In a few days, Juan Hernangomez will star in the film Hustle, produced by LeBron James et Adam Sandler, a doubly important summer looms for him as he has an unsecured $6.6 million contract for next season and his future is therefore unclear. He had an interesting end to the season with the Utah Jazz, where he played more than expected.
“After everything that happened to me, I really enjoyed this end of the season. I was able to play, I shot very well and I adapted to the coach’s system”. Said Juan Hernangomez to El País
Relegated to the bottom of the bench in Boston and little used at Spurs, he had his best games in Utah, where he proved useful. He shot 6.2 points at 50.7% including a very interesting 43.8% from afar and 3.5 rebounds in 17.5 minutes. His ability to put in from afar in a team that bases the game enormously on this component and his fairly affordable price could make him an interesting element for the Jazz.
His short experience in San Antonio was still positive. In particular because he was able to rub shoulders with Gregg Popovich
“It’s amazing how he teaches. He’s like a teacher, he makes everything feel like a game again. It’s one of the best I’ve ever seen in my life, and I was only there for two weeks. I learned a lot, I was able to play more than 20 minutes and, in short, I felt like a basketball player again”.
Because before that the first part of the season in Boston was very very complicated. There were only crumbs: 5.3 minutes over 18 games. He doesn’t have very good memories of it when he talks about the Massachusetts franchise, currently in the finals.
“I think the Warriors are going to win, but I hope Boston wins so I can take the ring,” he admits, before adding: “I was not comfortable there, it was very hard. There was no communication, I didn’t know what was expected of me, there were a lot of very selfish players, there was no team spirit….. I lost a bit of my love for basketball.
It must be said that he left when the greens started to recover and only had the first bad weeks, traded on January 19.
As for next season, the objective is clear, to stay in the NBA. And like he said before, he doesn’t stress.
“It’s not me who decides, so I’m very calm. I gave it my all, I fought, I trained and I was a good teammate. To be honest, I’m not worried about playing ten or twelve minutes, I just want to play. I still think I can compete with the best in the world. If they’re up for it, I’ll be happy I’ll be in Utah for one more year. If they don’t keep me, I’ll see what I do. Either way, my goal is to stay in the NBA.
Note that he also expressed his desire to participate in Eurobasket.
