Overcome the knee injury that prevented him from going to the Eurobasket and had him out for five months last year, Alex Abrines (Palma, 29 years old) starts the Endesa League with Barça this Friday on the Gran Canaria court with the ambition of assuming a leading role and being in the fight for all the titles with a rebuilt squad with six top-level signings.
You had an irregular season with your serious left knee injury. How do you get to the new course?
Mentally I am quite well and the injury is forgotten. The fact of having rested, in quotes, this summer, has helped me a lot to recharge my batteries. Although the mental issue has been complicated. It took me longer than I thought to recover from the injury and that’s why I had to give up the national team. I have always been working one step behind what I expected this summer
That resignation hurt you, how have you experienced it from a distance?
Yes, I wanted to go. It was a year of transition, with many losses and could have had an important role. The decision was not easy. I tried to give myself a chance. But in mid-July I was still having a hard time just jogging. So I made a decision: to be as healthy as possible at the start of the season and not take risks. But from a distance I enjoyed like the most. It was incredible and even though there were superstar teams like Slovenia, France or even Germany, we showed that they were the team that played the best basketball.
“I see impatience with Barça, but we are on the right track, even though things didn’t work out last year”
Last year with the physical problems, the covid, his playing time was reduced and so was his impact (13 minutes, 5.7 points). What objectives are set in the course?
We are all ambitious and we want to play the maximum. But you have to understand that there is a lot of healthy rivalry at Barça. And many good players who also deserve minutes. It will be a long season and luckily I think there will be many rotations. That is a motivation to continue working and so that when the match comes when they need you, you are ready.
Six changes in the squad from one year to the next denote the desire to redo the project. How do these six additions improve you?
I see a more complete template. Players like Vesely or Tobey can open up the field a lot, even Oscar (Da Silva) who can play the open 4 and run the field well. In the base position is where we will notice it the most. It is a totally different profile. Although nobody has Calathes pass, Satoransky also has that vision and gives you touchdown, low post. He can give you more play in transition. The team is made to be wide, with many possibilities and the ability to run much more. That’s what we want this year.
Are you excited about making the team
I see a lot of ambition in the locker room. In the end, I think that every year we start the same. I am not going to despise the signings from other years, with whom we also competed and won titles. But it does not depend only on us. Other teams have also strengthened very well and in the end, both the ACB and the Euroleague are very tough and long competitions, which are decided by details.
“We didn’t get to the final stage of last season well for many reasons. This year I think the planning will be different.”
The arrival of Mirotic in 2019, a differential player, hinted at a change in cycle and that was seen in the second year. But the general balance (3 titles of the last 10) is not very favorable.
Let’s see, seen like this, three are few. But having taken away the first against Baskonia and this last League, in which Madrid deserved it more, we did things well. In the ‘final four’ two years ago we were about to win. We could have added some more. But we have to keep working to prove it with titles.
He gave the feeling in the final part of the season that the chemistry in the locker room had broken down and that the team was going to the limit.
The feeling was that. We all agree that we did not arrive well physically or mentally. I couldn’t tell you the reasons. It was an accumulation of many things. In the end we did not reach the moment that we have to be. This year I think the season will be different. And if it is necessary to give more rest to players who have played a lot of minutes, it will be done. I think that this year it is going to be turned around, because the team did not get to the final stage well, which is when you have to be better. So it’s worth sacrificing part of the regular phase if you end up feeling better in the last 2 or 3 months.
It shouldn’t be easy either in that scenario to have a coach with such a strong character, who seeks perfection and who forgives very little like Jasikevicius.
It is difficult, but in the end he is a very good coach. The best. Tactically I don’t think there is one like it. Perhaps Xavi Pascual is up to the task. But it is true that for the players it is not easy. He always goes with the hook around the neck in attack and defense. That spends a lot mentally. But from what we’ve been up to now, I think Saras is making a change and trying to approach it differently. Obviously when he has to push, he does. But he is also giving us room so that we can play a little more freely and not punish mistakes so much, because in the end anyone can make a mistake. And now he punishes that mistake if it’s the second or the third time.
“Madrid has a very physical team and we suffered, but we will have to put more effort into it to reduce the differences and play our cards”
Madrid overwhelmed them on a physical level in the decisive part of the season (Euroleague, League final,) and at this start in the Super Cup. Are they physically unapproachable?
Yes, it is true that they are very big, especially this year with signings like Musa in the position of two and with Hezonja. They have a more physical team and we suffered. With Tavares it shows a lot in second chances. We have to fight harder and put more effort into it to reduce that physical advantage they have. The arrival of Vesely, Tobey or Kalinic can help us. Also having a point guard like Satoransky, who can play in the post and have a higher tempo. We are a younger team and I think we have to take advantage of that to play with more rhythm and make Madrid have to run more.
Jasikevicius faces his third season. You who have already lived through different stages in the club, do you have the feeling of urgency, of the need for results, especially the Euroleague?
What I see with Barça is impatience. As a fan, I also think that two or three years ago we had a team to win it. But as a player I see that it is a very difficult competition, in which even playing well you can lose. We are on the right track, despite the fact that last year things did not turn out as we expected. Since the arrival of Saras there has been a change. We are the first with the desire to lift the Euroleague and celebrate it. The club deserves it. In the end, without neglecting the League and Cup, the biggest and the one we all want to win.
