The arrival of Lorenzo Brown to the national team, after his express nationalization just a month ago, has generated a lot of controversy, despite the fact that the figure of the nationalized is not new neither in basketball nor in Spanish sport (Laporte in the case of soccer, Dujshebaev in handball to cite some precedents), to the point that Jorge Garbajosacurrent president of the federation, has had to come out publicly to defend the decision.
“I am bothered by the easy and populist criticism of people who do not know the work behind it and who say that by nationalizing a player, we cut off the illusion of the kids. It is not true, that is a lie like a fat piano”, he assures Garbajosa. ”He comes to cover an important gap, he is one of the best passers in Europe. For him to lose his US citizenship is a symbol of enormous commitment. He greatly admires the team and the goodbye of Sergio Rodriguez and injuries of Ricky Rubio and Alocen. Giving up on him would seem irresponsible to me, ”she assures.
Prior to Lorenzo Brown (Roswell, Georgia, August 26, 1990), a dozen players also made the national team. The difference is that for the majority, there was a strong relationship with the country, with the Spanish competition and they even took root in the country through family ties. In the case of Brown, nothing like that exists. He has never played in the ACB Spain nor does he have any more relationship than the professional one of having played some games in Spain.
the pioneer
Clifford Luyk, a center of 2.03, born in Syracuse (New York), a legend of the Real Madrid and even today, the most successful player in the history of the white club with six European Cups, was the pioneer and ended up settling in Spain and marrying Paquita Torres, a Miss Spain and then Miss Europe. She obtained her passport in 1965 and it was not released until November 1966, in the pre-European of Finland. She played in four Europeans, in two Olympic Games and in two World Cups and added 150 international caps, to take a silver: that of the Barcelona European 73.
After Clifford Luykit was Wayne Brabender who made history in the national team, in which he played 190 games, just one less than Marc Gasol. He arrived in 1967, from Minnesota, to occupy a foreign position at Real Madrid at the beginning. He was nationalized in 1968 and also participated in the silver of the 1973 European Championship together with Luyk (FIBA did not restrict the number of nationalized nationals and up to three coincided), as well as two World Cups and two Games. He also married a Spanish woman.
The Barça provided two players who marked an era in the 80s: the ill-fated Chicho Sibilio and Juan de la Cruz, who shared a time and maintained an almost sibling relationship. The Argentine center, who played 12 seasons at the Palau, and was part of the team that won European silver in 1983 in Nantes and Olympic silver in Los Angeles-84, was the son and grandson of Spaniards. Born in the Dominican Republic, to the whistle he played 87 games with the national team, was also in Nantes and was an Olympian in Moscow, but gave up participating in Los Angeles.
Chechu Biryukov came later to the selection. The his mother, Clara Aguirregaviria, native of Ortuella (Vizcaya) emigrated to Russia during the civil war. He played for Dinamo Moscow and a few games with the USSR in lower categories, before arriving in Madrid at the age of 20 and claiming his passport. In 1988 he debuted with Spain in the Pre-European Championship and played in the Barcelona 92 Games.
punctual appearances
Much less incidence had the punctual appearances of the following three. Mike Smith, case with a Spanish woman, who participated in two European Championships (95 and 97) after a long career of nine seasons in the ACB. He came to Malaga (1986) to help Mayoral Marists of Malaga, but also played in the Joventut, Madrid, Caja San Fernando and Lucentum Alicante.
Also Johnny Rogerswho built a good part of his career in Spain (Madrid, Valencia…), obtained Spanish nationality by marriage and his arrival in the national team came at the end of his career, at the age of 36, when Grandpa Sainz included him in the team that competed in the sydney games, to the detriment of a very young Pau Gasol.
One year later, Chuck Kornegay He shared his debut with Pau in the 2001 European Championship, after getting married in Seville, where he played for San Fernando Box.
The last two precedents of Lorenzo Brown are those of Serge Ibaka y Nikola Mirotic. Ibaka obtained the 2011 passport, by naturalization letter, after three years between l’Hospitalet and Manresa, before jumping into the NBA. He played in the 2011 European Championship that Spain won, was Olympic silver in London-2012 and played in the 2014 World Cup. The azulgrana Nikola Mirotic He joined the senior team after playing in the lower categories of Madrid and having won two gold medals in the sub20. With the absolute he participated in the gold in the 2015 European Championship and also in the Olympic bronze in Rio 2016.
