It’s summer and it’s market time in the NBA. In the most famous basketball championship in the world so far there have been a series of transfers of basketball players to the various teams that are part of the US championship.
Among the names, there was no shortage of Italians playing overseas. In a few hours and the news of the change of Danilo Gallinari’s shirt who from the Denver Nuggets and moved to Los Angeles in the Clippers . Pharaonic contract of 65 million in three years for the 28-year-old Italian who thus becomes the highest paid Italian sportsman.
Before him, another star of Italian basketball in the NBA also decided to change the air. This is Marco Belinelli who, after winning the championship with theSan Antonio Spurs in 2014 and the latest adventure in Charlotte, next season he will play in Atlanta for the Hawks .
However, the two blue giants were certainly not the first Italian basketball players to fly to America. In fact, certainly before them, Vincenzo Esposito , current coach of Olimpia Pistoia , emigrated to basketball that counts .
Born in 1969, Vincenzo Esposito flies to the States at the age of 26 in the 1995/96 season . The Toronto Raptors , bewitched by the good performances of the basketball player from Caserta, first in his Juvecaserta and then in Bologna in theFortitudo , they immediately tried to take him to Canada to sign the contract.
In those days another Italian was also about to sign for an American team: Stefano Rusconi. The Venetian basketball player moved to Phoenix in the Suns . Although he was the second to sign a contract, he was the first to make his debut and score a point .
The Canadian Raptors team was fresh from the foundation and eager to do well. The young Esposito finds himself catapulted into a very different reality from the Italian one.
The arrival, the signing and the presentation were a beautiful moment but also a bit stressful. I was a bit like a strange object, especially in a city that lived on ice hockey and didn’t know the NBA.
To make him feel less alone, the many Italians who lived in Toronto . The surname Esposito was one of the most common in Canada.
The season debut took place on November 15, 1995 against the Houston Rockets, reigning NBA champions. The first point to score is a free throw. A couple of weeks later, on December 5, the first field goals came against Seattle : in 18 minutes, 7 points but also 6 turnovers .
El Diablo, as he was called in those days, he lived his unforgettable evening in New York in which he scored 18 points in half an hour of play .
However, despite the good initial impact, Enzino (he was also called that) after thinking about him decides to give up another two years of contract to return to Italy where Scavolini Pesaro was waiting for him.
In a single season in the American championship, El Diablo plays thirty games at an average of 9.4 minutes and 3.9 points per game.
But if there is certainly a bit of bitterness for having played only one season in America, Esposito has embarked on a great career as a coach, so much so that he has been rewarded.as best coach of last season.
Dario Sette
