Days have already passed to the heartened heart by the withdrawal from the National Team of two of the best players in its history, the Gasol brothers. Trying to recover from the vertigo that gives flashbacks to remember their trajectories, with the damn banner held in the hand lowered of the “their best days have passed” on a handful more veterans who were in Tokyo, we ask ourselves with more pessimism than hope? what is the future of the Spanish men’s basketball team.
The first thing we have to do is shake off that band that always put us as favorites (or very close to it) of any championship. It can do us a disservice as fans. And we understand that from that very comfortable sofa it is difficult to get used to the idea that we should abandon it. Among other reasons, because when it has been a reality in the last 20 years, we can think that this is the perennial reality. Think that when this generation of the 80 “was born” before our eyes, we came to think that fifth in a world was a success, with the conviction of taking steps towards the right path, that we had achieved a silver in Eurobasket French, which we were able to label as miraculous a year later when in all about Olympic Games In Sydney, reality gave us a ninth place, ahead of only China, New Zealand and Angola. That’s where we started when the ‘golden juniors’ stood up and took command.
Now we are much better, obviously. It is not necessary to start with mud stains on the clothes. We have Ricky Rubio as a guiding lighthouse, which is no small thing, plus the Hernangómez, Oriola and Brizuela as examples. But thinking big again is not a state of mind, but it has to be endorsed by the protagonists who may arrive in the future and their performances, without regrets about the feast that we have spent with the Gasol, Navarro, Felipe and sighs of “this will be unrepeatable.” That is what we thought the silver of Los Angeles’84. Come now. Is there hope beyond Usman Garuba, Carlos Alocén, Alberto Abalde and Xabi López Aróstegui?
Perhaps, as amateurs, we commit the sin of thinking about the immediate. In regaining golden brilliance one year from now, two years from now. And what happens if the glories begin to be glimpsed five years from now? Would such a journey be so tragic? Well that’s the point of view to which Endesa Basket Lover wants to put dirt on it. It is not that we say that even five years later we have no right to think about opting for great heights. Not much less. Simply that thinking so in the short term and with the players that we can count on including young realities -the exposed Garuba, Alocén, Abalde or López Aróstegui-, we can fall into the wrong account that does not give for podium and we go into despair.
In Endesa Basket Lover In the early days of summer we have witnessed the best litter of national players in the range between 15 and 18 years old, after watching the cadet and junior championships in Spain. And we reiterate that we find more than enough reasons for hope. See a pivot that is as decisive as Candidate Mara, on the way to his 2.18 height if he does not already have them, at 16 years of age, it is to notice that we are facing someone very, very special. That the physical qualities of the 16-year-old power forward, Be Almansa, are accompanied by their technical quality (we will be attentive to the progression, after joining something that in Spain generates as many doubts as initial ignorance, the American project Overtime Elite, in which it has recently landed). That we may never have had a forward with the athletic conditions of the nephew of Ray Allen, Miguel Allen, with his 2.03 height, on the verge of being a senior player. That a point guard who handles the basketball as if it were a handball as part of his ingenuity and skill in the figure of Juan Núñez, makes us think of the future direction on the court as another jewel to consider. Or that the sacrifice of the forward Michael Caicedo and the endless arms of Baba Miller they may be of enormous value in the future.
Of course, all these kids have to go through that tough step of going from 18 to 19 years old. That we have the ability to generate a gap for them if they show an effort to earn it, but that they do not fall into ostracism -not even in the ACB- of playing for a few minutes and not finding an explanation, when they are summoned for the Spanish selection Under-20s and let’s see that they are competitive and terribly useful. This critical link up to our twenties is the one that we still have to process. But at their age, we answer for them, who are truly virtuous.
The future of the Spanish selection goes through … patience. And that is known to its top rectors and the head of the bench, Sergio Scariolo, who has three more years of work ahead of him. So, it is time to continue working on the appropriate steps that, raw material remains. And very interesting. For medals? The crossing of quarters is the one who usually dictates. From there, let’s take everything as a gift and a success, as fans. And the goals will fall.
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