Daniel Santiago
|
|
Daniel_Santiago.jpg
Daniel Gregg Santiago (born June 24, 1976 in Lubbock, Texas) is a Puerto Rican Basketball player. Santiago was raised in the West Texas town of Lamesa. He attended and played Junior College basketball atNew Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico and played NCAA Division 1 basketball at the University of New Mexico. He finished up his collegiate career at the NAIA school of St. Vincent, where he was named the NAIA player of the year.
In Puerto Rico, Santiago plays professionally on the National Superior Basketball League of Puerto Rico with the Vaqueros. He has played in Bayamón since the middle 1990s, helping the team to various national championships and tournament finals. In between 1998 and 1999, he played for the Varese Roosters of the Italian league, and between 2000 and 2001, Santiago played for the NBA's Phoenix Suns in the position of back-up center, becoming the fourth Puerto Rican, after Butch Lee, Piculin Ortiz and Ramon Rivas to make it to the NBA. He was released from the Suns after the 2001 campaign was over. In 2003, he returned to the NBA, with the Milwaukee Bucks.
In 2002, Santiago represented Puerto Rico as a member of that country's national basketball team at the Indianapolis World basketball championships and he also played on the 2004 Olympic team that handed the United States their first defeat in Olympic play since the US began using professional players.