Juan Ignacio Sánchez

Juan Ignacio Sánchez

Sánchez with the Real Madrid in 2008
Personal information
Born	(1977-05-08) May 8, 1977 (age 47) Bahía Blanca, Argentina
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
College	Temple (1996–2000)
NBA draft	2000: undrafted
Playing career	1994–2013
Position	Point guard
Number	24, 4, 6
Career history
1994–1995	Deportivo Roca
1995–1996	Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca
2000–2001	Philadelphia 76ers
2001	Atlanta Hawks
2001	Philadelphia 76ers
2001–2002	Panathinaikos
2002–2003	Detroit Pistons
2003–2004	Etosa Alicante
2004–2007	Unicaja Málaga
2007–2008	AXA FC Barcelona
2008–2009	Real Madrid
2010	Obras Sanitarias
2010–2013	Weber Bahía Estudiantes
Career highlights and awards
EuroLeague champion (2002) Spanish League champion (2006) Spanish Cup winner (2005) Third-team All-American – AP, NABC (2000) Atlantic 10 Player of the Year (2000) 2× Robert V. Geasey Trophy (1999, 2000) 2× First-team All-Atlantic 10 (1999, 2000)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Men's basketball Representing  Argentina Summer Olympic Games 2004 Athens FIBA World Cup 2002 Indianapolis FIBA AmeriCup 2001 Neuquen 2003 San Juan 2011 Mar del Plata FIBA South American Championship 1999 Bahia Blanca FIBA Diamond Ball 2004 Belgrade

Juan Ignacio Sánchez Brown (born May 8, 1977),^[1] commonly known as Pepe Sánchez, is an Argentine former professional basketball player. He played at the point guard position. He was a part of Argentina's 2004 Olympic gold medal team and was the first Argentine to play in the NBA. He played two seasons in the NBA, playing in a total of 38 games with the Philadelphia 76ers (24 games), Atlanta Hawks (5 games), and the Detroit Pistons (9 games), averaging only 5 minutes per game.

At age 12, he began playing for the youth team of Club Bahiense del Norte, together with future NBA star Emanuel Ginóbili. At age 17 he moved to Deportivo Roca for the 1994–95 season of the Argentine League, where he played point guard. The following year, he accepted a scholarship offer from Temple University in Philadelphia, but stayed in Argentina during the 1995–96 season, playing for Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca.

After his participation in the 1996 Youth Panamerican Tournament in Puerto Rico, where he represented the junior national team of Argentina, he moved to Philadelphia where he played for the Temple Owls college team for 4 years under Hall of Fame coach John Chaney, and finished his career as the #2 player in the NCAA in steals (he is currently in fifth place in career steals). As a junior, the crafty point guard guided the Owls to an appearance in the Elite Eight, where they fell to Duke. Despite averaging only 5.6 points per game as a senior, he was named a Third Team All-American by the Associated Press. He earned a degree in history at Temple in 2000.

On October 2, 2000, he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Philadelphia 76ers, after not being selected in the NBA draft. On October 31, 2000, he became the first Argentine to play in a regular season game in the National Basketball Association, firsting countryman Rubén Wolkowyski by a few minutes.

On February 22, 2001, he was traded along with Toni Kukoč, Nazr Mohammed and Theo Ratliff to the Atlanta Hawks, in exchange for Roshown McLeod and Dikembe Mutombo. He was waived on March 12, 2001.

On March 15, 2001, he was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia 76ers. On October 10, 2002, he signed as a free agent with the Detroit Pistons.

On August 21, 2003, he was traded along with Clifford Robinson to the Golden State Warriors, in exchange for Bob Sura. He was waived on October 31, 2003.

Sánchez played a total of 38 games in his NBA career and recorded a total of 20 points, 21 rebounds, 49 assists and 16 steals. His final game was on April 16, 2003, in a 92–99 loss to the Boston Celtics where he played for 6 minutes and the only stat he recorded was 1 rebound.

In Europe, Sánchez won the EuroLeague championship in the 2001–02 season, while playing with the Greek Basket League club Panathinaikos. He also played in the Spanish League with Etosa Alicante. He transferred to the Spanish League club Unicaja Málaga in 2004, with whom he won the 2005–06 ACB League; Unicaja's first Spanish League title. After three years at Unicaja, he left as a free agent when his contract expired at the end of the 2006–07 season.^[2] On August 13, 2007, he signed with FC Barcelona.^[3]

In July 2008, he signed with Real Madrid,^[4] but he was released in April 2009.^[5]

Sánchez was first called up to the senior men's Argentine national basketball team in 1998. With Argentina, he played at the: FIBA World Cup, at both the 1998 FIBA World Championship and the 2002 FIBA World Championship (where he won the silver medal), the 1999 South American Championship (where he won the silver medal), and at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games (where he won the gold medal).

Sánchez's performance at the 2006 FIBA World Championship was quite satisfactory, with the Argentine press choosing him as the most outstanding player of the team.^[6]

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career steals leaders

• NBA.com Profile
• Euroleague.net Profile
• Short Biography and Statistics (in Spanish)
• Spanish League Profile (in Spanish)
• Latinbasket.com Profile