Sergio Llull, a record from another era | Basketball | Sports

The record will be difficult to beat. Sergio Llull has raised the record for most games with the Real Madrid basketball shirt to 1,048. Felipe Reyes’ 1,046 are left behind. And above all the feeling that the 36-year-old Menorcan point guard will set the bar (his contract expires at the end of the season) at a height that will be very difficult to reach (without him the whites fell this Sunday 73-61 in Murcia). Today the cases of staying for so long in the same club are very strange. The payrolls with many foreigners, the continuous changes in the squads and the hook of the NBA make it difficult for the phenomenon to be repeated. Llull arrived at Madrid in 2007 from Manresa and has collected 26 titles. It is a species in danger of extinction. To compare it with football, the white record is held by Raúl González with 741 games.

In the basket, only Juan Carlos Navarro, with 1,088 games for Barça, surpasses the Real Madrid player in loyalty in the elite. Rafa Jofresa (Joventut), Berni Rodríguez (Unicaja), Nacho Azofra ( Estudiantes ), Víctor Luengo (Valencia) and Sergi Vidal (Baskonia), the men who have defended the colors of other greats the most times (like Llull and Navarro, all are point guards or Spanish escorts), reflect on the roots and the brand of the Madrid captain.

Rafa Jofresa, with Joventut against Barcelona in 2001. Rafa Segui

Rafa Jofresa youth 720 matches

The historic point guard played for Penya between 1983 and 1996, and between 2000 and 2003, and won two Leagues, a European Cup and a Korac Cup. This is how he relives it: “I played 17 seasons of green and black and there was a reciprocal identification with the stands. It was easier to establish yourself as a national in the base and guard positions. Traditionally there have been better Spanish players in those positions than in center. There aren’t that many Felipe Reyes and the Gasol brothers went to the NBA. Historically, teams signed foreign centers for their physique, for blocking and one-on-one. This is what 90% of the Spanish and Italian clubs did. Corny Thompson, Sabonis, Norris… And the Spaniard was more knowledgeable about the game and transmitter of what the coach wanted. Llull is in that lineage. What I highlight most about him is his intelligence, his ability to adapt to what basketball has changed in all these years.”

Berni Rodríguez, with Unicaja against CSKA in the Euroleague in 2011.Mariano Pozo (Euroleague Basketball via Getty)

Berni Rodríguez. Unicaja. 683 matches

“Being from home is doubly complicated. Today Spanish players are used to going out to play, sometimes they get bored and leave. I thought that continuity was the best for me even if I had the option of leaving,” explains the guard of the Málaga team between 1999 and 2012, League, Cup and Korac champion; “Today it happens that almost not even the fans themselves know the players, and vice versa, the players do not know the idiosyncrasies of the club. It is assumed that a player will spend at most three or four years at a club and leave. That’s why Llull’s thing is brutal. He could have gone to the NBA or to earn more money in Russia or Turkey, but he has estimated that his happiness goes beyond economic matters, it is being where they want him. On the court his energy is not normal. I remember before a game against Madrid that he came out of the locker room crazy, sprinting. He is internal fire and high-level competitiveness, even the unconsciousness to achieve an impossible basket. He has the personality to play the last shot even though he hardly played before.”

Nacho Azofra, with Estudiantes in 2006 against Granada. Juan Ferreras (EFE)

Nacho Azofra. Students. 681 matches

The legendary point guard of the student team in two stages (1989-1993 and 1995-2006), double cup champion, is nostalgic for a time when the club, today in LEB Oro, rubbed shoulders with the best with local boys: “Now basketball works the other way around. Today players train in a club, they change teams and from an age onwards they stabilize in one place and last four or five years, so that the fans can identify with a face. It is more difficult to keep children when they are not made and are in the training stage. Before there was little mobility of players, there were youth clubs that worked to ensure that the player was there for a long time. The one who spends his entire career in his house is more difficult. They immediately take them away. Llull is above all a very good competitor. He had an offer from Estudiantes, he went to Manresa and then to Madrid. He maintains the level and a very high competitiveness even though he is getting older. It’s the same case with Rudy. Pablo Laso before and Chus Mateo now have dosed them and they know the game better to know how to be at their best at the end of the season. “He is very decisive.”

Víctor Luengo, with Pamesa Valencia in 2005 against Granada. Kai Forsterling (EFE)

Victor Luengo. Valencia. 643 matches

The symbol of a change of era, the captain of Pamesa who won the 1998 Cup alongside Nacho Rodilla and led by Miki Vukovic and who arrived in the Euroleague after winning the ULEB. The shooting guard wore orange between 1992 and 2007: “I came out of the youth team and that reinforces the identification with the club. We were people from the house and some important foreigners. Today that is very complicated. There is a lot of turnover. In my time there were nine nationals and three foreigners, but with the Bosman law the market opens and everything changes. It is very difficult for a player to stay in the same club for so long. Llull has Madrid tattooed on his skin. A person’s character also determines whether you can spend a long time in a club. He has demonstrated the commitment of him. His character is what has led him to be at the top for so long, that personality that permeates his teammates. Off the track he is a normal, humble guy, committed to what he does. “Madrid found the perfect match in Llull.”

Sergi Vidal, with Tau in 2009 against Valencia. Paco Campos (EFE)

Sergi Vidal. 521 matches

Between 2000 and 2009, the guard won two Leagues, four Cups and four Super Cups. And he earned the retirement of his shirt with the number 9. “So, when you go through things, you don’t give it enough value. Now when I see my shirt there I think that I did something good to spend so much time at Baskonia. Performance and commitment come together. It stops being the team you play on and becomes something you feel is yours. At that time there were not so many nationals on the team, but there were Argentines [Prigioni, Scola] and Splitter, who felt that club was their own. It was one of the keys. It is also one of Madrid’s successes, having a backbone of national players who have been around for many years and identify with each other, and when it comes to taking a step forward, they are there. They are not only playing, working, they are in a club that goes beyond sports. I identified with what was called the Baskonia character: effort, sacrifice, never giving up anything for lost. That’s also Llull. He is the incredible Llull on the court and an incredible person in the locker room. He loves Madrid since he was little. He has earned it from the bottom, working little by little until he is a legend. We rivals have lived that mentality. He never gives up, he should never be left for dead.”

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2024-01-15 04:15:00
#Sergio #Llull #record #era #Basketball #Sports