When there is still a month to go before the so-called Endesa League, the ACB of all life, raises the curtain and gets underway, Básquet Girona has begun to fatten the machinery to reach the first in the best possible way of the many dates marked in red on the calendar. On September 28, a Wednesday night, the Fontajau pavilion will be decked out to welcome Real Madrid and thus mark the opening of the season. Before that, however, the team faces a few weeks to get in tune and catch that date as well prepared as possible. Having passed the rigorous medical examinations, the staff started this afternoon for the first time to work under the orders ofAito Garcia Reneses. The veteran coach, who will be 76 this coming December, has been chosen to lead the ship and tomorrow at noon it will be officially presented. A good time to know, first hand, what are his impressions of this new challenge in his rich career on the benches.
Aíto, who will have Lubos Barton as his right-hand man, has already made his players sweat a bit. He doesn’t have the full squad yet, though. Quino Colom, one of the signings of the summer, is focused on the Spanish team. Preparation matches and then Eurobasket. The same thing happens with Roko Prkacin, who was quoted with Croatia. Meanwhile, Patricio Garino and Máximo Fjellerup work with Argentina. There are qualifying windows for the 2023 World Cup and early September, the turn for FIBA AmeriCup contention, so they will rejoin later. At the moment, they are available to the technician Joseph FranchÈric Vila, Jaume Sorolla and newcomers Ondrej Hanzlik, Kameron Taylor and Pol Figueras. They completed the session the youngsters from the subsidiary Ferran Díaz and Kevin Torres. Marc Gasol, injured since the promotion phase, still can’t work at the same pace as the group and, with his head down, he still has two months of recovery ahead of him.
Have more or less pieces, Basketball Girona faces the first pre-season test next week. It will be on Friday, the 26th and from half past nine in the evening, when will face BAXI Manresa in Sant Julià de Vilatorta. Before the debut in the ACB there will be at least six more games. On the 31st, a friendly against Overtime Elite in Platja d’Aro. El Joventut will be the opponent on September 3rd in Olot, while on the weekend of the 10th and 11th they will travel to the Balearic Islands to play in the Ciutat de Maó tournament. There, two commitments. The first, with Gran Canaria and the second, still to be decided if it will be with BAXI Manresa or Hestia Menorca. On the 14th, another clash with La Penya, this time in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat and on the 20th comes the Catalan League. The semi-final will be with Barça in Tarragona and, in case of victory, the winner of Manresa-Joventut will reach the final.
Cessions of Molins and Stürup
With the door still open waiting for signings, the squad also loses money after two transfers were announced today. Pol Molins will play for Hestia Menorca of LEB Plata, while Mads Bonde Stürup will play for Almansa, which competes in LEB Or. Molins, 23 years old and without much prominence this past season, has scored 0.8 points per game and played an average of 4.4 minutes. More presence on the floor for Stürup, averaging almost 16 minutes and 3.6 points and 2.8 rebounds. The formula that Gonçalo Delgado inaugurated a month ago is repeated. The Portuguese, renewed for a year, has gone on loan to Melilla. Other players have left for good, after taking part in the historic promotion. És el cas de Txemi Urtasun, Gerard Sevillano, Karamo Jawara, Kaspars Vecvagars i un Albert Sabat who, after retiring, becomes part of the technical team headed by Aíto.
