The base Lorenzo Brownnationalized at the beginning of the month, and the recent champions of Europe sub20 Juan Núñez and Héctor Alderete They are among the 22 summoned by the coach Sergio Scariolo, to start the preparation phase of the Eurobasket 2022which will be held at different venues (Germany, Italy, Georgia and the Czech Republic) from September 1 to 18.
The coach has recognized that the team needs a generational change. Among the 22 starting players, a list from which the final 12 will come out, there are five world champions in 2019 (Rudy Fernándezthe bases Sergio Llull y Quino Colomand the brothers Juancho y Willy Hernangomez) and three debutants with the senior team, the international Lorenzo Brownsigned this summer by Maccabi Tel-Aviv, after a good season in the Unics Kazan, and the reigning European Under-20 champions John Nunez y Hector Alderete.
This mix between veteran and youth is, according to the coach, something necessary for the national team, “We know the difficulty of the moment. This generational change in which we are in is a great challenge. We are very clear that the values of the national team do not vary, but the talent level.
Losses due to base injuries Ricky Rubio (Cleveland) y Carlos Alocen (Real Madrid), together with the withdrawals of the selection of Sergio Rodríguez and Guillem Viveshave forced the Federation to process the nationalization of the base Lorenzo Brown1.96 and 31 years old, a player who coincided with Sergio Scariolo during his time in the NBA Raptors and whose call, as admitted by the president Jorge Garbajosaresponds to an exceptional situation.
Among the notable absences from this first list are those of Víctor Claver (Valencia) and Álex Abrines (FC Barcelona), two players who are usually fixed in the calls that have gone through injuries during the season and will take advantage of the summer to recover. Also that of one of the players who is in the NBA, Santi Aldama, in his second season with the Memphis Grizzlies, who have not given him permission.
There is no Barça player on the list, only a Joventut player (Joel Parra) and another from Baxi Manresa (Yankuba Sima).
The rest of the players selected by the coach are already regulars at the ‘windows’, including Xabi López-Arosteguiwho was already with the team at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, Jaime Fernandez, Joel Parra o Dario Brizuela. Furthermore, the injured Alberto Abalde y Usman Garuba They are on the list but they will have to evaluate how their respective injuries are progressing to finish deciding if they will accompany the rest of the players on the European expedition.
The countdown to the Eurobasket
There is little more than a month left for Eurobasket 2022 to start and the players will gather this coming Monday, August 1, to start their preparation. The team will compete in the first phase of the group in Tbilisi (Georgia) together with Bulgaria, Georgia, Belgium, Montenegro and Turkey. The final phase will be played in Berlin.
The team will play a total of four preparation matches before the tournament. The tour will start in Athens on August 9 before Greece, who will return the visit two days later in Madrid and before Lithuania (Gran Canaria, August 16) and Vilnius (August 18). Subsequently, the team will play the first two games of the second qualifying phase for the 2023 World Cup against Iceland in Pamplona (August 24) and before Netherlands (August 27).
