The Rise of Spanish Centers: The New Leaders of the National Team

It has been a long time since Pau Gasol became the MVP of the Saitama World Cup in 2006, but Spain, in the Japan, Indonesia and Philippine event that starts on August 25, will once again be led by an inside player. The loss of Ricky Rubio, who announced last Saturday that he was going to stop for the moment to take care of his mental health, has increased, even more, the importance that Spanish centers have in this team, a position in which the National Team boasts of having with more carats. Willy Hernangómez was the MVP of the last Eurobasket (17.2 points and 6.9 rebounds for a PIR of 19.7 in the continental event) and everything indicates that he will also be the great leader this summer along with one of the rookies who has played the most excited lately. Santi Aldama’s debut with Spain against Venezuela last Friday (16 points, with 3/4 in triples, in just 16:43 on the court) was quite promising. The power forward from Gran Canaria resigned from the Eurobasket in 2022 to better prepare for his second year in the NBA, a bet that went very well for him: he went from playing 32 games with the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2021-22 season to 77 last season, also doubling his contribution: 9 points and 4.8 rebounds in just over 21 minutes on court.

Aldama and Willy will form the inner gala couple in a squad that this summer offers more centimeters and more talent. Physically, Usman Garuba is sharper this year than last year and, let’s remember, at the European gold medal in Berlin he became one of the team’s clear defensive references, a role he will continue in the next Asian event. But Scariolo, something will be invented to minimize the great handicap that the National Team will have in Jakarta (without Ricky or Lorenzo Brown at the controls), has more alternatives. There is also the wild card of Juancho Hernangómez, the hero in the European final against France and the best in the opening of the tour against Venezuela (27 points with 10/10 shooting from the field), who can alternate the positions of three and four . Juancho, who cleared up doubts about his condition on Friday in Madrid (he had not played an official match since February 28), closed last Eurobasket with an average of 12.8 points. Of the players who can be in this World Cup, his brother and he were the only ones who exceeded ten goals. With the exception of Lorenzo Brown, who finished with 15.2 goals, but will not be in the Philippines, Darío Brizuela (7.9) and Rudy Fernández (7.6) carried the offensive weight in the outside game.

In this next World Cup, therefore, we will return to times past, those in which the National Team boasted of having one of the best interior couples of the moment, the one formed by the Gasol brothers, with several luxury squires such as Felipe Reyes, Jorge Garbajosa and, later, the occasional appearances of the nationalized Serge Ibaka or Nikola Mirotic.

In 2006, the Spanish team won its first world gold with Pau Gasol as MVP but, since Saitama’s appointment, the best of each intercontinental tournament have not had to fight much in the paint. In 2010, Kevin Durant finished as the most outstanding of the championship held in Turkey; four years later, in Madrid, Kyrie Irving did it, and in 2019 the leader of the World Cup in China was none other than Ricky Rubio. Outside players who replaced the interiors in the background, who have stood up to say “enough”. In the National Team, for example, the centers have once again taken command.

2023-08-10 10:16:17
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