Our criteria for the lists |
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Hi all, Before talking about lists, I would like to express my pride towards the meaning and the responsibility of my role, which in the past has always been occupied by other great coaches.  To decide which players to include in our lists for Turkey’s World Championship we have considered two main criteria.Beforehand, we wanted a list of 24 players not only because FIBA had requested it but also because the difference between the list of 24 players and the list of 15 is very thin. History taught us that from the time we communicate a list of 15 players to the event itself, anything can happen: as an example, for the last Eurobasket we managed to include Carlos Suarez reaching him at the last moment while he was almost already on the beach. All 24 players should feel proud and happy and be prepared, because as I said at the end what matters are the 12 that will go to the world championship and among them there can be anyone from the list of the 24. The first criteria we used was not to create a selection dictated by statistics but a team where everyone knows and feels good about their role inside and outside the field: when the Spanish national basketball team is singled out as an example of strength and unity, this is due to the ability of his players to be able to stay together on and off the court and this is a priority for us: those who embody those values held an advantage. We want players who put their talent at the service of the group, without keeping it to themselves and without focusing on their individual performance: I would like to make the example of Pau Gasol, a player who is not only talented on the court, but also indeed whose humility, spirit of sacrifice, desire to win together as a team and not as an individual have been key as an example and a model for the whole team. The second criteria used was to evaluate the performance of the players during the season, evaluation which has not stopped but will continue during the pre-competition phase: at that stage we will keep monitoring how players will fit together and how they will compete in a healthy and positive way, as teammates). It is with these criteria that we have created our lists of 24 and 15 players. Take care, Sergio |
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