Ángel Vassallo, the Lion King

PONCE (DIRECTV Liga de las Américas) — Danny Vassallo received the ball and didn't doubt it —he shot for the rim even if he just had a millimeter of space. Ángel Daniel Vassallo receives the ball and doesn’t doubt it —he shoots for the rim even if he just has a millimeter of space. ''I think it's in my blood, that similarity. He was a bit more athletic than I am, he ran the court, he jumped more and dunked a lot more balls. I'm more in the perimeter and I have a bit more strength because I'm bigger. But we're alike in that we're both good scorers, of the best in Puerto Rico’s history, and that's what everyone says,'' says the Leones de Ponce shooter.

Ángel reminisces about his beginnings, which are tied to his father's career as a star of Puerto Rico’s national basketball: ''I started at the age of 7, in Dorado del Mar. My father was a professional basketball player for 17 years and he taught me my first steps. I remember watching him play since I was 5. I saw him in the last part of his best moment, and when he was getting closer to retiring. At home I have videos of him in his good times, and occasionally I watch them to remember him and to keep learning new things.''

In 2016, when Ángel played in France, at Le Havre, he lost that mirror to look into. He had to request a permit to return to Puerto Rico to say goodbye to his father, who died of cancer at the age of 55. After that season, Ángel Vassallo would stay in Puerto Rico to play and wouldn't return to Europe. Le Havre had been his third team in France. Before, he had been in ASVEL and before that, in Paris-Levallois. The Small Forward enthusiastically remembers his Parisian experience: “It’s a basketball that's different to American and Puerto Rican basketball. I learned how to play in the European style, with more mid-court systems, with an extra pass, and how to be more efficient without the ball and with fewer attempts at the rim. From a sports sense, it was very good. And, also, living 9 months in Paris, one of the best cities in the world, was a unique experience that I’ll forever cherish in my heart.”

Before his professional stage, Ángel went to the United States to study and play basketball. He shares his experience: “I had the option of going to Philadelphia or Miami, two large cities that have good basketball. But they also have a large Latino community and I wanted to go to a different place, a place where I had to develop and learn a new language well. So, I decided to go to Virginia, to a very small town. At 15 I went to live with the school's sports director, in a very religious family. It was something very different to what I knew; we went to church twice a week and every Sunday we'd get together with other families to eat. Then I went to Hargrave Military, a high school, because I had the intention of going to the University of Richmond, but the coach that wanted me left for another school. And then, the opportunity of Virginia Tech came up and I decided to stay close to the family with which I had been living. I played there for four years, in the best NCAA division. Many of the players I faced made it to the NBA. Duke and North Carolina were the teams that I always saw on television and I had the chance to face them; this was something special and something that few Puerto Ricans have done.”

Vassallo's career in Puerto Rico featured several teams before arriving at Leones. But the time he's been in Ponce has transformed Ángel into an authentic Lion —in the Lion King. “This is my sixth season in Ponce after a year in Caguas, two in Guaynabo, and a year and a half in Arecibo. I already feel at home. I’d never spent so much time in a team. I already have a relationship with the fans, I bought a house here in Ponce. I'm just another Ponceño and for me it's important to represent Ponce, I'm proud of playing for these fans that everyone in Puerto Rico knows it's special, and it’s different to all others because they demand a lot. They're in the highs and the lows. We started out bad last year, we were last, and they came all the same. We ended first in attendee numbers,” says Vassallo.

Ponce hosted Group D of the 2019 Liga de las Américas. And the whole city was convinced that they would see Ponce celebrate the qualification to the Semi-Finals stage. But the unexpected initial defeat against Libertadores de Querétaro was a blow that they couldn’t get up from. Two more defeats against Guaros de Lara and Capitanes de Arecibo marked the early farewell of the Ponce team. “It was heartbreaking. We worked for a whole month with the whole team. We suffered one of the worst eliminations that we could've thought of. We didn’t have any rhythm. We didn’t flow like we did in practices and friendlies. We were affected because many players wanted to resolve the games by themselves. We didn't give the fans what they deserved,” analyzes Vassallo.

For Ángel, the wound of not being able to secure their place at the continental level is still open, at least until their next appearance: “In 2012 I was very close to winning it with Capitanes de Arecibo. Then, in 2017, I couldn't be in the Final Four with Leones because I had surgery. My dream is to be able to return to the definition stage to finally win a Liga de las Américas.”

After being eliminated from Liga de las Américas, the hope of qualifying to the World Cup is in the horizon for Puerto Rico. Vassallo's link to his country’s national team is in its final stage. However, there's always time for another moment: “It's a difficult situation. I'm 32 and my knees are not the best in the world. I would like younger players to be the protagonists. But at the same time, we have an opportunity to get to the World Cup in this last window. It would be very good for me to play in my third World Cup. As long as I'm healthy I’ll be available to represent Puerto Rico.”

The Boricuas will welcome Argentina (already qualified) and Uruguay, in the battle to get a ticket during the last two games of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers. Being locals should be an advantage, according to Vassallo: “We have to defend our turf. We have to do with Puerto Rico what we didn't do here in Ponce with Leones.”

That China is the World Cup's host isn't a simple fact for Vassallo. “I've only been there once, and I would like to go back because it's a different place. My experience in Asia happened in 2011, when I played with Mets de Guaynabo. A Chinese team, Shanxi, wanted to sign me to replace their foreign player. I spent two weeks training with the club and in the end, they didn’t change him because he scored 50 points in two consecutive days. They paid me and I came back to Puerto Rico.”

In any circumstance, and with any jersey he’s assigned, Ángel Daniel Vassallo keeps shooting to the hoop anytime they give him a millimeter of distance. Just like his father, legendary Danny, used to do.

Pablo Cormick