Walter Herrmann:The Next Aregentina All Star

[ncthompson11]

I really think Mike Woodson should look into this guy. He has recently got more playing time for charlotte and has resulted in him showing he can play in the nba. he just scored 30 tonight on 12-15 shooting and hitting 6 threes. Im not sure if anyone has seen him play but this guy has the tools to be a great player. He can slash, slam it home, and shoot the 3 ball. Heres a video of him I found on youtube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=saYVKxLsJes

[Guest Walter]

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I really think Mike Woodson should look into this guy. He has recently got more playing time for charlotte and has resulted in him showing he can play in the nba. he just scored 30 tonight on 12-15 shooting and hitting 6 threes. Im not sure if anyone has seen him play but this guy has the tools to be a great player. He can slash, slam it home, and shoot the 3 ball. Heres a video of him I found on youtube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=saYVKxLsJes

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I think he might be our version on 'roids.

W

[gheorghe]

last game: Wright: 10 min, 0 point, 0 rebounds

Batista 6 min, 2 points 3 rebounds, an assist and a steal

in the other game he played 3 minutes and scored 4 and grabbed 2 rebs, but Woody prefered Slava and Lo, wasting time on 30 somethings, damaging Este's chances of getting better ON the court

[ncthompson11]

can batista shoot outside? or is he mainly a post player

[AtLaS]

I can't take any video with that kind of music seriously.

[gheorghe]

Batista is a true post player, but reports say that he is working on his outside shot. The comparison with Herrmann can't be done, because Herrmann is a wing player that can play ocasionaly at the four.Este is like 280 lbs, a rock inside

[Guest Walter]

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The comparison with Herrmann can't be done, because Herrmann is a wing player that can play ocasionaly at the four.Este is like 280 lbs, a rock inside

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...was meant to imply they are not the same type player, just the same type Americas find.

W

[gheorghe]

Walter, your words are always respected by me. Of course it's nice to see what Walter Herrmann has done with PT (17,6 points per game in the last 17 games, and being both of them South American products you can compare their impact or potential

[Seano]

As a rule, I love the way the many of the Latin American players play. They just seem to play this balls-out style of basketball every time they're out there on the court. Very competitive, very intense, great hustle, good b-ball intelligence, and they're not the least bit afraid to play hard.

For example, I absolutely love the way Nocioni and Ginobili play. They play the game as if their very lives depend on the outcome...I am talking SERIOUS intensity towards the game and always giving maximum effort. How can any basketball fan not appreciate that kind of determination and desire, when you look around the league and see so many players just lazing it along, uncaring, and with no drive or work ethic whatsoever.

As for Batista? Who knows? Unfortunately, he's never been given much of an opportunity here, and so none of us really have much of an idea as to what he can and cannot do, and what he might or might not become. I do know that he's a very physical player and a banger, which are also qualities I can appreciate.

[ncthompson11]

Herrmanns contract runs out this june and im not sure if Charlotte would resign him. Obviously we dont need another forward but Id take him and his skills over almost anyone on this team except Joe and maybe Smoove.

[rascurrein]

I don't like to post about Batista (but i did it so many times...) 'cause it seems that the only thing that i'm going for is Este, and like i said before i'm fan since Mutombo started to play for us.

Batista can't shoot outside, but when he does is a 3p for sure. The thing is that he attempt 1 in 20 games.

Hermann is a 4 and Batista is a 5. The problem is that Woody insisted in the 1st year to make him play as 4.

I'm tired talking about Batista because he wont be playing for the hawks next season. Probably he will be in Portland or Washingon in the NBA or Real Madrid or Barcelona in Spain, maybe TAU CERAMICA.

For those who love basketball i'll give the advice of Sebastian Izaguirre, 20 years old, a 6-9 foot (206 cm) SF who wiil be playing in the PANAMS games and in the prelimpics in LA.

[gheorghe]

Batista's contract also runs out this june, and if Woody continues, he may be out of his plans. Maybe he ends up in another NBA team, or he takes his physical and rebounding skills to a team in Europe than can apreciate it

[TheNorthCydeRises]

LOL . . Batista is a straight up bum on the NBA level. There have been plenty of international players that people thought would excel on the NBA level, only to have them completely turn into benchwarmers or spot role players.

Remember the hype that Sarunas Jasikevicus got after the 2004 Olympics? People were sure that he could play on the NBA level and be one of the top guards in the league. Now look at him . . buried on the bench in G-State.

We'll let Batista go, and that'll probably be his last stop in the NBA, until he shows that he can be a viable offensvie threat, and not just a defensive rebounding hack.

[DrReality]

Herman has been quite the thing overseas for a while. Allstar. A couple years back two of his family members were killed in an accident that set him back. Good to see that he is getting going.

[rascurrein]

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Herman has been quite the thing overseas for a while. Allstar. A couple years back two of his family members were killed in an accident that set him back. Good to see that he is getting going.

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I remember that. He lost his father going to a match against Uruguay about 3 years ago, and he lost his girlfriend when she was going to see him and if my memory don't fail was against us too.

[gheorghe]

if Batista "is a straight up bum on the NBA level", how do you catalogue Lorenzen Wright and Slava Medvedenko?. Batista is a player that on the Americas level (South, Central and North Amercia) is on the same level as Anderson Varejao for example. He only needs a coach that trusts him, and that will end up with him being a serviceable big man off the bench for any NBA team. He can do rhe same things Eduardo Najera does, he can be a really important presence in the post, and he has more offensive tools than you think. I really want him to go to other place, he should have an oportunity in other NBA city. But one thing's for sure, he is no bum, but Woody will never find that out

[Guest Walter]

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and that'll probably be his last stop in the NBA, until he shows that he can be a viable offensvie threat, and not just a defensive rebounding hack.

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LOL I thought you were talking about SW there.

I don't believe you have a concept of his potential and a valuable skill-set. Batista offers much more than he's been allowed to demonstrate here, under Woody.

Why do you, northcyde, continually support the policies of this franchise's management? Maybe you don't, but frankly it seems that way. Each and every instance where a player may be overlooked by this team's management or each horrible lottery pick they make, etc. it just seems like you come along to inject the corporate line. I can't recall when you've last been right either. I guess we'll find out about Batista, but I think the guy should if not will get picked up and will play well. He's no more a defensive rebounder ONLY than SW and he plays the game with more umph.

W

[Guest Walter]

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Batista is a player that on the Americas level (South, Central and North Amercia) is on the same level as Anderson Varejao for example. He only needs a coach that trusts him, and that will end up with him being a serviceable big man off the bench for any NBA team.

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...from reading scouting on him in the Americas (?) tourney. It's been so long since I've seen extended Batista. I was really hopign we'd see a Batista/SJ frontline alot as the season closed. Give them MPG and touches. Instead, we've got a few odd fans lauding the victory over the Gerald led Celtics as some sort spring board into next year.

Anyhow, this year was a waste for Batista and the Hawks (overall and) in terms of developing him and nevermind northcyde. He's always on the side of Hawk corporate. Don't know why.

W

[AtLaS]

Check this out, this guy is a trooper, I just saw this on RealGM.. It's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard..

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2004

Nobody going to the Athens Olympics has a sad story quite like Walter Herrmann's.

Walter Herrmann, center, of the Argentine Olympic basketball team, has withstood the deaths of his fiancee, parents and sister. It's a horror story — all of it true — filled with death, grieving, resiliency and more death.

Not many people outside of Argentina and Spain have heard of Walter Herrmann, a 25-year-old, 6-foot-9 reserve forward for the South American country. He's one of only two changes to the team that won the silver medal at the 2002 World Basketball Championships — in large part because of his ability to overcome tragedy.

On a sunny afternoon in July 2003, Herrmann lost the three most important women in his life: his fiancee, his mother and his younger sister. Exactly one year later, on a day Herrmann played one of his greatest games, his father died.

"I couldn't imagine the pain," said Argentine teammate Pepe Sanchez, a former NBA guard. "It's very tragic, and I admire him for standing up and keeping on going in life, because I don't know what I would do if that was me."

Herrmann's initial loss happened when the three women, along with a friend of his mother's and her daughter, were driving down a two-lane country road. They collided head-on with another car occupied by an older couple, and all seven people died.

"I suppose that someone fell asleep. I can't explain it at all. Nobody can," Herrmann said.

He was in the Argentine city of La Plata that day, training with the national team, and the memory of his disbelief, shock and anger remains vivid.

"I knew they were going to visit my girlfriend's family," he recalled, speaking through a translator. "That day I took a siesta and woke up at 6 in the afternoon and called my girlfriend's house. That's when I got the news about my girlfriend only. I didn't know about the others. I was choked up, and I broke everything in the hotel room."

As Herrmann drove to an airfield to take a private plane to Buenos Aires, he began making phone calls and discovered the news was far worse. Not only had the car crash claimed the life of his fiancee — champion swimmer Maria Yanina Garrone — it also had killed his mother, Maria Christina Heinrich, and his younger sister, Barbara.

"I got to Buenos Aires and met my other sister, and about 2 a.m., I took my car and drove 200 kilometers to the village where my girlfriend's family lived. I stayed two hours to mourn with the bodies," he said. "Everything happened so quickly, it was a crazy day and I couldn't comprehend what had happened."

At the insistence of his older sister, Herrmann returned to Spain to resume his basketball career.

"The novelty of the story made the country sad for me, and wherever we went in Argentina the press was following me. So we went to Spain, and the first three months I was very angry and had a very bad time, but after that I stuck my head up," he said. "It was complicated. You never get used to the idea that you've lost your family and your girlfriend."

Following his 2003-04 season in Spain, Herrmann returned to Argentina and tried out for the Olympic team.

"He earned his spot on this team," teammate Manu Ginobili said. "He earned a lot of respect from us."

On July 18, the one-year anniversary of his tremendous loss, he had 38 points and 11 rebounds to lead Argentina to the South American championship.

"I slept very poorly the day before, couldn't get any sleep. But after midnight I felt like it was a special day for me. I had the thought that (my family) would be helping me," he said.

But when Herrmann returned to his hotel that night, he received word that his father had died of a heart attack.

When Herrmann was put on the Olympic team by coach Ruben Magnano, he surprised his countrymen by accepting the invitation and traveling to Europe for an exhibition tour just more than a week after his father's death.

"Now I am of the mind to look in front of me," Herrmann said, "and not behind."

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[TheDude]

dam, that's hardcore. i don't know how i'd react to something that devastating....

as far as basketball wise, he seems to have a bit of ginoblis game with more dunk. looks to me would be a great backup sg.....