The generational change arrives at the Spanish team

taketonews

The Spanish basketball teamthe reigning world championbegan this Tuesday, with a concentration in Madrid, the countdown for the preparation ofl Eurobasket, which will be held from September 1 to 18. His legacy is impressive after two long decades marked by the titles and conquests of one of the best teams in the history of Spanish sport. But the time of change and generational change became more evident than ever in the presentation of the team, full of new faces.

They are no longer Pau or Marc Gasol as guides, the first time that has happened in the last 16 years. Neither do some of the names that have accompanied them in their conquests such as Ricky Rubio, the hero of the World Cup triumph in Beijing 2019, recovering from an injury, Navarro, Felipe Reyes or Victor Claver. And there are only five champions left from the recent World Cup.

The great novelty in the previous list of 22 players, from which the 12 from the European will come out, and which does not have any Barça player, which has not happened since 1971, is an American base, nationalized just a month ago, Lawrence Brown, and two young men, like John Nunez (Real Madrid) and Hector Alderete (Students), who have just been proclaimed champions of Europe under-20. They are the image of the obligatory transition that the team he directs will experience Sergio Scariolo in the European Championship, with a group that will have the madridistas as guardians of the essence Rudy Fernandez (37 years, 233 times internationalized) and Sergio Lull (34 years old, 152 appearances), and that he will have to reinvent himself with the obligation to maintain his competitive DNA.

maximum demand

“It is a very demanding championship, probably the most demanding challenge we have faced in recent times, but we are going to fight and try as this team has always done. Having Rudy and Llull in the national team is invaluable and I am sure that we will come back from this championship with our heads held high”, assures the president of the Federation, Jorge Garbajosa, aware of how difficult it will be to enter the fight for the medals.

“The objective above all now is to return to being a team”, proclaimed Scariolo, at the presentation of the team. “It’s a new team with little experience, but we have all the enthusiasm and desire to do a good job and, above all, return to being a team that plays as such and does the great basketball that we have done for so many years and that has been recognizable and admired by all”, pointed out the Italian coach, who is clear about the weight they should have Rudy and Llull in your plans. “They are examples of commitment, dedication and effort. If you get them to come to those decisive moments fresh, they can be very important, that’s going to be their role, “he explained.

Outside of the applicants

Spain no longer appears in the FIBA rankings among the candidates for the title, displaced to sixth place by the Luka Doncic’s Slovenia defending champion, Francewith its extensive NBA roster, the Antetokounmpo’s Greecethe Serbia by Nikola Jokic and even Lithuania. “There are obvious real situations and we give them the weight they have. Perhaps it is the year that we are furthest away in the forecast of medals, but right now the objective is to make a team with new people. Now we do not think about final objectives and it is also going to be hard to qualify for Berlin, for the second phase”, he commented. “Each championship is very difficult. The team always has to aspire to the best, but leading players leave the team every year. You can win or lose, but you have to leave everything on the track, it must be the DNA of this team”, remarked, in this regard, Rudy Fernandez.

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The discomfort caused by the announcement of the nationalization of Brown did not appear anywhere. The Federation hastened to explain the extraordinary situation surrounding his arrival, with the absences due to injury of Ricky Rubio and the madridista Carlos Alocen and after the resignation of Sergio Rodriguez after the Tokyo Games. Thus, the 1.96 and 31-year-old American point guard, signed by Maccabi this summer, was supported by everyone. “He is one more teammate who has come to the national team with great enthusiasm and we have to make him adapt as soon as possible, so that he helps us as much as possible & rdquor ;, he explained Llull. “There have been players who have played having been born in other places. The place of birth, or the color of the skin has never been an identifying value of this team. There is no complication, the important thing is that the player is united and cohesive with the rest”, pointed out the coach.

The Spanish team will play four friendlies before the Eurobasket. On August 9 in Athens before Greece and on August 11, in Madrid, before the Greek team. and then in front of Lithuania, in Gran Canaria, on August 16, and two days later, in Vilnius, against the same rival. But in between they will have to play two matches in the World Cup qualifying phase: against Iceland in Pamplona (August 24) and in the Netherlands (August 27), which is on track but not yet certain.



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