“I’m comfortable in FIBA ​​basketball, but I’m not considering going back to Europe” | Relief

The international center Willy Hernangómez (Madrid, 1994) It has become one of the benchmarks of the Spanish National Team. And if there is someone responsible for that, that is the coach Sergio Scariolo. This is confirmed by Hernangómez himself, who assured “He has been the best coach” of his career and the one that has made her progress the most, in addition to highlighting the close personal relationship between the two. And although on a personal level he admits that it has been a “frustrating” season, to this day he is not considering leaving the NBA and returning to Europe.

“I do not plan to return to Europe. For years I have been very comfortable in FIBA ​​basketball, this summer you could see it. It is something that you have in mind in the long term, but my motivation and my hope is to show that I can also dominate in the NBA, that I can play and be important. I still have the motivation to go to a winning team and win an NBA title”, acknowledges a Hernangómez who, although he does not know where he will play next season, assures that “there have always been offers“.

“Especially since February, before the closing of the transfer period, in which I thought I was going to leave and New Orleans decided no because they wanted to have me there. We’ll see what happens in a month“, indica.

Of course, his mind is now on the World Cup in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia this summer, so the New Orleans Pellicans player has explained how he is preparing after a course of little prominence in the NBA and, among other issues, stressed that “the best thing” for Spain will be to “preserve the mentality” that led him to win the European past.

“I’ve been training physically for a month and a half. I needed some disconnection after a tough season mentally. I’ve taken the opportunity to do other sports. I really like cycling and paddle tennis,” said the pivot, who says that his particular preseason has already begun. “Now I have started to train in basketball, to work on my sensations and on aspects that I have to improve to be more versatile.. There are two months left for the concentration and three for the competition, time to arrive like a rocket”, he explains.

“Collectively, it has not been the season we expected. Our goal was to get into the title playoffs like last year., but we lost in the qualifying phase. The team started very well, reaching first place in the Western Conference for a few weeks, but we didn’t know how to maintain the level. I would give us a six”, he explains. While “personally, it has been a frustrating season. I didn’t expect to have this role at all. As I have been in this situation for several years, I have tried to be positive, work as usual and take advantage of every opportunity. I give myself an eight in the limited minutes I’ve had.”

His evolution as a player

The truth is Hernangómez’s progression has been one of those that have had to mutate and adapt over time. “In my first year, when I arrived in New York (2017), a different kind of basketball was played, with a lot of posting. Now I’m asked to play the blocking and continuation much more, be able to raise the ball, play doubling for another, create plays through passes and reads, and being able to open up to shoot”, he confesses.

“It’s an adaptation process that I’m still working on. It is not that overnight you start shooting with confidence. Training is very different from the rhythm of the game, it takes time to add it to the way you play. I really like everything that is adding aspects to my game, being more versatile and improving,” he continues.

How the defense works

And one of his objectives, without any doubt, has been to improve defensively. “In defense, it’s all reading and knowing how to position yourself. This year, I’ve been in the top four defensemen by numbers on the team. In the end, it’s getting to know the players, being smarter and watching a lot more videos of the other teams. Not only the pivots, but also the little ones to know what to do”, he indicates.

For this reason, he has always been very focused on trying to be better in this sense: “Before the European, I started to watch a lot more videos and focus on this aspect. In attack, I know that I am more versatile and I have more talent, and defense requires more effort from me. I feel more comfortable. I’ve found a way to enjoy doing this.”

Spain’s options

With the World Cup just around the corner and knowing that the National Team will contest it as number 1 in the FIBA ​​Ranking, there are many who place it among the favorites to win the title. Although, yes, for Willy Hernangómez the options are “the usual ones. We will go to enjoy ourselves, to play as we know how and to compete whoever stands before us. Then you always have to have a little luck. The competition will put us on one side or the other, but we will give it our all and make the people of Spain proud once again of all of us.”

“The best thing is to keep the mentality we had in the European Championship. We will go to enjoy, train well and compete in training like last year. We have Sergio who knows us very well and we all trust him“, he assures.

“I don’t think we have to think that we come to the World Cup being world and European champions. It doesn’t matter if the United States or Slovenia are ahead of us, we will try to win and follow the plan. We are in a project to continue competing, grow from the youth ranks and above all achieve the goal of qualifying for the Olympic Games next year”, he explains.

The relationship with Scariolo

Although, yes, for him if someone can keep Spain at the top it is Sergio Scariolo, with whom, on a personal level, he has a relationship that goes beyond that of coach-player: “We have been talking with some messages and some calls . The relationship we have is much closer than usual between a coach and a player. He has been the coach who has directed me the longest. He has seen me grow, he has given me many fights and he has helped me to be a much better player.”

Therefore, the pivot considers that “Sergio is the best coach I’ve had in my career. We have a very personal relationship and I’m looking forward to starting with the national team so that they can continue correcting me, demanding and improving.”

The drain of young talent to US universities

In the last hours it has been known that Casademont Zaragoza does not want to let Aday Mara escape. The player’s decision is to go to the NCAA and study at the university on the other side of the pond. For Hernangómez, this “It is a very personal decision, according to the dreams of each one. When I started playing basketball, I never thought about reaching the Real Madrid academy, nor about making my debut or winning trophies with the club. Not even in my wildest dreams. Much less go to the NBA. Now, after seven years in the United States and eleven as a professional, I don’t know if it would have been better to have gone to an American university“.

“It is true that you earn their respect more by showing that you can play there and you come out in a higher position in the draft, but my dream was to play professional basketball in Spain and I enjoyed it a lot”, he closes.