On the eve of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Spanish National Head Coach, Sergio Scariolo speaks to Future Stars to discuss the challenges of the upcoming competition.
I remember very well our interview after your win at the European Championships in 2023 when we talked about the amazingly efficient change of generations in the Spanish National team. In the fashion of Sir Alex Ferguson, you have brought a new generation of players and won the title with them. Where are you in your rebuilding and transformation process now?
Well, we are on our way, it is hard to say exactly at what point of the process we are. We have brought new players. In the roster of 12 players, we have 3 or 4 players born after 2000, we have some others who are approaching their top level of maturity. Maybe they are not exactly there yet but pretty close. We also have players who must play the role of the leader. More importantly, we have a list of players who we have identified as replacements of the current team. They will be the “next ones” coming from the new generations
After the European Championship, your team seemed to be such a well-oiled machine that dismantled an ultra-talented France in the final and then a year later things went pear-shaped at the World Championships. First, you are losing to Latvia and then the Canada game happens. You were controlling this game against a very athletic Canadian team yet in the dying moments they snatched victory. How do you assess that tournament?
It’s simple, we have met two teams which were better than us. Clearly better than us in the case of Canada and slightly better than us in the case of Latvia. Against Canada we have competed, we were there till the last moment of the game. It was against all odds since everybody was predicting that Canada will crush us. Our competitive spirit allowed us to compete to the very end, but our last shots simply didn’t go in. This is how sports is.
In your Group of Death at this Olympic games you will face Canada again along with Greece and Australia. Canada will be perhaps even stronger thanks to the presence of Jamal Murray. What are your ambitions and targets for the Olympic tournament?
Everyone talks about the “Group of Death” and we are the fourth best team there. We going to fight and show that this prediction is wrong. I’m not saying that these predictions are incorrect, they are based on rankings, but our job is to upset somebody and do our best job fighting this prediction.
Upset? Aren’t you too modest in assessing your chances? You have an amazing pedigree and knowledge of how to win. Maybe against the current Canadian team, we can talk about Spain being an underdog. I can’t see that being the case against Greece or Australia.
Rankings put us in the eighth place, right? These rankings are based on the quality of current players not on the past, not on what happened four years ago, three years ago or whatever. They are assessing what is likely to happen today, now. To be honest, I don’t care about them. Once again we have to figure out a way of playing that will be beneficial and profitable for us and allows us to be competitive. This is our ambition and motivation, to compete against higher ranked teams.
Traditionally you are a very tournament team which starts perhaps starts slower and the further stages of the competition reaches dizzy heights. This time round you must be ready to play at the highest level from the very beginning. How has this situation affected your preparations?
We will have to start at our peak, our best. Our preparation time is over, we have a completely different situation now. The level of the group forces us to give our best from day one. The days when we were so dominant are over. This competition format requires us to fight for every possession from the first game. This is what we will try to do.
How would you assess your current team against your previous super-successful outfits?
There are plenty of similarities that are obvious and evident like cohesiveness, assertiveness, competitiveness and ability to recognise our strong parts such as tactical versatility but the level of the talent is completely different. Probably this is the main difference.
I can’t finish without asking you about Rudy Fernandez. He is going to his 6th Olympic games which is an astonishing achievement. His help with the cohesiveness and togetherness of the team must be enormous. What role do you envisage for him in this tournament?
I must say that unfortunately, we are in a position where his role must be much bigger than only help with cohesiveness and togetherness. We can’t give up on his services as a basketball player. We need play time from him, performance on the floor. Of course, you are right that his role as a translator of the legacy that our older generation created for the younger guys is huge. This is his job, he tries every day to inspire and to show the new guys why we were one of the top basketball teams in the world. More importantly why we need to stay as one of the top basketball teams in the world at least in terms of how we compete and how we can showcase our basketball philosophy.
Thank you very much for this interview. All the best tomorrow against Australia and hopefully we will speak again after the Olympics after collecting yet another medal.
This is perhaps too optimistic a prediction for us
Why? This will be a very unpredictable tournament. Even the USA doesn’t look convincing they almost lost to South Sudan and beat Germany by 4 points.
These are exhibition games, these are friendlies. These games mean nothing, absolutely zero. You can’t take them as a reference at all.
What do you take as a reference? During the last World Cup USA were losing left, right and centre?
When it will come to the winning time there will be no chance for anyone else. Maybe, just maybe Canada can step up on that level but no one else.
Well, we will see….
I have seen enough to be able to tell you.
I know that they care more about Olympics than the World Championship, but I’m not convinced that they can’t be beaten.
The difference is the roster. Look at the roster! They also have a group of the young guys like Anthony Edwards. At the last World Cup, Lebron wasn’t there, Steph Curry and Anthony Davis weren’t there. This is a completely different roster with much more experience. Not even comparable, we are not talking only about skills level but also about winning mentality. toughness and competitiveness. I’m telling you it is a completely different story.
I still wish you all the best and will not be surprised if you will win the medal