Discovering Donte DiVincenzo, the new face of the national basketball team
Donte DiVincenzo (photo AP, via LaPresse)
to the basket
He is a player who is used to playing a supporting role in the NBA, and for this reason he fits perfectly into a team context, perhaps more than a star catapulted from the United States could do.
It took a race against time, but in the end "The Big Ragù" is ready to answer Gianmarco Pozzecco's call. As the Italian basketball team prepares for the next European Championship ( the Azzurri will be on the court for their debut in Limassol on August 28th against Greece , in a group completed by the hosts Cyprus, Georgia, Bosnia and Spain), there will also be a highly anticipated new face. The FIP, still reeling from the Paolo Banchero affair , moved carefully to accommodate the desire of Donte DiVincenzo , about whose Italian origins there is very little to say. He wanted to wear the Azzurri shirt, and the paperwork was completed just a few days before the Azzurri training camp .
But what does someone like DiVincenzo add to the Pozzecco group?
It's not just the technical aspect that needs to be taken into consideration: we're talking about a player who is used to playing a supporting role in the NBA, and for this reason, he's perfectly suited to a team context , perhaps more so than a star catapulted from the United States. DiVincenzo is a very reliable guard from the arc (38 percent in his NBA career) but who could lend a huge hand to the national team with his secondary playmaking . He's a player with athleticism, reading, and sacrifice, who has found his place in the NBA thanks to his ability to put himself at the service of the stars. In the national team, he'll have to shoulder some more offensive responsibilities, but if there's one skill that must be recognized in coach Pozzecco, it's his ability to empower players to perform at their best, a not-so-subtle legacy from his old mentor, Charlie Recalcati.
DiVincenzo has lived a thousand lives in the NBA: he quickly found himself an important piece of a team capable of winning the title (the 2020/21 Milwaukee Bucks); just as quickly, he felt lost, dumped first by the Bucks, ready to sacrifice him for Sacramento also for salary-cap reasons, then by the Kings, who did not extend his rookie contract. At that point, he chose the Golden State Warriors, where he perfected his three-point shot thanks to a master like Steph Curry and found the ideal springboard to sign a rich four-year contract with the Knicks. In the Big Apple, DiVincenzo reunited with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, college teammates at Villanova, and together they created a version of New York in full Thibodeau style, the coach who shaped those Knicks around defense and a certain type of physical toughness that always appeals to the Garden crowd. But things change quickly in the NBA, and DiVincenzo was shipped off to Minneapolis. DiVincenzo is therefore a player capable of being a consistent presence on the court in the NBA even at the highest levels, providing defense, shooting, physicality, and a touch of playmaking .
Pozzecco will have to maximize his talent by suddenly finding him, a month before the European Championships, hoping for a plug-and-play fit—no easy feat, considering Donte's career has never been in Europe or under FIBA rules. He seems like a perfect fit for a team that wants to defend, pass the ball, and get its hands dirty.
He may not be the Banchero they've long pursued and courted, but he's still a real player, one who really wanted to play in the Italian Basketball League. And that's saying something.
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