By Francesco Cavalli
Even if you closely follow youth European basketball, there’s a good chance you have never heard of Sandro Mamukelashvili (‘99), who has joined this season Italian team Angelico Biella.
A lefty 6’8” small forward with a ridiculous 6’11” wingspan, Mamukelashvili (who is grown 18 centimetres over the last 18 months) has impressive coordination and athletic ability, to go along with a great outside shot and the ability to naturally put the ball on the floor.
His maturity on the court is allowing him to play a key role both for the U17 and the U19 teams, and his skills have been good enough for him to be called at the Jordan Brand Classic in Zagreb, an event which he was forced to miss because of a minor injury at the patellar tendon.
“Sandro is still physically growing up and adjusting to his new physique” coach Federico Danna, who runs the youth program in Biella, told us “but he was able anyway to greatly develop his game in these months spent in Biella. He’s already really improved and we are very happy to have him in our team”.
We were able to meet Sandro and speak with him, to know something more about himself and his basketball experience.
Let’s start talking about you and your background. Where are you from? How did you start to play basketball? Which players have you looked at the most while growing up?
I’m from Georgia. I was born in the USA but I grew up in Georgia, where all my family comes from. My goal is to play for the Georgian National Team; I already played for the Youth Team, even though not in an official tournament.
I think I was 5/6-year old the first time I wanted to play basketball: I went to my brother’s practice and I enjoyed how much he was having fun. I started playing a bit in playgrounds, I liked it very much and then told my mum I wanted to play. But it was around when I was 10-year old that I thought for the first time that my life should be basketball. My first model was Shaquille O’Neal because I was taller than average and always played at center, but then I started to like the game of LeBron James and John Wall, which actually is my favourite player even though we play different positions.
Where did you play before joining Biella?
I started in a small team, but after I was first called with the Youth National Team I chose to go to Basketball Academy of Georgia, to bring my game to the next level, practicing harder and more often. They do not have a pro team, only youth teams: I started play with them in U13, but last season already played U20.
Why did you pick Biella? Which are the best things you are finding here?
I came here to practice in July, then in August I knew they were interested in me. I liked Biella very much and I thought it was the best option for me.
The first thing I like about Biella is people: they are all good to me, they always try to make everything comfortable around me, I’m like at home here. They also make practices very good: since I came here I developed my game as a player and as a teammate, I improved my dribbling skills and my shooting skills. But the biggest valuable thing to me is that they want me to grow as a person and as a student, my coaches are following me closely also outside the basketball court to let me grow not only as a basketball player.
Have you found any difference between the game you play today and the one you were used to play in Georgia? Which are the aspects of your game you feel you have to work on the most?
They are two different levels: Georgia is smaller than Italy, I knew basically any good player I had to play against. Here there’s a higher level of basketball, I have to play harder on defense and be more aggressive on offense. But it wasn’t very hard to adjust to the Italian game because I have very good teammates.
About my game, I think I can work on my post skills and my mid-range pull-up jumper.
Are you going to consider college basketball as an option in your basketball career?
I would like the opportunity to play college basketball, I think NCAA is a wonderful league from which I could gain a lot of experience, and out of college I think you have opportunities to play everywhere.
Where can you see yourself five years from now?
All my life my dream has been to play in a big Euroleague team or in the NBA, but in five years it’s hard to say what could happen! If I practice hard and develop my game I hope to see myself in Euroleague or maybe heading to the NBA Draft. But nobody knows, I’ll develop my game, I’ll work hard and just see what happens.
Even if you closely follow youth European basketball, there’s a good chance you have never heard of Sandro Mamukelashvili (‘99), who has joined this season Italian team Angelico Biella.
A lefty 6’8” small forward with a ridiculous 6’11” wingspan, Mamukelashvili (who is grown 18 centimetres over the last 18 months) has impressive coordination and athletic ability, to go along with a great outside shot and the ability to naturally put the ball on the floor.
His maturity on the court is allowing him to play a key role both for the U17 and the U19 teams, and his skills have been good enough for him to be called at the Jordan Brand Classic in Zagreb, an event which he was forced to miss because of a minor injury at the patellar tendon.
“Sandro is still physically growing up and adjusting to his new physique” coach Federico Danna, who runs the youth program in Biella, told us “but he was able anyway to greatly develop his game in these months spent in Biella. He’s already really improved and we are very happy to have him in our team”.
We were able to meet Sandro and speak with him, to know something more about himself and his basketball experience.
Let’s start talking about you and your background. Where are you from? How did you start to play basketball? Which players have you looked at the most while growing up?
I’m from Georgia. I was born in the USA but I grew up in Georgia, where all my family comes from. My goal is to play for the Georgian National Team; I already played for the Youth Team, even though not in an official tournament.
I think I was 5/6-year old the first time I wanted to play basketball: I went to my brother’s practice and I enjoyed how much he was having fun. I started playing a bit in playgrounds, I liked it very much and then told my mum I wanted to play. But it was around when I was 10-year old that I thought for the first time that my life should be basketball. My first model was Shaquille O’Neal because I was taller than average and always played at center, but then I started to like the game of LeBron James and John Wall, which actually is my favourite player even though we play different positions.
Where did you play before joining Biella?
I started in a small team, but after I was first called with the Youth National Team I chose to go to Basketball Academy of Georgia, to bring my game to the next level, practicing harder and more often. They do not have a pro team, only youth teams: I started play with them in U13, but last season already played U20.
Why did you pick Biella? Which are the best things you are finding here?
I came here to practice in July, then in August I knew they were interested in me. I liked Biella very much and I thought it was the best option for me.
The first thing I like about Biella is people: they are all good to me, they always try to make everything comfortable around me, I’m like at home here. They also make practices very good: since I came here I developed my game as a player and as a teammate, I improved my dribbling skills and my shooting skills. But the biggest valuable thing to me is that they want me to grow as a person and as a student, my coaches are following me closely also outside the basketball court to let me grow not only as a basketball player.
Have you found any difference between the game you play today and the one you were used to play in Georgia? Which are the aspects of your game you feel you have to work on the most?
They are two different levels: Georgia is smaller than Italy, I knew basically any good player I had to play against. Here there’s a higher level of basketball, I have to play harder on defense and be more aggressive on offense. But it wasn’t very hard to adjust to the Italian game because I have very good teammates.
About my game, I think I can work on my post skills and my mid-range pull-up jumper.
Are you going to consider college basketball as an option in your basketball career?
I would like the opportunity to play college basketball, I think NCAA is a wonderful league from which I could gain a lot of experience, and out of college I think you have opportunities to play everywhere.
Where can you see yourself five years from now?
All my life my dream has been to play in a big Euroleague team or in the NBA, but in five years it’s hard to say what could happen! If I practice hard and develop my game I hope to see myself in Euroleague or maybe heading to the NBA Draft. But nobody knows, I’ll develop my game, I’ll work hard and just see what happens.
ADVERTISING
