5 мин.

Tough guys vs. tough schedule

101

As I’ve already stated here, this past offseason we changed the outlook of the team. The main idea was to get as much versatility as possible, bring in guys who can play different positions and at the same time add size to the frontcourt. We already had quality ‘bigs’, notably Felipe Reyes who is a very dangerous post player, but I felt that he could be even more effective when playing alongside a bigger teammate.

Currently we have three promising young guns – Sergio Llull, Novica Velickovic and Vladimir Dasic – who are getting substantial minutes. All the rest players are established veterans. We knew from the start it would be very difficult to compete in the Spanish League and Euroleague without a full roster of experienced vets.

The Spanish ACB League is exactly two times bigger than the Russian Superleague. It’s comprised of eighteen teams to Superleague A’s nine. That means we play 34 games over the course of the regular season and there’s even no Christmas break. Just to give you an idea of our schedule: on December 17th we square up against Panathinaikos, then less than 48 hours later take the floor in Vitoria versus Caja Laboral, take on Barcelona on December 27th, Estudiantes on December 29th, and then on January 3rd we have another derby against Fuenlabrada, a team from the neighborhood of Madrid.

In other words, it’s a non-stop action.

It’s also worth noting that Spanish League teams have a style of play which is perhaps one of the fastest, if not the fastest, in Europe. A great deal of emphasis is put on aggressive defense and fast-break points. And when you play away from your city, you can be sure that several thousands of fans will show up to give their support to the home team. For example, in Sevilla we played in front of 7,000 people. In Malaga it was 10,000. When you face clubs like Caja Laboral, you see crowds of 8,000-9,000. More often than not, you play in sold-out arenas and that makes those road games even more difficult.

Even at home it can be very hard to get victories. This year we’ve already had three games versus middle-of-the-pack teams (Lagun Aro GBC, CB Murcia and Meridiano Alicante) where we struggled to secure the outcome until the fourth quarter. And we’re talking about home games here. As you see, this league is very demanding and that’s exactly why we needed a deep roster. Having less depth could prove dangerous not only because of possible injuries but also in terms of getting through the rigorous schedule.

That’s why alongside Pablo Prigioni, our top choice at the point guard position, last summer we signed three players whom you surely know as all of them played in Russia. They are Jorge Garbajosa, Travis Hansen and Darjus Lavrinovic.

In my opinion, Darjus could do things here similar to what David Anderson did for CSKA. He’s a guy who can post-up and at the same time provides a threat from the outside, stretching defenses and creating opportunities for cuts and penetration of our guards. He joined Real Madrid after a season with Dynamo Moscow and a long summer with his national team. Moreover, he was recovering from a back injury at that time. Actually, he was so exhausted that he pulled a muscle in his leg during his second practice here and got sidelined for a month. As a result, we had to bring him back slowly and carefully, making sure we were not rushing things. I was specifically instructed by our doctors not to let him stay on the floor for anything longer than 4 or 5-minute stretches.

Darjus’ scoring is not the only thing that stands out. He’s important to us because of his ability to block shots and pass the ball to cutting guards. In that Khimki game, despite the loss, Darjus showed how important he was for our system and how valuable he’d be once Felipe Reyes and Tomas van den Spiegel return from their injuries. Lavrinovic can play both center and power forward which will be very useful because with him we can go big against some teams without loosing anything in passing and outside shooting departments.

Passing and outside shooting is something we’re expecting to get from Jorge Garbajosa as well. I feel sorry for the fans in Khimki and Russia in general who didn’t get to see him play at his best last year. That season he was still coming back from a very serious injury suffered during his stint with the Toronto Raptors. Now, almost three years removed from the accident and following a summer with his national team, he’s giving us everything we’ve been looking for – a big man able to play inside-outside, spread the floor, and really pass the ball.

I think Jorge is very proud to be a part of the club since he was born in Torrejon, a place just near Madrid. For the fist time in his career he’s playing in what he considers his hometown. Garbajosa’s giving the team leadership and toughness. He’s really helping us even though with all the injuries we sometimes ask him to play center.

Another Real Madrid newcomer who is very familiar to the fans in Russia is Travis Hansen. At the moment he’s somewhat struggling with his outside touch, not shooting the lights out the way he used to. He’s adjusting to a new role, to the fact that he’s not attempting as many shots as he did with Dynamo Moscow. But Hansen is also giving us excellent leadership, defense and passing. He’s a complete player who, by the way, is very happy to team up with Pablo Prigioni and Sergi Vidal, his former Tau Ceramica teammates.

After productive years in Russia these three guys have found a new home in Madrid. It gets funny sometimes, though. Like, Darjus is not very fluent in English yet and now and then at practices I communicate with him using my modest knowledge of Russian to make sure he gets what I’m saying. That basically means me speaking a language that nobody else around with a possible exception of Travis can understand.

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