Ángel Daniel Vassallo

Ángel Daniel Vassallo Colón (born April 21, 1986) is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player for Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He has been a member of the Puerto Rico national basketball team since his teenage years, representing Puerto Rico in the 2003 FIBA World Championship for Junior Men and the 2005 FIBA U-21 World Championship. In 2008, Vassallo joined the senior team, playing at the 2008 Centrobasket, FIBA Americas Championship 2009 and 2010 FIBA World Championship.

After completing his high school education, he played for the Tigers of Hargrave Military Academy, reaching the preparatory national finals. Vassallo joined the NCAA playing for Virginia Tech, and throughout his college career received several recognitions, including two All-ACC second team inclusions. He finished his collegiate career fifth in the team's all-time scoring list. In his first Baloncesto Superior Nacional season, Vassallo averaged 25.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game for the Criollos de Caguas. He made his LNB Pro A debut for Paris-Levallois Basket, leading the team to the playoffs. Vassallo has been an All-Star player in both the BSN and the LNB.

Early life Vassallo was born in the municipality of Toa Baja, located in the northern coast of Puerto Rico's main island. He was the younger of two siblings, the other being Alexis Vassallo, born to Daniel Vassallo and Maria Colón. The university surrendered his rights and Virginia Tech signed him, which compensated for Tony Dobbins' departure for Richmond years before.

2005–2006 Vassallo debuted for the Hokies in the 2005–06 season, playing in all of the team's games. Despite mostly serving as a bench player, he played at least 20 minutes in games against Mount St. Mary's and Marshall, scoring 18 collective points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and one blocked shot. His first start was against Radford, recording 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. In a game against Western Carolina, Vassallo scored his first 3-point field goal. Vassallo's served as the team's offensive leader. In a game against Wisconsin he scored 24 points during the second half, including six 3-point field goals, to finish with 30. Vassallo finished his NCAA career with 1,822 points, finishing fifth in Virginia Tech's history; he also set a record with 267 made 3-point shots. Vassallo's final amateur tournament was the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, where he scored 21, 10 and 11 points in his team's third-place finish.

Professional career Baloncesto Superior Nacional Vassallo debuted in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional on April 17, 2009, scoring 22 points against the Gigantes de Carolina. He closed his first week scoring 26 and 19 points in games versus the Vaqueros de Bayamón and Cangrejeros de Santurce, as well as capturing 15 rebounds in these two games. He closed the month of April scoring 17 and 19 points against the Atléticos de San Germán and Piratas de Quebradillas. On May 2, 2009, Vassallo scored 26 points and captured 7 rebounds in a game versus the Leones de Ponce, before taking a hiatus of three weeks while he participated in NBA training camps. Upon returning, he scored 34 points and recovered 7 rebounds in his first game. On May 30, 2009, Vassallo scored 53 points versus the Indios de Mayagüez, recording the highest number of points in his life and tying the career-high of his father's BSN career. He closed this week scoring 36 points and 9 rebounds against Ponce. From June 10 to 16, Vassallo scored 30, 14, 18 and 26 points in games against the Mets de Guaynabo, Mayagüez, Bayamón and Carolina, capturing 32 rebounds. In his last two games of the season, Vassallo scored 48 points and recovered 12 rebounds in games versus the Grises de Humacao and Capitanes de Arecibo. In his first BSN All-Star Game, he recorded 11 points and 3 rebounds. Since he only played 15 games for the Criollos, Vassallo was not included in the league's leaderboards however, during these games he recorded a higher average than all of the players included in the boards, with 25.6 points per game, in contrast to the league's scoring champion, Jesse Pellot Rosa, who had 23.48 points per game. Despite the Criollos' elimination, Vassallo received 25 out of 28 votes in the "Rookie of the Year" elections. The Criollos recessed prior to the 2010 BSN season and the Gallitos de Isabela earned the rights of his contract. Vassallo joined the team during the playoffs, but the team was swept by the Vaqueros in their series. His season average were 25.6 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game. In 2014, he won sixth man of the year and championship with Leones de Ponce.

Ligue Nationale de Basketball On October 3, 2009, Vassallo debuted in the Ligue Nationale de Basketball for Paris-Levallois Basket scoring 14 points and 7 rebounds. On the second date against Union Poitiers Basket 86, he improved to 21 points and 10 rebounds. In his third game, Vassallo scored 14 of his 22 points in the last quarter and recovered 6 rebounds. A week later he recorded his worst game of the season in a 61–75 loss to Le Mans Sarthe Basket. Paris managed to win its next game against ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, with Vassallo scoring 24 points. On November 24, 2009, he had perfect 2-point field goal and free throw percentages, but the team lost by 14 points to JA Vichy. Paris opened the second half of the season with a win over Chorale Roanne Basket and two losses against Strasbourg IG and Entente Orléanaise. Vassallo continued scoring in double figures during this period, recording 14, 10 and 18 points. However, prior to the event's inauguration, he signed a contract with ASVEL.

National team career During his youth, Vassallo was part of Puerto Rico's Junior National Team. His first major competition with this team was the 2003 FIBA World Championship for Junior Men, where he averaged 8 points and 6 rebounds per game. At the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship for Men, Vassallo recorded 8.6 points and 4 rebounds per game. His first participation with the senior Puerto Rico national basketball team was at the 2008 Centrobasket, where he served as the shooting guard backup behind Carmelo Lee. He recorded 6 points and 1.2 per game in limited time, while the team won the gold medal. He returned to this role at the 2009 Marchand Continental Cup, an exhibition tournament, where he improved to 10 points and 3 rebounds. Next was the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship for Men, a qualificatory tournament for the 2010 FIBA World Championship. There Vassallo had statistics of 7.3 points and 3.4 rebounds, including a perfect game against Brasil, where he scored 8 of 8 field goal attempts and a free throw attempt. Puerto Rico won the silver medal and qualified.

Vassallo returned to the team in 2010, now being rotated between the small forward and shooting guard positions. In order to improve his defense and reflexes, he guarded point guard Carlos Arroyo during team practices. Vassallo participated in the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, where Puerto Rico won the gold medal undefeated. In this tournament he scored 80% of his 2-point field goal attempts, for averages of 12 points and 4 rebounds per game. Subsequently, the team participated in multiple preparatory exhibition games, including a series against the top-ranked team in the world, Argentina, where Vassallo scored 26 points in the final of three contests.

Career stats League Games Points scored Total assists Total rebounds Points Per Game Average Assists Per Game Average Rebounds Per Game Average NCAA Division I 133 1,822 222 581 13.7 1.7 4.4 Baloncesto Superior Nacional 169 3,017 401 873 17.9 2.4 5.2 Ligue Nationale de Basketball 31 552 81 134 17.8 2.6 4.3