, such as the aforementioned Russell and the young guard
Anthony Edwards
, chosen in position 1 in the 2020 draft.
But behind them, in addition to Beverley and also guard
Malik Beasley
(a strong bet of the team that last year lost almost half of the games) appear names like
Josh Okogie
or
Jordan McLaughlin
, who do not seem to be alternatives of a caliber that invite to think that they would leave Bolmaro without minutes.
In the human, finally, the Argentine was received with open arms by the staff and the companions, something that with the American basketball players can always be a cause of uncertainty for the foreigner who arrives.
The road begins on the 28th of this month, when the training campus is officially launched.
And there Bolmaro will go, ready to fulfill more dreams.
Look also
Manu Ginobili, today: as a family, traveling non-stop and playing everything except basketball
Che García, the globetrotter who will be the successor of Oveja Hernández on the bench of the basketball team