What Santiago Vescovi said about his NBA Summer League opportunity with the Warriors

What former Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi said this week about his opportunity with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Summer League, starting with the California Classic on Saturday in San Francisco:

His excitement for this opportunity with the Warriors in the Summer League

“Definitely really excited. It’s a platform that I’d never been a part of, really didn’t follow it much coming from Uruguay as a kid. So really excited to see what it looks like in Vegas and even the games before that. But yeah, what I’m trying to do at this point is just pretty much show who I am. I think like a lot of teams have a lot of film on me and everything. They know everything about everybody pretty much. But just being able to show again who I really am, just be a good teammate, have fun with the guys that we’re going to play with. 

“And I think I’m a winner to be honest. I think that’s one of the biggest things. Being able to win a lot of games is going to matter and just helping every single way I can to that winning.”

What qualities he has that makes him feel like he’s a winner

“Personally, describing my basketball game, it would be defense. I was somebody that was counted on to guard every single night at Tennessee. So I think the defensive part is going to be there. Offensively, just being a good shooter, kind of being a floor general, helping the guys to tell them where they have to be at and everything. Just organizing and just seeing basketball the right way, making the right decision every time is going to be key. 

“And yeah, just have that competitiveness and try to spread that, which I know is contagious. And just having energy, bringing everybody up and just staying together during the whole tournament.”

If there are professional players he’s tried to model his game after 

“My role model was Manu Ginobili. I’m from Uruguay, he’s from Argentina. We’re right next to each other and I just always loved the way that he carries himself on and off the court more than anything. And on the court, he was just awesome to watch. Very high-IQ player, he could shoot it. He’s left-handed as well. So it’s something that definitely I looked up to. And then once I was at Tennessee it was a maybe a little bit of different role. I was more of a shooter than a ball handler and I think Luke Kennard was one of the other players that I also looked at with Coach. We watched video on him and tried to roll my game with him.” 

What his offseason training has been like to this point

“I’ve been pretty much at Tennessee the whole time. Went to Chicago with Priority Sports before Pro Day, spent close to a week thre. We had Pro Day after the combine. But other than that, I’ve been to Tennessee. Of course, had some of the workouts the last couple weeks, so didn’t have really much time to stay in Tennessee. I was traveling all over and it was a really fun process. But yeah, pretty much working out at Tennessee with some of the coaching staff. They’ve been helping me big time. And at this point I’m a Vol For Life and it’s great to know that I have that platform that I can still go to the facilities and they receive me well with open hands every single time.”

Going through a pre-draft workout with the Warriors in June, the feedback he got from that

“I really got really good feedback after the workout here. Personally, I think it was a good workout for myself. Some of the other guys that were at the workout also did pretty good. And like I was saying, mainly it was just having fun, showing who I really am and what I could be. And yeah, just some of the feedback was that it was a really good workout. They want to see more out of me. I wouldn’t say more out of me, they just want to see me more. That’s one of the reasons why I came back with the Warriors. 

“And also they have a great platform. They gave me great platform to showcase now in the Summer League. So that’s kind of how the decision went.” 

What it would mean to be just the second player Uruguay (Esteban Batista) to make it to the NBA

“First of all, I do know him. Played with him, he’s 40 but until a couple months ago he was still playing with the national team. He’s big guy, he’s the center. He played for I want say Atlanta Hawks and he had a big-time career also overseas, playing Euro League. Great guy, too. I had the chance to talk to him a lot during the national team process. Some times we play together and for me it would mean a lot to be the second guy in the NBA if I can make it at some point in the future. 

“And yeah, it’s just, it would be a really proud moment for me and also for my family just to be able to represent Uruguay and also Tennessee at the same time. It has taken a lot of effort for me to get here. And wherever I might end up, I know it’s going to be the right place. But it’ll definitely be a really proud moment for me to be a second guy from Uruguay to be able to play in the NBA.” 

What it was like moving around before going to Tennessee

“Well, I went from Uruguay, I went to Mexico City for a year and a half. I was with the NBA Academy. Then I went to Australia for another six months with the NBA Global Academy. So I think that really helped me. I got to give another big shout out to the NBA Academy. They really got me ready to what was coming in terms of college, on and off the court. I think that was a big kind of wake up call. Just not being able to be with your family every single day at an early age. 

“It’s kind of tough but it’s definitely prepared me and it made me who I am today. And it’s all thanks to the NBA Academy. And by the time I got to Tennessee it was like, to me it was a pretty smooth transition. All the guys at Tennessee were great. 

“I always hear a lot of teams talking about one family and I think at Tennessee, like we really meant it. We spent so much time in the day together with the guys. And (I have) to give a lot of praise to the coaching staff. Every single year we’ve had better and better chemistry with the teammates and yeah, it really felt like family from my team, my teammates to the coaching staff, to everybody that at some point came in touch with us. We al always felt that support and that helped me a lot being away from my family. So yeah, that was kind of the transition.”

Seeing Dalton Knecht playing with the Lakers in the Summer League, what last season was like playing with him

“It was really fun. I could tell right away, to be honest. I think everybody on the team could (tell) he was going to be a really good player. I don’t know, to be honest, even at times it just felt like he had superpowers. Like he was our superhero. And his ability to focus once he gets his shot up, it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t touch him or touch a ball, it doesn’t matter what you do around him. Like he doesn’t get distracted. And we always felt like he was going in and most times, more times than not, they will go in. It was really fun. And he’s a great teammate, too. He’s a great guy and I’m looking forward to seeing him.”

His grandfather being a basketball player

“No, didn’t get to watch pretty much any of his game to be honest. He played way back in the day. I don’t even think cameras were a thing. But no, really, he’s one of the figures also that has helped me a lot growing up. His knowledge for basketball. He played with the national team when he was, I want to say 16 or 17, with the men’s national team. He has plenty stories to tell me from Olympics to like workouts, like basketball workouts back in the day when Uruguay used to make it to a lot of those (events) and they were actually really competitive and it, it’s always really fun talking to him. 

“Until this day I still talk to him. He watched the Tennessee games and everything and we would talk after with him and my family and he would just give me his thoughts and kind of tell me what I should or shouldn’t do. 

So it’s like a constant feedback that I have and I really respect his game and all he’s done. I never got to watch him, but everybody that has been around him and that watched him live play, they always told me that he was one of the most, I don’t know how to say this in a nice way, but like tough-nosed players. He was very hard to play against. And then he was also a really smart player. So everybody always tell me great things about him. So I have a lot of respect for him and he still help, helps me to this day.”