Guillermo DÃaz (born March 4, 1985) is a Puerto Rican 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 who plays for
Cangrejeros de Santurce of 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 ...
(BSN). DÃaz was drafted by the
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
of 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 S ...
(NBA) in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
, becoming the fifth Puerto Rican ever drafted by the NBA and the eighth to play there. He has also played professionally in Europe and in Puerto Rico.
Biography
University of Miami
Diaz had a stellar college career at the
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
, 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
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
, 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
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
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
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
of the
NBDL
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...
. 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, 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
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 ...
, 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 guaranteed contract for the remainder of the season.
NBA Summer League 2008
Guillermo Diaz was included on the Summer League roster of the
Charlotte Bobcats
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...
for the
NBA Summer League
The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...
2008.
Overseas career
For the 2006–07 season he played for
ÄŒEZ Basketball Nymburk
Basketball Nymburk, also known as ERA Nymburk due to sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team that is based in the town of Nymburk. The club plays in the top-tier level professional Czech National League (NBL). Nymburk regularly pl ...
in the
Czech basketball league. On January 7, 2007,
El Nuevo Dia
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...
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 in the Czech League.
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
Sporting Club JuveCaserta (sometimes spelled Juve Caserta), also known as Decò Caserta after its title sponsor, is an Italian professional basketball team based in Caserta, Campania. The team currently plays in the Serie A2, the second tier of Ita ...
, a team in the
LegADue
Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian league pyramid, below the first division LBA and above the third division Serie B, with pro ...
, now known as Serie A2 Basket, the second division of Italian professional basketball. He helped them win the championship in the 2008 season. For winning they were
promoted
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
to the
Italian top-tier level LBA in the 2008–09 season.
Controversy with National Superior Basketball
After his departing from the
Czech national league, Diaz announced that he was interested in including his name to the list of players in the
Puerto Rican 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 cap to first-year players.
However, the team owners decided to put in cap on salary of twenty five thousand dollars, which led Diaz to remove his name from the list of players.
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 in any league, and continued his participation in the
Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
Summer League team.
Real EstelÃ
Diaz played with Nicaraguan club
Real EstelÃ
Real may refer to:
Currencies
* Brazilian real (R$)
* Central American Republic real
* Mexican real
* Portuguese real
* Spanish real
* Spanish colonial real
Music Albums
* ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000)
* ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...
in the
2021–22 BCL Americas
The 2021–22 Basketball Champions League Americas season was the 15h edition of the top-tier level professional club basketball competition in the Americas and the 3rd of the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA), since launched by FIBA in ...
.
Career stats
Domestic leagues
*
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 ...
: 6 games, 5 points (0.8 PPG), 1 assist (0.2), 2 rebounds (0.3), .250 field goal percentage and .600 free-throw percentage
*
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
: 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.
See also
*
List of Puerto Ricans
References
External links
*
The Miami Herald's report on DiazDiaz's stats in the Czech Basketball League''El Nuevo Dia'' report about Diaz's controversy with the Puerto Rican Superior league
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Guillermo
1985 births
Living people
2010 FIBA World Championship players
American expatriate basketball people in the Czech Republic
American expatriate basketball people in Greece
American expatriate basketball people in Italy
Anaheim Arsenal players
Atléticos de San Germán players
Capitanes de Arecibo players
Basketball Nymburk players
Greek Basket League players
Juvecaserta Basket players
Los Angeles Clippers draft picks
Los Angeles Clippers players
Miami Hurricanes men's basketball players
National Basketball Association players from Puerto Rico
Olympias Patras B.C. players
Pallacanestro Biella players
Point guards
Real Estelà Baloncesto players
Puerto Rican expatriate basketball people
Puerto Rican expatriate basketball people in Greece
Puerto Rican expatriates in Nicaragua
Puerto Rican men's basketball players
San Lorenzo de Almagro (basketball) players
Sportspeople from San Juan, Puerto Rico
Victoria Libertas Pesaro players