Daniel Santiago, More Than Meets the Eye

David Thorpe, friend of the site, Kevin Martin trainer and exec director of the Pro Training Center at IMG Academy in Florida, checks in with these notes about Daniel Santiago, discussed below:

Coach [Jason] Hamm was talking about Daniel’s combination set of skills and agility for a legit 7-footer. On the two days he watched our practices, he saw Daniel dunking impressively after performing difficult maneuvers. Then he would drain long 2’s and 3’s off pick and pops. And he performed well during fatiguing 60+ minutes of action.

I know Coach Hamm was not suggesting that Daniel would out-produce Mikki [Moore] or Brad [Miller] in a real NBA game. Jason remarked to me that he thought Santiago would be a nice backup to Brad or Mikki at the 5, not that he would beat those guys out. For the record, Coach Hamm’s assessment that Santiago is impressive in workouts is dead on. Daniel looks like a 28-year-old on the court, thanks to being totally healthy and training five days a week for two months now.

Santiago played for the Spanish league champion last year, and Thorpe says he was great.

In fairness, the numbers I cited from Milwaukee '03-04 came in less than 800 minutes (despite the starts). I'd prefer youth minutes to adding a Santiago, without doubt. But with the context provided, Hammbone has been absolved of his sins and may leave the corner. And some team in need of a skilled big should bring Santiago in for a workout.