Talentino23

If you haven't heard of the Canary Islands, there's a good chance you're not the only one. But since COTW is all about representing world streetball, it´s about time to change that and put the Canaries on your map. Although you may never have heard of any of them, there are quite a few ballers on the small islands located west of the North Africa coastline. One of them is Tino del Toro Velasco who earned his nickname "Talentino" due to his blacktop skills. He represents his home island Gran Canaria and StreetFlavour Crew.

Tino breaks down a defender.

Only 5'6" (1.73cm) and 149 lbs. (70 kg), Talentino is foremost a spectacular scorer who is quick, athletic and can throw it down, despite his size (or lack thereof). He was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he still lives and plays ball along with his StreetFlavour teammates Andres "What's the Method" Leon, Christian "c-aL" Almeida, Gabriel Bermudez, Orlando "Tito" Canino and friends like Rayco Hernandez.
Tino has cleaned up at nearly all of the Canaries' prestigeous streetball events, earning the MVP title of the 3on3 "La Jaula" in 2006 and winning Most Spectacular Player honors of the same tournament in 2007 & 2008. However, off the courts, things weren't always going that swell: Last year, his mother kicked him out, making the basketball courts literally his home.

Talentino23 is considered the best of the Canaries, but he can hold his own against competition on mainland Spain as well. A lot of new stuff from Talentino will be coming soon, so make sure to check www.talentino23.com from time to time.

Hasta la proxima...