Guillermo Diaz (basketball)

Infobox Euroleague Player
name = Guillermo Diaz


caption =
nickname =
league = Italian League
team = Juvecaserta Basket
height = height|ft=6|in=2
weight = convert|185|lb|kg|abbr=on|lk=on
position = Guard
birth_date = birth date and age|1985|3|4
birth_place = San Juan, Puerto Rico
highschool = Miami Christian
college = University of Miami
nationality = PUR
draft = 2nd round, 52nd overall
draft_team = Los Angeles Clippers
draft_year = 2006
career_start = 2006
former_teams = ČEZ Basketball Nymburk (2006-07)
Olympiada Patras (2007)
Anaheim Arsenal (2007-08)
Los Angeles Clippers (2008)
awards =

Guillermo Diaz (born March 4, 1985) is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player. Diaz has played in the NCAA, NBA, ABA for the Miami Tropics, and the NBA D-League with the Anaheim Arsenal. Diaz was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA in 2006, becoming the fifth Puerto Rican ever drafted by the NBA and the eighth to play there. Diaz has also played internationally in the Czech Republic for ČEZ Basketball Nymburk, Greece for Olympiada Patras, and currently for Pepsi Caserta of the LegADue, in Italy. He is most widely known for his stellar leaping ability.

Biography

Miami Christian School

Diaz played high school basketball at Miami Christian School in Miami, Florida, where he was ranked the 31st best prospect in the country by Insiders.com. Diaz played alongside current NBA player Jose Juan Barea.

University of Miami

Diaz had a stellar college career at the University of Miami, where he earned All-American status. At the University of Miami, he finished 10th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,477 points, including 174 three-point field goals. He garnered All-Big East Team Freshman First Team honors in 2003-04 and led Miami in scoring as both a sophomore and a junior. He was named to the All-ACC Team in both his sophomore and junior years.

Los Angeles Clippers

Diaz declared his eligibility for the NBA draft following his junior year and was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers, with the 52nd overall selection in the 2006 NBA Draft. During the summers of 2006 and 2007, Diaz participated with the team in the NBA Summer Pro League.

On August 16 2007, Diaz signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Clippers [ [http://www.nba.com/clippers/news/guillermo_diaz_signed_081607.html Diaz signs non-guaranteed contract with LA Clippers] ] to 3 years $2 million, according to HOOPSHYPE.com. On October 25, Diaz was released at the conclusion of preseason, signing a free agent contract with the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBDL. Through January 8, 2008, Diaz averaged 16.6 points per game in 14 games, with 7 starts.

On January 8, 2008, Diaz was signed to a 10-day contract with the Clippers, [ [http://www.nba.com/clippers/news/diaz_10day_080108.html Clippers sign Diaz to 10-day contract] ] in which he debuted against the Phoenix Suns playing 5 minutes and registering 1 rebound. On January 18, the Clippers extended his contract for an additional 10 days. Through 6 games played in the NBA, Diaz scored 5 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and dished 1 assist in 18 minutes played. The contract was terminated on January 28, when the team decided not to offer a guaranted contract for the remainder of the season. [cite web| url=http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/baloncesto/accion_deportiva/a_un_paso_de_vestir_los_colores_de_carolina/151919| title=A un paso de vestir los colores de Carolina| author=Lester Jiménez| publisher=Primera Hora| date=2008-01-29| accessdate=2008-01-30]

NBA Summer League 2008

Guillermo Diaz was included on the Summer League roster of the Charlotte Bobcats for the NBA Summer League 2008. [cite web| url=http://www.nba.com/bobcats/summer_camp_invitees.html| title=Bobcats Announce NBA Summer Camp Invitees| publisher=Charlotte Bobcats| date=2008-07-07| accessdate=2008-07-11]

Overseas career

For the 2006-2007 season he played for ČEZ Basketball Nymburk in the Czech basketball league. On January 7, 2007, El Nuevo Dia reported that Diaz would not return for the second half of the season, as stated by mentor Arturo Alvarez, as Diaz wasn't able to adapt to the different lifestyle that he experienced in the Czech Republic. By the time that Diaz decided to leave the Czech league, he was the second leading scorer in the whole league with an average of 20.1 points per game and had led Nymburk to a 15-1 season start.

Diaz also played in five games with AEP Olimpiada Patron in the Greek League in 2007, tallying 13.0 points per game.

In February 2008, he signed for Pepsi Caserta, a team in the LegADue also known as Serie A2, second division of Italian professional basketball. He helped them win the championship in the 2008 season. For winning they were promoted to Serie A in the 2008-2009 season.

Controversy with National Superior Basketball

After his departing from the Czech league Diaz announced that he was interested in including his name to the list of players in the BSN draft. He was involved in a movement that was trying to convince the team owners of the league to avoid the implementation of a salary top to first-year players.

However, the team owners decided to put a top salary of twenty five thousand dollars which led Diaz to remove his name from the list of players.cite web| title=Diaz no jugara en Puerto Rico| url=http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/baloncesto/accion_deportiva/diaz_no_jugara_en_puerto_rico/25283| accessdate = 2007-05-16] This led former owner Miguel Mercado to create a movement inciting first-year players to withdraw their names from the draft; the controversy reached a conclusion when Mercado and the league reached an agreement. Diaz announced that he was going to skip participation on any league, continuing his participation in the Clippers summer league team.

Career stats

*NBA: 6 games, 5 points (0.8 PPG), 1 assist (0.2), 2 rebounds (0.3), .250 field goal percentage and .600 free-throw percentage

*NBA Development League: 14 games, 232 points (16.6 PPG), 42 assists (3.0), 51 rebounds (3.6), 8 steals (0.6), .487 field goal percentage, .857 free-throw and .313 3-point.

*NCAA: 93 games, 1477 points (15.9 PPG), 238 assists (2.6), 313 rebounds (3.4), 123 steals (1.3), .448 field goal percentage, .740 free-throw, and .380 3-point.

*ČEZ Basketball Nymburk: 15 games, 301 points (20.1 PPG), 49 assists (3.3), .620 field goal percentage, .897 free-throw and .411 3-point.

References

External links

*NBA-profile|guillermo_diaz|Guillermo Diaz
* [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/colleges/university_of_miami/15590265.htm The Miami Herald's report on Diaz]
* [http://www.cbf.cz/supp/plrstat.php?d=172 Diaz's stats in the Czech Basketball League]
* [http://www.adendi.com/archivo.asp?Xnum=162160&year=2007&mon=2&keyword=guillermodiaz "El Nuevo Dia" report about Diaz's controversy with the Puerto Rican Superior league] es icon
* [http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/guillermodiaz.html NBAdraft.net profile]