Amedeo Della Valle: Italy's X Factor

MILANO (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - As Italian basketball fans check their national team roster for the sixth and final window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers, they’ll no doubt be looking for one name in particular.

This will be the last opportunity to see Italy book their place at China. The presence of this name would provide reassurance, while its absence might make them concerned based on how well he has played in the previous games. At surface value and without knowing which player is being discussed, this isn't perhaps surprising. What stands out though, is the journey this player has been on to reach this level of recognition.

Sometimes it's hard, but to get where you want to be, you have to leave it all behind. At least for a short period of time, you have to walk away from where you call home to find your path.

Amedeo Della Valle knows this little secret, which by the way is no secret at all.

Born in Alba, a town in the midst of the Langhe - an area considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO - he enjoyed a peaceful and happy childhood where basketball was just a pastime in between days at school.

Despite a strong family tradition, it wasn’t until his late teenage years that he considered following in his father’s footsteps. After playing for the local Casale Monferrato youth team, he decided in 2011 to cross the ocean and test his skills at Findlay Prep School in Nevada. He made an instant impact on the team, breaking the school’s record for three-pointers (66) made by a single player, previously held by Canada national team guard and 2014 NBA champion Corey Joseph.

The next step, though, proved to be a lot more complicated. Enrolled at Ohio State, the young Italian struggled through two tough seasons without finding much playing time. The physicality of the NCAA game didn't suit Della Valle, who spent most of his time in the weight room trying to build muscle. Nonetheless, he became a cult hero for the home crowd, mostly thanks to his peculiar personality and fearless style of play, but also for his uncommon wit and sense of humor.

 

Trademarked Unpredictability

Somewhat satisfied with his experience in the U.S., Della Valle made his way back to Italy by signing a five-year deal with Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia towards the end of the 2013-14 season. Under the guidance of coach Max Menetti, surrounded by fellow youngsters such as Polonara, Mussini and Cervi, Amedeo quickly morphed into a contributor for a team that won the FIBA EuroChallenge, two Italian Supercups and reached back to back in Serie A's finals.

A double-digit scoring machine, Della Valle solidified his trademark move with long-distance, no-hesitation triples, successors to the famous ‘triple ignoranti’ (ignorant triples) designed a decade earlier by Gianluca Basile, Della Valle's role model who also debuted in Reggio Emilia.

Well settled in a team that played an organized, tactically-driven basketball, the guard constantly provided an X factor capable of changing the course of any game. On the other hand, Della Valle's unpredictability also turned out to also be a jigsaw puzzle for the coaching staff and sometimes even for his teammates. Every time he got the ball, no matter how far from the basket, you literally couldn't tell what was going to happen. It was a must-watch for the fans and, at the same time, the actual proof that genetics could lie.

Il Marchese

Just like most of his peers, Amedeo bears a basketball heritage. Carlo, Della Valle senior, played in Serie A for almost 20 years from the late 1970s and all the way through the 1990s. That said, the father-son similarities end here.

As a player Carlo was known as Il Marchese (an Italian rank of nobleman) for his innate elegance - the exact opposite of Amedeo. A pass-first, defensive-minded, tall point guard, his on-court performances were pure minimalism whereas Amedeo's could easily be filed under the expressionist branch. As a matter of fact, there's another tie that binds the Della Valles - Italy national team head coach Meo Sacchetti.

While playing for Auxilium Turin, Carlo shared the locker room with Meo, only to see Amedeo now being coached by his former teammate. Honestly, the coincidence is not so rare. What's far more peculiar is the almost perfect combination between Sacchetti's style of play and Amedeo's skills.

On paper, in pure basketball terms, their match-up looked like a marriage made in heaven from the get go. First of all, Della Valle was a perfect fit or what the national team needed on the eve of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers: without many of its NBA and Euroleague players, Italy's first requirement was to find somebody who could score on a consistent basis.

Beyond that, the Azzurri were in need of young talents ready to play without bearing the burden of a decade marked by perpetual disappointment. Amedeo Della Valle ticked all the boxes, for he didn't know the meaning of the word shyness when it came to basketball and had very little experience with Italy's senior team. He was picked as the 12th man on the roster for FIBA Eurobasket 2015 by then Italy head coach Simone Pianigiani, but barely played, and was among Ettore Messina's final cuts two years later.

Barring his tenure at Findlay and Ohio State, though, he boasted a long journey through Italy's youth national teams, highlighted by the FIBA U20 European Championship in 2013, when he led the team to the title and earned MVP honors. All in all, he seemed eager to make the leap. And he did.

 

The Leap

Sacchetti entrusted Della Valle right from Italy's World Cup Qualifiers' opening game against Romania on November 24 2017, swiftly shifting him into the starting five. The 6ft 4in (1.94m) guard immediately paid his faith back and went on to play in seven of Italy's first eight games, establishing himself as the team's clear top scorer, averaging 18.1 points in 25.5 minutes per game.

The former Buckeye has shot 44,4 percent from the field and an astonishing 47,2 percent from deep and ranks in the European Qualifiers' top 10 scorers, with the likes of Dennis Schroeder, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Cedi Osman.

He has scored more than 22 points in four games, but most of all has shown up when the team really needed him. In the crucial victory against Poland, back in September, Amedeo scored 28 points in 29 minutes including going 8 of 11 from three-point range, setting a record in the European Qualifiers.

Every time he stepped on the court, he carried himself with the same swagger and did what he had always done throughout his career: shoot the ball anytime he had a slight chance to. Italy's supporters held their breath while the ball flew towards the basket, as did Della Valle's teammates and the whole coaching staff. Those shots and the confidence shown in picking him made him a proper cornerstone for Sacchetti, who couldn't help but thrive on Della Valle's impact. His immediate future with Italy, though, seems unclear.

Challenges and Memories

The leap Della Valle made with the national team, in fact, wasn't he only big step the native of Alba took recently. At the beginning of the summer he joined powerhouse Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan and picked up the challenge to play at a Euroleague level.

That has primarily meant one thing: Amedeo is finding his space among established stars such as Mike James, Nemanja Nedovic, Dairs Bertans and Vladimir Mivoc. Playing time is never guaranteed, nor is his availability for the next window of the World Cup Qualifiers. Milan and Italy's schedule tend to overlap and Piangiani, former Azzurri head coach and current play caller for Serie A's champions, will not give up easily on his newly-acquired sharp shooter.

On the other hand, the final two Qualifiers games - against Hungary and Lithuania - are crucial for Italy to snatch a spot at the World Cup and return on the biggest stage for the first time since 2006. Furthermore, for the Azzurri, the sight of the Baltic Giants still brings sweet memories of historical accomplishments, casually marked by an avalanche of triple ignoranti.

A victory against either Hungary or Lithuania (a team that has already qualified), would open the path for Italy's comeback to the FIBA Basketball World Cup after a 13-year absence.

Ultimately, as the road to China continues and the finish line approaches, one thing's for sure: after seeing Delle Valle excel in the Azzurri jersey, even with it all on the line, Italian supporters are looking for his brand of scary, electrifying shots.

FIBA