MADRID, 7 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish basketball coach, Sergio Scariolo, has assured that they must be “close” to point guard Ricky Rubio, who announced over the weekend that he was giving up playing in the World Cup to take care of his mental health, and that he is “like a nephew” to him, and hopes that soon he will recover “the energy and strength” to “enjoy basketball again.”
“What has happened is a very personal matter for Ricky. Privately, we have to be as close as we can to encourage and support him. Ricky is not just a player on this team, he is like a nephew to me, a very close, and that’s what counts. At this point, you have to leave him his privacy, wait for a moment when he finds himself with energy and strength to enjoy basketball again, and we must continue,” he said before the media in Malaga.
In this sense, he urged the rest of the players to continue preparing for the World Cup, which will be held between August 25 and September 10. “This is the group of players from which the twelve who will play in the World Cup will come out, knocking on wood, if there are no physical problems. We have no chance of incorporating anyone,” he said.
“We have to look ahead, there is no other option, and doing it in the best way, knowing the difficulty of the task, just thinking about doing the best possible. When you do the best possible, you don’t have to answer to anyone, just to your conscience, to the bar you have”, he continued.
In addition, he explained that they do not have “much margin” to cover the loss of El Masnou, although Juan Núñez will take his place among the 16, of which four will have to be ruled out. “We have anticipated the incorporation of Juan Núñez. We have other players who can play in that position, although it is not so much a question of role. We have to generate a little more. We have an obvious handling deficit and we have to look for formulas to generate advantages, and above all, raise our defensive capacity to generate losses and force errors one more level to be able to take advantage of the open field even more”, he pointed out.
Nor does he expect “more” from Alberto Díaz due to the fact that Ricky Rubio will not be there. “If we had to ask him for something that does not fall within his ropes, we would make a very serious mistake. Alberto has to do what he knows how to do very well, which in fact he already did last year. Could he have a few more minutes? Maybe yes But it is a matter of more presence in the field, not so much that he has to do different things”, he stressed.
In another order of things, the Italian coach assessed the situation of the team. “We are happy to be back at work after a couple of days off, in a beautiful facility. All the players are back in good condition,” he said. “We have a lot of things to do, a lot of work ahead of us, and we want to compete, with dignity, this weekend in this tournament of such a high level,” he continued.
Lastly, Scariolo talked about the addition of three promising youngsters to the team. “We have incorporated, as we have done since the first day, three other players from the ‘Golden Boys 2.0’ program: Aday Mara, Lucas Langarita and Rafa Villar, who has had a physical problem and is with us learning from the touchline and following his injury recovery process”, he concluded.