Updated:02/01/2022 02:25h
Keep
Willy Hernangomez sketches a half smile in the Pelicans locker room, hurt by the loss to the Sixers, but happy for a superb personal performance (29 points and 10 rebounds). One of the best of his NBA career in one of the few days in which he has really enjoyed the confidence of his coach. Confidence, to say the least, because in reality the pivot played thirty minutes because there was no other, the starter was injured, Jonas Valančiūnas, and denounced for domestic violence the young Jaxson Hayes. His case is reminiscent of that of his brother Juancho, who accumulates transfers without finding a place in the league, and also that of Garuba, whose first season in the NBA is proving to be a nightmare.
The three share a happy horizon with the national team, with which they will play the European next summer, and a major disappointment with the American league. Ostracism that worries the federation and the coaching staff of the national team, as explained Sergio Scariolo, Spanish coach, to ABC.
«Not playing hurts. It is clear that it is not something that helps in the development of a player, but there is no need to despair either. thinking that there is an automatic correlation between not playing and losing the level, ”says the Italian, who does not hide his concern about the lack of minutes of the Spaniards on the other side of the Atlantic. He knows that all of them will be an important part of the list of players for the Eurobasket and he is looking for solutions to counteract this lack of prominence.
«It will take longer to remove rust and they need to maintain optimal physical and individual preparation these months, something that the NBA encourages and makes available to the players, ”he says, anticipating that there will be new faces to replace those who have left the team after Tokyo 2020 .
At confirmed casualties of the Gasol brothers and Sergio
Rodriguez, removed from the national team after the Games, has been joined by Ricky Rubio, seriously injured in the knee. Surely some more will join them for personal reasons -we will have to see if Mirotic finally returns to play with Spain-, which leaves a good part of the leading role of the national team in the hands of these youngsters in the Eurobasket. Players full of talent who have not found their place in the American league and who suffer contempt every night that penalizes their development.
“We’ll see who can be on that preliminary list and on the final list, but all the players are recoverable. This is not football, where there is an almost automatic correlation and where you don’t have anyone who hasn’t played for your club. Basketball is different, because having an important role in the NBA is very expensive. You have to have a very, very high level for it. Perhaps we were not used to it and the fact of having so many players with many minutes in the NBA hardly caught our attention, ”explains Scariolo.
There are many European coaches, like him, who recognize that the problem of these youngsters is not to go to the NBA soon, but to land in a place where the conditions to continue with the necessary growth do not exist. The United States waters the career of many of these players with millions who, years later and tired of waving the towel from the bench, return to Europe to continue their sporting journey. «I would prefer that some of these had twenty minutes on average in the Euroleague than five in the NBA. I think the Euroleague is a competition that trains players better, perhaps not individually, but tactically, in decision-making on the pitch and in responsibility.”
Perhaps for this reason, the return is the path chosen by many of them in recent years. Trend that caused impact when Nikola Mirotic He opted for Barcelona instead of continuing in the NBA, and that has become a regular transfer since then.
Real Madrid has become an expert hunter of these talents who have fled from the big league. That’s how he got Poirier’s services last spring, and that’s how he recently signed Gabriel Deck. The Hernangómez brothers now appear on his radar, who have known for a long time the white interest in having them if they decide to return to Europe. A buzz that orbits the heads of both, who are beginning to get tired of the idea of stumbling without prominence in American basketball and who look favorably on enjoying the basket close to home again, fighting for titles as they do every summer with Spain.
Next summer’s will be a test for them, because They must lead the team in a Eurobasket which is drawn uncertain for the national team. Without most of its usual references, it will be time to reinvent itself, although that is something in which Scariolo is a teacher.
will be Juancho and Willyalong with the veterans Llull or Rudy Fernandez, those who lead a team with many new faces. It would not be that of Garuba, already present at the call for the Games, in which he had a testimonial role.
Aldama, with Spain without playing in the Grizzlies
This summer should be different, although for that he will have to regain his confidence and physique. In his first season in the NBA, Usman has barely appeared on the court. Most of the matches have been played with the subsidiary of the Rockets, where he has stood out as one of the best. It has not earned him the trust of his coach, who announced a few hours ago that the center from Azuqueca had suffered an injury during training that has made him go through the operating room Garuba’s decision has been more directed to the future. To that European that he hopes to arrive in top form to prove his worth.
Although he has not yet set foot in the national team’s locker room, the name of Saints Aldama sounds strong to be one of those new faces next summer. His situation in the Grizzlies, although not ideal, is far from Garuba’s. He has the confidence of the franchise, which is progressively giving him shape and minutes, something that he likes and a lot in the national team’s locker room, where his immense potential is viewed very favorably.
See them
comments
