Last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year, Paolo Banchero has decided to represent Team USA for the upcoming FIBA World Cup which soured his relationship with the Italian national team, where he was expected to play.
Banchero is a very talented young player and his addition to the USA team must be credited to the USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill according to the Athletic. Both Banchero and Hill have connections with Duke University and have been coached by Mike Krzyzewski. When the youngster was in college, Hill made sure that he is taken care of.
“When I first got to school, he reached out with a helping hand right away for anything I needed,” Banchero said of the former Detroit Piston.
Even Banchero’s agent Mike Miller was Hill’s former teammate during their Orlando Magic days. So they discussed the possibility of Banchero playing for Team USA. After a few seatings, the parties agreed that it was the best decision for them.
Banchero feels that Hill has shown a lot of compassion towards him and his involvement in this process and allowed him to say yes to this change. He shared how trust is the primary factor here between him and Hill.
“Him reaching out — I think it played a part (in my decision). Just him being able to have that trust factor between me and him, trusting that he’s going to put me in the best position and I’m going to do my part to hold up my end of the bargain as well,” said Banchero.
The youngster is eager to work with his USA teammates and also work under the tutelage of coach Steve Kerr.
He shared how he is more or less the main guy for the Orlando Magic and their primary scorer but here in Team USA he will get the chance of showing his different sides of the game like defending, hustling or changing the game with his passing. Overall, Banchero is ready to take the leap of faith.
“With Orlando, I’m the leading scorer, kind of the main guy. But here, and I’m able to do other things, whether it is affecting the game defensively, on the glass, with my passing, whatever it may be. … I think I can showcase the other parts of my game. Whatever the team needs, I would try to show that,” he shared.
While what was USA’s gain ended up as Italy’s loss and therefore the team management were very frustrated and felt that Banchero’s camp has fooled them. Italian Federation President Gianni Petrucci was not at all happy with how things unfolded in this case.
However, Banchero understands the Italian federation’s frustration and wants to smoothen things again. He thanked the Italian Federation for taking care of him during high school and also for letting him learn more about the country and its heritage.
“For me, I just said thank you for what they had done since I was in high school, just how they helped me in terms of getting my citizenship, just learning more about the country, my heritage,” Bachero said. “But no, I think it was respect on both sides. I was able to send them a message saying thank you and how much I appreciate it. So I think it ended up just fine.”
But Banchero’s current focus should be on performing well at the FIBA World Cup which starts from August 25. Team USA are grouped with Greece, Jordan and New Zealand.
