The coach has been drastically reducing the number of survivors in the national team, although he will wait for Usman Garuba
The Spanish team achieved its first victory in the preparation tour for the next EuroBasket. The team led by Sergio Scariolo delighted the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid by beating Greece 87-80 in a match in which he was not on the pitch due to a technical decision Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Without the NBA superstar and with considerable shooting from 3-point range, Spain greatly improved their performance after the defeat in the first leg in Athens. Scariolo was able to take decisions and saw how the Hernangómez brothers led the charge well advised by captains Rudy and Llull.
Spain won and convinced and incidentally reduced its squad from 18 to 16 players. The Federation made the decision to release guard Alberto Abalde -who was in the Olympic Games last year- due to an injury that has been tormenting him for months and prevented him from performing at his best with Real Madrid.
The Galician left with Santi Yusta from a call in which there are only as survivors the following names: Darío Brizuela (Unicaja Basketball), Lorenzo Brown (Unics Kazan), Quino Colom (AEK), Jaime Fernández (Unicaja Basketball), Rudy Fernández (Real Madrid), Usman Garuba (Houston Rockets), Fran Guerra (Lenovo Tenerife), Juancho Hernangómez (Utah Jazz), Willy Hernangómez (New Orleans Pelicans), Sergio Llull (Real Madrid), Xabi López-Arostegui (Valencia Basket), Juan Núñez (Real Madrid), Joel Parra (Joventut), Jaime Pradilla (Valencia Basket), Sebas Saiz (Alvark Tokyo) and Yankuba Sima (Reyer Venezia).
Garuba and Nunez
Making a prediction of the 12 that will reach the first game of the EuroBasket in Georgia is a complex mission to say the least. Scariolo made an exception for Usman Garuba, who was injured in the NBA summer league and who is still going to wait for several more weeks. The versatile interior is a key piece in the scheme of Spain.
That’s the way it is, the most represented team to date is a Real Madrid that has Rudy, Llull and the very young Juan Núñez. We will see if the 18-year-old is capable of withstanding the cut, although it is also a reality that the team does not exactly have plenty of bases. It would not be the first case of a debutant at such a young age. Ricky Rubio started wearing the jersey at the age of 17 and is currently a legend.
Remember that this is the first time Spain does not have any of the Gasol brothers for an international tournament since 2000. It touches a generational change slowly, but without pause so as not to let the national basketball be a benchmark in Europe. A medal at the EuroBasket would be a colossal success.