Scariolo: "The players are very focused on their clubs, but we want to honor the team"

MADRID, 20 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The national men's basketball coach, Sergio Scariolo, assured that the last "window" of qualifying for the World Cup this year comes "at a time of the season in which the players are very focused" on the activity with their clubs, but that, despite being already classified, they want to take advantage of the duels against Iceland and Italy to "honor" the national team "in the best way, which is by competing."

"This is a moment of the season in which the players are very focused on the competitions with their clubs and although we have already qualified, this is a 'window' in which we want to honor the team in the best way, which is competing", Scariolo told the media in statements provided by the FEB after the start this Monday of the concentration of the current world and European champion.

The Italian recalled that he has called up "many players, or that they are new and that they return after a few months without being there or even a year." "But I think that it will be good for us to know on the field his adaptation to the way of playing, of living together and of checking his evolution and his improvements", he remarked.

"Some are very young and others have made merits to be here again, but we are looking forward to getting back to work and being able to compete because it is part of our DNA and we do not want to change it regardless of the quality of the rivals and the experience of the squad", added the one from Brescia.

Among the latest developments, there is the point guard Guillem Ferrando, recently transferred from Valencia Basket to Albacete Basket. "He is a player with talent, personality and sometimes he has not been able to come because he is even in the Euroleague dynamics, but as soon as I have had the opportunity I have brought him and although we have many point guards, I was interested in seeing him and here he is," he said.

In this sense, Scariolo confirmed that from Unicaja, Copa del Rey champion on Sunday, only Alberto Díaz should join the concentration because Darío Brizuela asked them not to be summoned for personal reasons and Jonathan Barreiro and Yankuba Sima have "physical problems that they must solve ".

The selector recalled that they give "priority" to players who come from "the lower categories" of the national team. "If they have reached the end, it is because they have deserved it. They know our system, which is compact and homogeneous, and from the bottom up it is uniform to what the first team does," he declared.