Santiago Aldama

Santi Aldama, Memphis Grizzlies – 30^th overall

One of the biggest surprises of the draft was Aldama being selected in the first round. Aldama was considered one of the top prospects in Europe during his time with Real Madrid before moving to the US to play at Loyola (MD). Here he played in the Patriot League, not considered a top collegiate league, and dominated the competition for two years. He is a skilled scorer who has a nice touch around the rim and can shoot from behind the arc. Memphis believes Aldama’s skillset can translate to the NBA and be more than a stretch-big. Expect Aldama to initially get most of his minutes in the G League.

Santiago Aldama – Loyola (MD)

21.2 PTS, 10.1 REB, 2.3 AST, 1.0 STL, 1.7 BLK, 51.3 FG%, 36.8 3P%

Despite Aldama having a dominant season, I decided not to include him in the Team of the Year. The main reason for this is the lower quality of his conference, the Patriot League, compared to the other players and the overall performance of his team. However, his individual performance deserves to be highlighted. Aldama dominated opponents all year with his versatile offensive game. He shoots threes at a high rate, can score inside, and has good court vision for his position. His interior skillset could still use some development, but he has a great touch around the rim. Aldama put up good defensive numbers this season, but will have to get stronger and improve as a paint protector in order to be successful at a higher level. As a sophomore, he was the only non-senior to be selected to the All-Patriot League First Team and led Loyola (MD) to the conference title game as a ninth seed. With his potential and current skillset, Aldama will be the heavy favorite to win Player of the Year in his conference next season.

Santi Aldama (Loyola Maryland) : Santiago Aldama comes from a terrific U18 European Championship campaign with Spain where he looked to have improved a lot in the last two years. He will play this year in Loyola Maryland, looking at his potential and capacity he already looks like the steal of the season in NCAA. He has a great chance of see a lot of playing time and get his name on the draft sheets. He is a kind of do-it-all player with versatility and size. His ability to play both forward positions and stretch Center will grant the team a lot of options regarding rotation.

While Usman Garuba production was something that everyone took for granted, Aldama basically stole the show from him. Talent was never a question with Santi but he stepped up big time in Volos and emerged as perhaps one of the top NBA prospects from the event. Spanish wing displays absolutely tremendous combination of size and versatility. It’s rare to see approximately 6’11 guy playing SF position most of the time. Aldama possess very good spot up shot, high level feel for the game and has a knack for moving off the ball within offensive flow. Moreover he can make accurate extra passes and is a threat in closeout situations given long strides and finishing ability. Doesn’t force the issue and let his scoring opportunities come to him naturally. While fluidity is there he is not exceptionally quick or athletic and needs to bulk up solidly moving forward. Also defensive projection is not that great at all at this point. He has a solid feet & great length but if enough burst to guard 3s in space or strength to check 4s? We will see moving forward. Anyways if he finds defensive fit there is a lot of optimism about Aldama’s outlook. Forward with his size and mobility who is that good shooter, that good team player, that solid rebounder with that high basketball IQ is just very rare. Before I finish this paragraph: kudos to Ivo Simovic. How great of a recruiter you have to be to land Filip Petrusev in Hartford back in the day or Santi Aldama in Loyola Maryland? Wow…

Santiago Aldama – (2001, #18) There is more high level prospects than just Oumar Ballo in The Academy. We claim that it was our mistake to rank him way too low after FIBA U16s. Santi’s upside is just through the roof given his size, coordination, considerable shooting skills and wing like skillset.