From a “reductionist bet” to the player who would change history with his arrival: the reality of a Real Madrid basketball team that remains unsigned | Basketball

Injuries in the world of basketball do not stop and players like López-Arostegui, Nate Reuvers, Dimitrijevic, Luwawu-Cabarrot and Tyson Pérez have returned injured after the FIBA ​​windows. The schedule is so tight that the athletes’ bodies are saying enough is enough. In Spain, the teams that have the most injuries are the ones that play the most games and that is why Barça Basket, which lost the Argentine Nico Laprovíttola for the rest of the season, has had to make a move and sign the talented ‘Raulzinho’ Neto. An activity in the offices that greatly differs from what is experienced at Real Madrid, which for now opts for patience. “It’s as if in the Barça offices they took caffeine and in the Madrid offices they took melatonin,” said Pacojó during the social gathering. Play Basket.

The key is in the initial approach of the white team. From minute one there was talk of a different reality from previous years and they opted for long contracts for key and structural pieces of the squad, such as supporting Tavares and Hezonja. But the Olympiakos and Panathinaikos projects are a “reductionist bet,” according to Faustino Sáez, a journalist from The Country and regular collaborator of the program. Added to this situation are injuries and a difficult start to the season that puts Real Madrid on the ropes, as if they grabbed you by the chest and asked you to react. “Unless the market opportunity is very good and within those parameters that have been set at the beginning of the season, it will be difficult to see much movement in the Madrid squad,” he continued.

The Real Madrid basketball team is waiting for a specific move that falls within the conditions, which is why Lonnie Walker IV did not arrive at the beginning of the season. His talent did not win over his demands. The North American guard asked to be free in case the NBA came knocking on his door again and to leave overnight. Zalgiris did accept these conditions, something that the Spanish team could not assume, according to Ricardo González, from the AS Diary. For now, Madrid’s roadmap includes reevaluating what the team’s needs are after Musa’s return and checking if the team is really still missing. 1-2 to help in the rotation to be able to fight for the Euroleague.

The name of Ethan Happ is the one that appears this week as a possible white signing, but for Ricardo González he is not a necessary piece in the squad since he is a 5 and that position is covered with Ibaka and Tavares and the possible replacements of Garuba… assuming he will return soon. The power forward is still injured and it is not very clear what he has or how long he has had it, because, as Pacojó confirmed in Play Basketthere is the impression that he has been playing and training injured. “He is a player with very strong resistance and he has not said that he had the discomfort he had and that he has broken down more. That gets to me. If the time of the injury lengthens it is because there really is something to that.”

While they continue knocking on doors with different names, such as Happ, the player that Real Madrid really likes is the NBA Vasilije Micic, who arrived at the Charlotte Hornets as the great European star of the moment and is not counting on minutes. But of course, he is a player that Chus Mateo’s Madrid and Barça, Zalgiris, Panathinaikos, Olympiakos… whoever likes it. The big obstacle is the high salary he has in the North American league. “The Micic thing would be a foundational signing. One of those that changes your project like Tavares was in his day,” they recalled. Pablo Laso already asked him after that Final Four in Belgrade 2018 to which Zalgiris arrived and which Real Madrid won with a stellar Luka Doncic. The MVP would end up leaving for the NBA after the title and Micic was the perfect replacement. “That would have changed history,” added Faustino Sáez.

The truth is that Real Madrid, over the years, has lost that momentum in the transfer market because for a few seasons now we have seen that it is having a hard time making major squad restructurings: the last one, this year, has been forced and the previous one was when Poirier and company arrived. The possibility of a transfer is complicated, even more so knowing that, as Pacojó revealed, at the beginning of the year there was a meeting between those in charge at Real Madrid in general and those in charge in Real Madrid basketball. There it was said that there is a global budget for the coming years, and it was asked what they wanted to spend the money on, on high-money long contracts or on short contract signings. The decision was that Tavares and Hezonja had to be supported, but that jeopardizes the club for this season and the next.

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