Juan Ignacio Sánchez

Juan Ignacio Sánchez
Juan Ignacio Sánchez Brown, also known as Pepe Sánchez (born May 8, 1977 in Bahía Blanca), is an Argentine professional basketball player. He is a point guard. He was part of Argentina's 2004 Olympic gold medal team. Pepe Sánchez (1.93 metres, 6 feet 4 inches tall) was the first Argentine to play in the NBA. He played three seasons, with the Atlanta Hawks (5 games) Philadelphia 76ers (24 games), Detroit Pistons (9 games) and the Golden State Warriors, 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 Argentina's national basketball team, 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. 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.

In Europe, Sánchez won the Euroleague championship in the Euroleague 2001-02 season while playing with the Greek league club Panathinaikos, and in the Spanish League with Etosa Alicante. He transferred to Spanish 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.[1] On August 13, 2007, he signed with FC Barcelona.[2]
In July 2008, he signed with Real Madrid,[3] but he was released in April 2009.

Sánchez was first called up to the Argentine senior national team in 1998. With Argentina, he played at the World Championships at both the 1998 FIBA World Championship and the 2002 FIBA World Championship (where he won the silver medal), the South American Championship 1999 (where he won the silver medal), and at the 2004 Olympic Basketball Tournament (where he won the gold medal).
Sánchez's performance at the 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championship was quite satisfactory, with the Argentine press choosing him as the most outstanding player in the team.

1994/1995 Deportivo Roca (Argentina)
1995/1996 Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca (Argentina)
1996/2000 Temple Owls (United States)
2000/2001 Philadelphia 76ers (United States)
2001/2001 Atlanta Hawks (United States)
2001/2002 Panathinaikos (Greece)
2002/2003 Detroit Pistons (United States)
2003/2004 Golden State Warriors, pre-season (United States)
2003/2004 Etosa Alicante (Spain)
2004-2007 Unicaja Málaga (Spain)
2007-2008 AXA FC Barcelona (Spain)
2008-2009 Real Madrid (Spain)
2010-present Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca (Argentina)