The Spanish Ramón Díaz, coach of the Capitanes of Mexico City, assured this Sunday that the Dominicans Justin Minaya and Rigoberto Mendoza were the most valuable Latino players on his team in the G-League.
"The two have had an incredible season and have been, along with Gary Clark and Kenneth Faried, the backbone of the team. They have played every month and have felt the colors from day one to the end. They have tried to help me and achieve the goals together"the 40-year-old from Granada explained to EFE.
The Captains made history in the 2022-2023 campaign of the G-League, the NBA Development League, by becoming the first quintet in the system of the best basketball championship in the world to be hosted in a city outside the United States. and Canada.
The Iberian team was close to reaching the postseason, however, a last month of activity, March, in which they only managed three wins for six losses, took them out of the fight for the title.
Despite not getting the first playoffs in the history of Mexico City in the G-League, Díaz drew positive conclusions such as the performance of Minaya and ‘Rigo’ Mendoza.
"If you ask me in the short term, the Latin American player I see with the best chance of making it to the NBA is Justin Minaya. To me he is one of the best defenders in the league and every day he is becoming a better 3 point shooter."he explained.
Díaz described Mendoza as the leader of the Latino players of the Capitanes, among which the Brazilian Caio Pacheco, the Dominican Jassel Pérez and the Mexicans Gael Bonilla and Orlando Méndez stand out, who, along with Rigo and Minaya, were the ones who finished the roster campaign.
"Rigo has reinvented himself again. He played in the Mexican league and was MVP, he went to Puerto Rico and became MVP. He then played with the national team and got the Dominican Republic into the World Cup, then he comes to a different game and when many people said that he was not going to succeed, he became one of the most important on the team"Diaz said.
The assistant of the Spanish Valdeolmillos in the coaching staff of the Mexican team in the 2014 World Cup admitted that he is on the way to renew his contract with the Capitanes for another year, whom he aspires to lead in the following campaign.
"When the season ends at the end of April I will no longer have a contract, but both parties are happy to stay. It’s just agreeing; I hope that next week it can happen. My relationship with the owners is one of appreciation and great labor respect"he claimed.
Díaz admits that he does not think that he is currently the only Spanish strategist to command a team in the G-League and he is not pressured to seek an opportunity in the NBA, in which only one Spaniard has been on the bench, Jordi Fernández, for a party led by the Sacramento Kingslast December after the expulsion of Mike Brown, head coach.
"I will continue working doing my best so that tomorrow an opportunity will appear better"sentenced.
