February 09, 2012
Patricio Reynes, Gran Canaria
Patricio Reynes - Gran Canaria The ULEB Cup is full this season of top young prospects who have scouts criss-crossing Europe to see them play. Group B co-leader Auna of Spain, a club located far from the European mainland in the Canary Islands, also has a new rookie point guard. Patricio Reynes made both his Spanish League and European debuts in the last two months, but those scouts aren't likely to follow him to the islands, and not because the trip is too far. Reynes, you see, is a 34-year-old rookie. He never reached first-division basketball in Spain until now. It is already apparent, however, that Reynes has made it this far because he can play. In two ULEB Cup games so far, he has averaged 10.3 points and 4.7 assists, ninth-best in the leaders rankings. Those scouts might not have him on their list of future stars, but maybe they should see Reynes just the same: They will find in him a great example of the very persistence that makes any player reach his full potential.

With Reynes as a starter, Auna has won three straight games in the Spanish League. As such, he is already a fan favorite on Gran Canaria, the capital of the Spanish islands off the coast of west Africa where Auna plays. Ironically, Reynes comes from a whole different island group, the Balearics in the Mediterranean, where he played most of his career in Spain's second division with Menorca Basket. Basketball was his passion, but his professional career was as an administrator at the airport in Mahon, the capital of Menorca. "From May to October, during the tourist season in Menorca, it was hard to do both because I had a lot of trouble in preseason and I also had to work during playoffs," Reynes said of juggling another career and basketball in a recent interview with ACB.com. "It was really complicated, as I couldn't concentrate 100 percent on both things."

Reynes always understood basketball as a complementary activity to his real job, but many opponents earning a living at basketball were outplayed by this amateur playmaker. His persistence is best illustrated by the fact that Menorca, with Reynes playing 35 minutes per game, reached the second division playoffs in Spain for three straight seasons, but lost each time in the semifinals, one step away from qualifying for the ACB. Others might have given up, but Reynes didn't. His first offer to turn pro - that is, get paid a full salary for playing basketball - came at age 32, when his former coach, Pedro Martinez, moved to the Canary Islands to coach Tenerife Baloncesto. Reynes took a sabbatical leave from his airport job in order to accept the offer. Again the next season, Reynes reached the second-division playoff semifinals, only to see his ACB dreams vanish for a fourth consecutive season. Last spring, however, he and Tenerife finally got over the semifinals mountain and into the ACB. When Martinez moved one island away to Auna over the summer, he didn't forget Reynes, and happily gave the veteran point guard an opportunity to become a rookie in both the ACB and the ULEB Cup.

Not your average rookie, Reynes has used his playing time to quickly make an impact in Spain and beyond. Fast, intelligent, responsible and intense, Reynes has the whole package any pure playmaker should have. So when starting point guard Gonzalo Martinez got injured, he was ready to shine. Last week in Auna's second ULEB Cup victory, against Caprabo Lleida, Reynes scored 15 points and 8 assists. Auna fans love him, as he combines the excitement of a kid with the experience of a veteran. Reynes plans to carry on playing as long as he can, since his sabbatical leave from the airport can be extended until the end of the 2005-06 season. Retirement now would be out of the question for a rookie with so much ahead of him.
Monday, December 01, 2003
Javier Gancedo, ULEBcup.com
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