MADRID, 24 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The national basketball coach, Sergio Scariolo, explained that “things are on pins and needles right now” before the first preparation game this Tuesday against Italy, waiting for the incorporation of point guard Lorenzo Brown, who the coach hopes “will arrive in good physical condition and with his ability to quickly absorb the concepts that he learned so well two years ago.
“We have finished this first cycle of work where we have condensed a lot of information, a lot of content. The attitude of the players has been good. Obviously, things are still a bit on edge right now, but it is a bit the tone of this year with such short deadlines to be able to prepare the team to compete,” commented Scariolo in the preview of Spain-Italy this Tuesday, which will be the first test before the Valencia Pre-Olympic.
The Spanish team will play a friendly against Italy and another on Friday against the Dominican Republic, “to raise the competitive tone and the pace of the match a little bit.” The coach clarified that “the result is very relative”, but that this duel against the Italians “will be good for them to improve the playing condition of some players who have not competed for a long time, and try to maintain it without overloading those who already have it.” Really good”.
The coach knows “quite a bit” of all the Italian players, who also know the Spanish game system “deeply.” For him, the match will not have “a special emotion” despite facing his country’s team.
Lorenzo Brown will not be able to be in this first match, after landing in Athens this Monday to undergo a medical examination with Panathinaikos. “Everything has altered our plans. The fact that the Israeli league ended later, the fact that he had to accompany his family to the United States, now that he is changing teams… But it is what it is,” Scariolo concluded. , who was understanding of the point guard’s situation.
“We don’t have to give it much thought, let’s hope that he arrives in good physical condition, with his ability to quickly absorb concepts and with his game intelligence to refresh what he learned so well two years ago and put himself at the service of the team as soon as possible,” he said. the coach over the nationalized game director.
The rest of the team is “fine”, although in a “still a little uneven condition.” “They come from different recent experiences, but everything is quite good,” he said, while making it clear that the young point guard Sergio de Larrea is training with the group due to the absence of game directors, due to the absence of Lorenzo Brown, It will be joined in the next few days by Juan Núñez’s trip to the United States for the ‘Draft’.
“Sergio is a player with whom we bet a lot on the future and who should be with the U-20, but he will continue with us a little longer. We do very similar things and it suits him very well. After a couple of days of rest, when we have Juan back from the United States, he will join the U-20 team,” said the coach, who made it clear that they will make the decision on the final roster when they feel “that there is no physical risk.”
The Valencia Basket point guard seems to the coach to be the most accomplished player “in his role” of the young people coming up behind him. “The only question is that they can improve their playing experience. Obviously they have to mature physically but the other important thing is that they acquire maturity and playing experience, and that is only done by playing,” he declared about the generations of lower categories that could arrive to the absolute soon.
“The youth team is a very important moment to gain international experience. Many of them compete at the highest level with the youth team, but the experience of the club, day to day, of the entire season is fundamental and irreplaceable. Let’s hope that are so good as to really make things complicated for those who have to make decisions and that they erode the minutes of the veterans a little,” concluded the coach.