The 21-year-old playmaker is turning heads in the EuroCup
Valencia's Jean Montero piling up honors, but concentrating on limiting mistakes
Player Spotlight
8 Mins read
There are many things that Jean Montero can be proud of, including being one of the front-runners for the BKT EuroCup Rising Star Award, as well as two achievements he shares in common with the great Luka Doncic. But the thing the Valencia Basket guard is possibly most proud of is the statistic 1.5.
That was the average number of turnovers per game that Montero committed last season at MoraBanc Andorra, despite playing more than 26 minutes per contest as the club’s main ball-handler.
"That was one of the things my dad used to tell me - take care of the ball," said Montero, who was playing his second season in the Spanish League. "I was very proud of myself because I used to have the ball a lot in my hands and being able to control it and not just throw the ball away and make the right play every time. That’s what I am still learning.
“I'm a young age. I think it's very, very important. I think I am still developing that, and also in the future, it could help me.”
Montero mentioned he was young and it needs to be stated that the Dominican Republic playmaker played the entire 2023-24 season at age 20. He averaged 15.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.0 steals and the aforementioned 1.5 turnovers. And that in the strongest domestic league in Europe.
“The biggest thing I was trying to do last season as the leader of the team was to get my teammates involved every time, just trying to help them. They helped me too,” he said. “I think the most unique thing that we had last year was the friendship among everybody on the team, even the staff, the fans, everybody. You feel family. You feel love. So that was the most unique thing.”
Montero played the 2022-23 season in Spain for Real Betis and averaged 17.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 2.4 turnovers in 27 minutes per game - as a 19-year-old.
Both of the last two seasons ended with Montero winning the Best Young Player award for the Spanish League. Only two players had repeated as the top youngster in Spanish basketball: Luka Doncic with Real Madrid and Carlos Alocen, who did it with Zaragoza.
“I don't really put too much focus on individual achievements," he stated. "I just try to show the people that I'm a competitor and always give 100 percent on the court. I always want to improve. That's the most important thing for me. And as things go, those achievements are very welcome. But I don't put a lot of focus on that."
And what if he wins it again this season?
“I will be the first one to ever win it three times in a row."
That would be kind of fun, no?
“Yeah,” he says with a smile.
Montero has another thing in common with Doncic. In May 2023, he scored 25 points and dished out 10 assists against Girona, becoming just the third player under the age of 20 to achieve that in the Spanish League – Doncic and Sergio Rodriguez being the others.
“I remember that game. It was an important game for us," he recalled. "I mean, they're great players. Luka is still young and still has a long way to go. Sergio Rodriguez, I used to watch a lot of EuroLeague games of him in Madrid, and he was a very impressive player. I try to take one thing from everybody who came before me to improve my game. It was a very impressive game."
One of the things that is impressive is the maturity in Montero’s game despite his tender age. But that comes from quite a striking past.
Montero is the fifth oldest of a group of 10 children, who range in age by 27 years and are a total five boys and five girls. He started taking basketball seriously at age 10 in the capital of Santo Domingo.
At age 13 he left his homeland alone for Mexico and the NBA Academy, and after one year there he left for the United States to play at the DME Academy in Florida. After just one season, he came to Europe and spent two seasons with Gran Canaria – during which he won the MVP of the ANGE Valencia in 2019-20 and appeared in four EuroCup games in 2020-21.
In 2021, Montero became the first international player to sign with Overtime Elite and was the OTE scoring champion in its inaugural season after averaging 22.5 points and 6.2 assists.
Again, after just one year, it was back to Spain – where he joined Betis.
Fast-forward to this season and Montero is back in the EuroCup and now is dealing with having a target on his back with the rest of the Valencia team.
“We just have to keep the same mindset, just live in the present and try to do things and control things that you can control," he said. "Just have the same mentality, day by day, game by game. That's how we can accomplish our best."
Montero has been a major reason for Valencia’s perfect start to the season with 10.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.3 steals. Oh, and a very respectable 1.8 turnovers per game.