Juan Ignacio Sánchez Brown (born May 8, 1977), commonly known as Pepe Sánchez, is an Argentine-American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He played at the point guard position. He was a part of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

2004 Olympic The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

gold medal team. Pepe Sánchez (1.93 metres, 6 feet 4 inches tall) was the first Argentine to play in the NBA. He played two seasons in the NBA, playing in a total of 38 games with the Philadelphia 76ers (24 games),

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

(5 games), and the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

(9 games), averaging only 5 minutes per game. He also played with the Golden State Warriors, during the NBA

preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

. In 2010 he won the

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...

as one of the five best Basketball Players from the last decade in Argentina.

Professional career

Early years

At age 12, he began playing for the youth team of Club Bahiense del Norte, together with 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 Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, but stayed in Argentina during the 1995–96 season, playing for

Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca Club Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca is an Argentine sports club based in Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires Province. The club is best known for its basketball team, that currently played in the main levels of Argentina, including Campeonato Argentino ...

. After his participation in the 1996 Youth Panamerican Tournament in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, where he represented the junior national team of Argentina, he moved to Philadelphia where he played for the

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and mascot for Temple University since its founding in the 1 ...

college team for 4 years under Hall of Fame coach John Chaney, and finished his career as the #2 player in the NCAA in steals (he is currently in fifth place in career steals). As a junior, the crafty point guard guided the Owls to an appearance in the Elite Eight, where they fell to

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

. Despite averaging only 5.6 points per game as a senior, he was named a Third Team All-American by the Associated Press. He earned a degree in history at Temple in 2000.

NBA

On October 2,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, he was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the Philadelphia 76ers, after not being selected in the NBA draft. On October 31,

, he became the first Argentine to play in a regular season game in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

, firsting countryman

Rubén Wolkowyski Rubén Oscar Wolkowyski (born September 30, 1973) is an Argentine former professional basketball player, who also holds Polish citizenship. At a height of tall, he played at the power forward and center positions. Professional career Wolkowysk ...

by a few minutes. On February 22, 2001, he was traded along with

Toni Kukoč Toni Kukoč, nicknamed ''“The Waiter”'' (; born September 18, 1968) is a Croatian-American former professional basketball player who serves as Special Advisor to Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago Bulls. After a highly successful perio ...

Nazr Mohammed Nazr Tahiru Mohammed ( ; born September 5, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who had a journeyman career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), playing for eight different teams over 18 seasons. He is the current ...

and

Theo Ratliff Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

to the

, in exchange for

Roshown McLeod Roshown McLeod (born November 17, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round (20th pick overall) of the 1998 NBA draft. A 6'8" small forward from St. John's University and ...

and Dikembe Mutombo. He was waived on March 12, 2001. On March 15, 2001, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the Philadelphia 76ers. On October 10, 2002, he signed as a

with the

. On August 21, 2003, he was traded along with Clifford Robinson to the Golden State Warriors, in exchange for

Bob Sura Robert Sura Jr. (born March 25, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons for five different teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). At , , he played as a shooting guard and point guard. Earl ...

. He was waived on October 31, 2003. Sánchez played a total of 38 games in his NBA career and recorded a total of 20 points, 21 rebounds, 49 assists and 16 steals. His final game was on April 16th, 2003 in a 92 - 99 loss to the Boston Celtics where he played for 6 minutes and the only stat he recorded was 1 rebound.

Europe

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, Sánchez won the EuroLeague championship in the 2001–02 season, while playing with the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

club Panathinaikos. He also played in the Spanish League with Etosa Alicante. He transferred to the Spanish League club Unicaja Málaga in 2004, with whom he won the 2005–06

ACB League The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

; 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. On August 13, 2007, he signed with

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

. In July 2008, he signed with Real Madrid, but he was released in April 2009.

National team career

Sánchez was first called up to the senior men's

Argentine national basketball team The Argentina men's national basketball team (Spanish: ''Selección de baloncesto de Argentina'') represents Argentina in men's international basketball officially nicknamed ''The Argentine Soul'' (Spanish: ''El Alma Argentina''), and it is co ...

in 1998. With Argentina, he played at the: FIBA World Cup, at both the

1998 FIBA World Championship The 1998 FIBA World Championship was the 13th FIBA World Championship, an international basketball tournament held by the International Basketball Federation and hosted in Greece from 29 July to 9 August 1998. The tournament was contested by 16 n ...

and the

2002 FIBA World Championship The 2002 FIBA World Championship was the 14th edition of the competition now known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the international world championship for men's basketball teams. The tournament held by the International Basketball Federation i ...

(where he won the silver medal), the 1999

South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships * ATP Buenos Aires, a tenni ...

(where he won the silver medal), and at the

2004 Summer Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

(where he won the gold medal). Sánchez's performance at the

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

was quite satisfactory, with the Argentine press choosing him as the most outstanding player of the team.Voto de confianza
/ref>

Career statistics

Domestic leagues

References

External links

NBA.com Profile

Euroleague.net Profile

Spanish League Profile

Latinbasket.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Juan Ignacio 1977 births Living people 1998 FIBA World Championship players 2002 FIBA World Championship players 2006 FIBA World Championship players All-American college men's basketball players Argentine men's basketball players Argentine expatriate basketball people in Spain Argentine expatriate basketball people in the United States Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Argentine people of Spanish descent Atlanta Hawks players Baloncesto Málaga players Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics CB Lucentum Alicante players Detroit Pistons players Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca basketball players FC Barcelona Bàsquet players Greek Basket League players Liga ACB players Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics National Basketball Association players from Argentina Obras Sanitarias basketball players Olympic basketball players of Argentina Olympic gold medalists for Argentina Olympic medalists in basketball Panathinaikos B.C. players Philadelphia 76ers players Point guards Real Madrid Baloncesto players Spanish men's basketball players Sportspeople from Bahía Blanca Temple Owls men's basketball players Undrafted National Basketball Association players