Adris Geraldo De León Jiménez (born July 10, 1984) is a Dominican professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Metros de Santiago Metros de Santiago is a professional basketball team based in Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago, Dominican Republic. The team currently plays in the Dominican top division Liga Nacional de Baloncesto. Championships Liga Nacional de Baloncesto ...

of the

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto The Liga Nacional de Baloncesto (LNB) is the top men's professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic. Established in 2005, six teams compete annually between September and October. History The league was founded on September 6, 2004 a ...

. He has previously played in Canada, Spain, Puerto Rico and Poland, and is well known in Australia, having played for the

Gold Coast Blaze The Gold Coast Blaze were an Australian men's professional basketball team which competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). The Blaze competed in their inaugural season in 2007–08. The club was based on the Gold Coast and joined the ...

Wollongong Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) is an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games ...

and

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers, also known as the Sixers, are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in th ...

while claiming the

NBL Best Sixth Man Award The National Basketball League Best Sixth Man is an annual National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) award given since the 1996 NBL season to the best performing reserve player of the regular season. At the season' ...

in 2013.

Early life and streetball fame

De León was born in the Dominican Republic, but his family emigrated to the United States and settled down in

Washington Heights, Manhattan Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the uppermost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest natural point on Manhattan by Continental Army troops to defen ...

. De León attended Louis D. Brandeis High School on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of Manhattan, but rarely attended class. He did not play basketball seriously until the summer for his senior year, when he played on the AAU team and traveled the country. He attended the

College of the Siskiyous College of the Siskiyous (COS) is a public community college with campuses in Weed and Yreka in Siskiyou County in Northern California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System, serving as the northernmost college in the state of ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and the

College of Southern Idaho College of Southern Idaho (CSI) is a public community college in Twin Falls, Idaho. It also has off-campus programs in Jerome, Hailey, Burley and Gooding. Until the foundation of the College of Western Idaho in 2007, CSI was one of only two ...

before eventually graduating from

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington. It also offers programs at a campus in EWU Spokane at the Riverpoint Campus and other campus locations throughout the state. Founded in 1882, the university is ...

in 2009. From there, he carved out his niche at the Dyckman Park, West 4th, Rucker Park, Pro City and Hoops in the Sun summer leagues. His play earned him the nickname, "2 Hard 2 Guard". In 2011, De León and

NBA 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 ...

player

Brandon Jennings Brandon Byron Jennings (born September 23, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player who played 9 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is known for being one of the first Americans to go from high school to ...

competed against each other for the moniker of "2 Hard 2 Guard". De León led his East squad to a 78–55 win over Jennings and his West team, which included fellow NBA player

DeMar DeRozan DeMar Darnell DeRozan (born August 7, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the USC Trojans and was selected ninth overall by the T ...

. Both players went at each other throughout the night but in the end, De León outplayed and outscored Jennings.

Professional career

In December 2009, De León joined Canadian team the

Halifax Rainmen The Halifax Rainmen were a professional basketball team based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. They played in the Atlantic Division of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL) and their home games took place at the Scotiabank Centre, form ...

for the 2010 PBL season. He left the team halfway through the season to train with the Dominican Republic national team. In 10 games, he averaged 9.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Throughout 2010, De León played in multiple leagues in his home country of the Dominican Republic, including most notably the

. It began an annual tradition, with yearly stints playing for CDP Domingo Paulino Santiago and

. In February 2011, De León signed with Spanish team

Palencia Baloncesto Palencia Baloncesto, officially named as CD Zunder Palencia, is a professional basketball team based in Palencia, Castile and León. The team currently plays in league LEB Oro. History The club was founded in 1979 at Colegio Marista of Palencia, ...

for the rest of the 2010–11 season. In seven games, he averaged 2.4 points per game. In October 2011, De León signed with Australian team the

for the

2011–12 NBL season The 2011–12 NBL season was the 34th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of nine teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 7 October 2011 and 25 March 2012, followed by a post-season involving t ...

. In his debut for the Blaze on October 29, De León recorded two points and one steal in just under 14 minutes against the

Townsville Crocodiles The Townsville Crocodiles were an Australian professional men's basketball team based in the North Queensland city of Townsville. They competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at the Townsville Entertainmen ...

. In his second game on November 12, he recorded 21 points and eight assists against the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at RAC Arena, known colloquially as "The Jungle". Afte ...

. He went on to register two more 20-plus point games to round out November. On December 2, he recorded 17 points and a season-high 11 rebounds against the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

. On February 10, he recorded 29 points and eight assists against the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

. On March 4, he scored a season-high 33 points against the Kings. In 28 games for the Blaze, he averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game. On August 27, 2012, De León signed with the

for the

2012–13 NBL season The 2012–13 NBL season was the 35th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 5 October 2012 and 24 March 2013, followed by a post-season which invo ...

. He earned the

, becoming the first ever Hawks player to win the award. In 30 games for the Hawks, he averaged 16.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game. In 2013, De León played in the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. T ...

for

Vaqueros de Bayamón The Vaqueros de Bayamón are a Puerto Rican basketball team of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The Vaqueros play their home games at Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum, a venue shared with the Liga de Voleibol Superior F ...

. The following year, he played for

Piratas de Quebradillas The Piratas de Quebradillas is a Puerto Rican basketball team, part of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league. Founded in the mid 1920s, it is one of the original teams of the league. The club enjoyed its most successful era during the 1970s, ...

. On August 10, 2018, De León signed with the

for the

2018–19 NBL season The 2018–19 NBL season was the 41st season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams have contested the league. The regular season had been played between October 2018 and February 2019, followed ...

. On November 10, 2018, he parted ways with the 36ers. In January 2019, De León signed with Polish team MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza. On December 2, 2019, he has signed with

Spójnia Stargard Spójnia Stargard, also known as shortly Spójnia, is a professional Polish basketball team based in Stargard, Poland, currently playing in the Polish Basketball League (PLK), the highest tier in Polish basketball. In 2018, they gained promotion f ...

of the PLK.

References

External links

Eastern Washington bioFIBA profileBSN profile"Talkin' Hoops with Halifax Rainmen guard, Adris "2 Hard 2 Guard" DeLeon"
at haligonia.ca * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Leon, Adris 1984 births Living people Adelaide 36ers players Basketball players at the 2019 Pan American Games Dominican Republic men's basketball players Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball players Gold Coast Blaze players Southern Idaho Golden Eagles men's basketball players Palencia Baloncesto players Piratas de Quebradillas players Point guards Wollongong Hawks players Pan American Games competitors for the Dominican Republic Vaqueros de Bayamón basketball players