Pepe Sanchez

1 Biography
2 Statistics
3 References
4 Related Articles
- 4.1 Recent Pepe Sanchez ArmchairGM Stories

[edit] Biography

Juan Ignacio Sánchez Brown, also known as Pepe Sánchez (born May 8, 1977 in Bahía Blanca) is an Argentine professional basketball player, and point guard for Argentina's Olympic champion basketball team. Pepe Sánchez (6 feet 4 inches) was the first Argentine to play in the NBA. Sanchez however only played three unsuccessful seasons with the Atlanta Hawks (5 games), the Philadelphia 76ers (24), the Detroit Pistons (9), and the Golden State Warriors.

At age 12, he began playing for the youth team of Club Bahiense del Nortethat also included future NBA star Emanuel Ginóbili. At age 17 he moved to Deportivo Roca for the 1994/95 season of the Argentine league, where he played point guard. The following year, he accepted a scholarship offer from Temple University in Philadelphia but stayed in Argentina during 1995/96, playing for Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca.

After his participation in the 1996 Youth Pan-American Tournament in Puerto Rico, where he represented the Argentina national basketball team, he moved to Philadelphia where he played for the Temple Owls college team for 4 years under Hall-of-fame coach John Chaney. Pepe Sanchez ended his college basketball career as #2 in the NCAA in steals. As a junior, the crafty point guard guided the Owls to an appearance in the Elite Eight, where they fell to Duke. Despite averaging only 5.6 points per game as a senior, he was named a Third Team All-American by the Associated Press.

Sánchez was first called up to the senior national team in 1998. With Argentina, Sánchez played at the World Championship 1998 and 2002 (silver medal), the South American Championship 1999 (silver medal), and the 2004 Olympic Games (gold medal).

In Europe, Sánchez won the Euroleague with Greek club Panathinaikos, and became the second best point guard in the Spanish League with Etosa Alicante. He transferred to Spanish Unicaja Málaga in 2004, with whom he won the 2005/06 ACB League; Unicaja's first Spanish league title. After three years at Unicaja, he left as a free agent when his contract expired at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Since he also possesses Spanish citizenship, his inclusion on the roster does not count towards the foreign player intake limit allowed to Spanish teams, or to teams anywhere in the European Union (see Bosman ruling for the reason).

Sánchez's performance at the 2006 World Basketball Championship was impressive enough that the Argentine press chose him as the most outstanding player in the league.