There is a saying in American sports, without exact attribution, which ensures that “in 49 states it is only basketball, but this is Indiana.” Kyle Guy (Inidianápolis, 8-11-1997) is from there, the sniper who has signed Joventut to add resources to your colorful attack game and that this Sunday is emerging as one of the great threats of the Cazoo Baskonia in the Buesa Arena.
In fact, That a guy from Indiana ends up in Badalona is something natural from a basketball point of view. From one cradle to another, from the state where the myth Larry Bird was born and where college basketball is passionately followed and the club boasts of having nine players trained in its roster as a Hoosier. quarry.
But it wasn’t in Indiana that Guy built his fame, but rather at the University of Virginia, where he led to his only college degree in 2019 and was voted MVP of the Finals. His next jump to the NBA was not successful, perhaps because his 1.88 meters distance him from the physical canons of that league. He barely played three seasons with just 53 games between Sacramento and Miami and less than ten minutes played and spent most of his time in the G-League, where he averaged more than 28 points last season with the Cleveland Charge.
With the door of the NBA closed, the logical step was to start a career in FIBA basketball and Kyle Guy was in talks with Fenerbahçe and Gran Canaria. Since he was clear that he wanted to be in the Endesa League, he decided on Joventut “because it is something very similar to what he had in Indiana. It’s all very familiar. I checked his story and knew it was the right place.”
“He just wants to play and win”
Nearby, in Barcelona, he has a role model in Kyle Kuric who is also from Indiana and a shooter but seeing Kyle Guy is immediately reminiscent of Jaycee Carroll, the also lightweight Wyoming scorer who became a Real Madrid legend. For something the rectors of the white club were interested in the now green and black last season, but Guy preferred to exhaust his time in the United States.
can now become in one of the sensations of the Endesa League if he shows the same aim of his university stage that closed with a 42% success rate in triples. “I just want to play and win. If the coach asks me to score 30 points, I’ll score them. If he asks me not to score points and assist more, I will. If he asks me to simply applaud from the bench, I will do it too ”, assured Kyle Guy when he arrived at the Penya.
In a team that polishes the technical details, his association in the direct block with Ante Tomic or in the indirect exits can be a great source of points and a reason to think about repeating the extraordinary previous season.
“My thought has always been to achieve something that has not been achieved before and that is why I want to win both competitionsthe ACB and the Eurocup”, he added with excessive optimism.
for now, Guy averages 11.3 points under the orders of Carles Durán with close to 40% in triples. Plus, he graces his stat with 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists for nearly 10 PIR credits. His most prodigious performance came on the second day on the Valencia Basket court, with 27 points and an extraordinary 6 of 8 three-pointers. Since the fifth day, however, his contribution in attack has dropped to an average of 8.5 points.
Guy’s problems to be reliable in defense have weighed on his percentage of minutes on court (19.45 per game) and also his confidence from the three-point line when he has been on the track. To this has been added the great moment that Pau Ribas lived until the injury, a true field marshal of the Badalona team.