✔️ 2022-07-14 07:51:13 – Paris/France.
Juancho, as Bo Cruz, with Adam Sandler (SCOTT YAMANO/NETFLIX)
Not even in his best moments, when he was world champion or played in some of the five teams of the NBA he was already defending, something similar happened to him. Now suddenly they are yelling at him on the street. Although not by name -less by his surname-, it must be specified. They shout Bo. Yes by Bo Cruz, your character in Claw (Hustle)Adam Sandler's movie in which he talks about what he is, a basketball player, with some similarities but also some differences from his story. Unlike what usually happens in movies, where the actors play the sportsmen, in this pochoclero film, which has good moments and other very predictable ones, the sportsman plays the actor. And it's not bad either Juan Alberto Hernangomez Geuer, better known as Juancho, a Spanish professional basketball player who, in the context of his sport, is well known, having been in the NBA for six seasons and playing for his country's national team, having been, for example, world champion after very important in this victory against Argentina in the final disputed in China three years ago.
“My manager called me at the end of 2019 to audition for a basketball movie that was being shot, but I was too focused on my career. For five months, I told him no. But then Covid happened, basketball stopped and I had nothing to do. I was too much time at home, with my brother, doing nothing. And it was my sister who pushed me to audition. I think that was the only good thing this pandemic brought, ”said this 2m06 and 26-year-old Spanish striker who in a few months became better known in the world for the cinema than during almost a decade of career. .
He has no acting background in his family, but he does have a history of sports and specifically basketball. His mother is Margarita Ivonne Geuer Draeger, better known as Wonny, a Sevillian of German origin who was one of the best Spanish players of the 90s. A 1,85m striker who played 158 official games for his national team – including the Barcelona Olympics – and won gold at the 1993 European Championships in Italy. His father, Guillermo Hernangómez, was a 2m03 pivot who grew up at Real Madrid's youth academy and came to compete for a year with the first team. It is therefore no coincidence that, due to their size and talent, his three children have followed the same path. We already know Juancho's, but his older brother Willy (28) is also in the NBA (New York Pelicans) and Andrea, the youngest, is a 1-year-old 85m striker who plays and studies at the University of Fairfield. , Connecticut.
Juan Alberto Hernangómez with his brother Willy after becoming world champion with Spain
“At home, we played a lot, as a family, still. Until the children become strong and competitive. I remember that one day, Willy even nudged me...", recalls Wonny, who explains how she grew up "without too much TV, with a lot of games and common activities, with us in getting in the motorhome and touring Europe with the family". In one of these activities, they discovered their love for basketball, the same love that their parents had had but that they had decided not to instill in them, “so as not to force them to do like us”. In fact, both brothers had started playing football. It wasn't even bad for them. But these bike rides that ended in a square with basketball hoops generated a before and after for the two boys...
The two brothers, who look like twins due to their resemblance, were trained in the lower ranks of Las Rozas Basketball Club in their hometown. Willy, who progressed and developed the fastest, quickly caught the attention of Real Madrid and behind him, almost by rebound, was Juancho. And as it was, he had to go. At the white club, we did not see much potential in him and Guillermo, a great connoisseur of the career, quickly released him, in 2010, to take him to CB Majadahonda. His first season at the club was exceptional, but a knee injury ruined his good stats. From the second year, he managed to attract the attention of various clubs in the Madrid community and ended up choosing Estudiantes, the great rivals of Real, a club that emphasized training.
Loaned to Magariños, from the EBA (third division), he posted an average of 8,5 points and attracted the attention of national coaches, being one of the 12 U18s who competed in the European Championship in the category. In the 13/14 season, he exploded in the EBA, averaging 14 points and allowing Estudiantes to play him for their first team. Playing in both teams, or even twice in the same day, he started to stand out and ended up being the ideal quintet with the national team in Europe U20, which determined his invitation to be part of an experience with the senior team. Its enormous potential was clearly seen…
The Hernangómez brothers became the second Spanish brothers to face each other in the NBA
The real explosion came in season 15/16, when he reached 24 minutes in the ACB League, the best competition in Europe, being the top scorer (9,7 points) and the leader in efficiency and rebounds of all young people under 22 . The prize for the best young player of the tournament, above a young luka soic, crowned a dream season. But, of course, the best was missing. Or the most shocking: be selected in the NBA draft, in a high position (#15, first round), by the Nuggets. At the age of 21, he began his experience in the best league in the world, playing 62 games with a decent average of 4,9 points and 3 rebounds, achieving a fine mark of 27 points in a January game against the Warriors. To complete a very special season, he made his absolute debut with the national team (bronze medal at the European Championship) and in February, Juancho had to face his brother, at Madison Square Garden, no less, being the second pair of Spanish brothers to face each other in the mythical NBA.
Precisely, between them, the relationship is very special, almost symbiotic. “There are few things we disagree on. On the contrary, I think that the more the years pass and that we get older, the more we are united. During the season we talk every day and, when we can, we meet at the All Star stand or at Christmas, and in the summer we are together every day. We think the same, we work the same. These are our values. We have 99% things in common; the only thing that differentiates us is that he likes some girls and I like others,” he said. Some girls who, at least publicly, are not yet known to a Juancho so reluctant to share his intimate facet, that he had only shared four posts on his Instagram wall until Garra arrived and published some three others to enhance his moment and that of the film.
According to the mother, “Juancho has more of his father's character, Willy is more like me. For the moment, the miner admits that this is one of his assets. “Determination and character don't train, it's something genetic. It comes from the way of being of each one and is built as one grows. It's a gift. The ability to fight to the end can perhaps be built over time, but in my case, it comes with my essence. I'm very competitive, not just on the pitch but in life. I don't like losing anything. It helped me a lot even if it also has its bad sides, like not knowing how to lose. Although, of course, I admit that it helped me to tighten myself as a player and never give up, ”he admits.
Juancho had to call on his courage precisely in what happened after his second season in the NBA, when mononucleosis limited him to 25 games and halted his progress. After particular physical work, to gain muscle mass, and an improvement in shooting, the power forward returned to recover ground. He earned a spot in the rotation, averaging 5,8 points and 3,8 rebounds in 70 games, with outstanding performances in some games, such as the one against the Spurs in which he tied his best points record ( 27), one against Atlanta in which goals (25) added nine assists and, most importantly, in LeBron's debut with the Lakers jersey, in which he eclipsed the King by scoring 19 points and leaving the star with only 9.
Juancho Hernangómez playing an NBA game for the Utah Jazz against the Lakers
But, in the following, which could be that of his flight, it was that of his move, his team and his city. Bad news that would have made him too big a protagonist until that time… Denver transferred him to Minnesota, in February 2020. In November he signed a new deal and it looked like Wolves would be his new home. But no. In August 2021, he was traded to Memphis, who traded him to Boston a month later. It already seemed too bad luck when the Celtics sent him, in January 2022, to San Antonio. He hadn't found a home (only 5 games) when, 21 days later, the Spurs sent him to Utah. Five changes in two years. Almost a record. To make matters worse, after just 17 games, the Jazz terminated his contract, just during the days of greatest fame after the film's release. No time to enjoy the good. Today, he is without a contract, although he will receive at least the 5 million from the agreement, thus reaching the nearly 22 million in salaries he earned in the NBA.
The best, in those years, undoubtedly lived with his team. Since his debut in 2017, the best was given to him in the 2019 World Cup, in which he became a valuable piece to win the title. Even in the final, against Argentina, he was indispensable, defending Scola and grabbing several important rebounds. “Nobody was counting on us after the veterans of the team announced that they would not join. Everyone underestimated us and that was really an extra motivation for us. » declared. Then, in everything that happened in the NBA, there were more disappointments than joys, including that difficult time he went through in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, when he injured himself and that Wolves forced him out, when he felt I could play the same.
Perhaps because of all those obstacles he overcame, it didn't cost him so much to play Bo Cruz in Garra, the most-watched movie in the world. Netflix, through the end of last month, reaching 100 million views. Sandler, actor and producer, is a basketball fan. He plays and consumes it, as a fan of the Los Angeles Clippers. This is why he decided to move away from comedy, his favorite genre, to put together a screenplay for a sports drama, which, although it does not deviate from the conventional, has interesting narrative twists and , due to its fame in the NBA, an impressive roster of legendary players and former stars.
Sandler plays a talent scout in the basketball industry (Stanley Sugerman) who, traveling the world, discovers in Spain an amateur player whom he considers a diamond to be polished, a humble 22-year-old boy who earns his living as he may. .. after a very difficult past. The scout, not having the backing of the management of the Sixers, decides to take the talent on his own to give him a…
SOURCE: Reviews News
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