Fast & Furious Real Madrid Ready for Bigger Things
By Rafael Uehara
For more than half a century, Real Madrid has been a reference in European basketball, accumulating a record eight continental titles based on its dominance in the 1960s. Its untouchable cache of 30 domestic league and 22 cup trophies says it all about its status in Spanish basketball. But having won its last ACB title six years ago and its last King’s Cup 19 years prior to last year, Real Madrid had lost some space among all the powerhouses, especially against its bitterest rivals.
Coming off a run at the Euroleague final four the year before, Real Madrid entered last season feeling it could undoubtedly reestablish itself among Europe’s elite and dethrone the Catalan dynasty domestically. A crushing victory over its arch-rivals in the Spanish cup made it look like the core built around some rather young pieces in Sergio Llull, Ante Tomic, Nikola Mirotic and some not so seasoned veterans like Sergio Rodriguez, Carlos Suárez, Jaycee Carroll, Martynas Pocius had finally reached its maturation point.
But a top 16 elimination in the Euroleague and a loss to Barcelona in the championship series of the Spanish league as Madrid blew a 17-point lead with 10 minutes remaining on game one and was unable to take the chance of clinching the series on game four at home, despite having a squad and a philosophy of play tailor-made to beat Barça, turned a rather successful season where strides in the development of the team were made into disappointment as they had nothing to show for their exciting play.
Management did a good job this offseason of judging head-coach Pablo Laso’s job based on how the team performed throughout the year rather than how they, on a way, imploded towards the end of the season. And rather than let doubts emerge, the club has bought into the process even further. Real Madrid is returning most of the personnel present on the past campaign and replaced the few departed mostly with guys that fit in nicely with the high-octane offense the team has run under Laso.
As Kyle Singler has left to join the Detroit Pistons, Real Madrid has signed Rudy Fernandez to take his spot on the wing. Before needing back surgery in February, Fernandez was enjoying one of the most productive seasons of his career playing on a fast-paced offense in Denver. According to Synergy Sports, he ranked second in the NBA in scoring in transition, averaging 1.72 points-per-possession, which accounted for 20.6% of his contributions.
In European basketball, Fernandez isn’t just a high-profile scorer running down the court and although it sounded like a no-brainer for Real Madrid to add Rudy, in a starting wing of Singler & Suárez, Real Madrid was pretty much always assured a height advantage in the perimeter. As they often had mismatches with their wingmen posting up, sometimes it was hard to find a balance between pushing the ball down the floor and slowing down and calling a set for Suárez or Singler to back down opponents on the block. Now, there is no more conflict.
Though Suárez is still there and he remains a skilled post presence, it is clear Real Madrid’s intention is to maximize the amount of possessions. Those wishes are also evident as the club declined to pick up the option on Tomic’s contract and replaced the seven-foot-three skilled post presence with the undersized but overwhelmingly athletic Marcus Slaughter, who impressed people with his performance manning the middle for Brose Baskets of Bamberg, though many were disappointed with his showing in the German league postseason.
Tomic, like the Singler & Suárez combination, also posed a conflict. The soft giant isn’t fond of contact, doesn’t rebound well enough for his position, is a pretty bad defender, doesn’t run the floor all that hard and wasn’t as incisive a finisher off the pick-and-roll as you’d like him to be. So, he was not a good fit to what Real Madrid was trying to do. What he did bring to the table, though, was terrific post-up offense when he had it going, on a way that it was silly for Laso to shove him aside as he did early in the season.
Eventually, Laso brought Tomic back into the fold. The solution was trying to get him going early in games. If Tomic struggled within the first five, seven minutes, Laso was justified not play the Croatian a lot more the remainder of the game. But if Tomic did bring it, contradictions emerged. Walking the ball down the court and play a half-court-oriented game wasn’t the way Real Madrid wanted to play but what were they supposed to; not go to the seven-foot-three guy who can score over the top of everybody and draw double teams?
With Tomic now gone, there should be no more doubts on procedure. The Croatian’s departure also opens up space for Nikola Mirotic to become the team’s go-to option upfront when they are forced to play in the half-court. Big things are expected of the 21-year-old this upcoming season. Mirotic went from promising up-and-coming prospect to bona fide contributing starter the past campaign. Injuries slowed him down at season’s end but after a summer of rest (which he didn’t get to enjoy in 2011 due to participation in the Spanish national youth squads), the Bulls-draftee has posted impressive production in the preseason. In the Spanish supercup, Mirotic went for 14 points and 11 rebounds against Valência and 11 points and four rebounds against Barcelona.
And if that game against Barça is an indication of things to come, we can tag Real Madrid as a contender for the Euroleague championship and the favorite for the Spanish league championship as the season is set to start. Though they struggled to cover the pick-and-roll a bit (Nathan Jawai undressed Mirza Begic) and went against a Barcelona defense that is nowhere close to last year’s level, the scoring output and the functionality of the offense were impressive as the team scored 95 points on a 40-minute game that was not a blowout, behind 30-point first and final quarters.
One day before the game, ESPN Brazil reported the club was close to inking a deal with big man Rafael Hettsheimeir. The six-foot-10 Brazilian center is coming off a career year with CAI Zaragoza, posting averages of 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds but he is also coming off a knee injury that held him from defending the Brazilian national team in the Olympics. Nevertheless, a pickup like Hettsheimeir’s is a tremendous luxury to have as a fifth rotation big man, as is having Dontaye Draper as the third-string point-guard and having Pocius play eight minutes, very likely in games Fernandez has explosive scoring outings. Expectations are extremely high for Real Madrid coming into the season and the Spanish supercup title proves they are entitled to them.
The squad doesn’t just enter the year loaded with talent but with a set identity and with a couple of shortcomings on their belts that should give them a little edge. They are ready bigger things.
Editor's Note: Rafael Uehara is the managing editor of 'The Basketball Post'. More of his work can be found here and he can be followed on twitter @rafael_uehara or reached via e-mail at rafael_uehara@live.com
For more than half a century, Real Madrid has been a reference in European basketball, accumulating a record eight continental titles based on its dominance in the 1960s. Its untouchable cache of 30 domestic league and 22 cup trophies says it all about its status in Spanish basketball. But having won its last ACB title six years ago and its last King’s Cup 19 years prior to last year, Real Madrid had lost some space among all the powerhouses, especially against its bitterest rivals.
Coming off a run at the Euroleague final four the year before, Real Madrid entered last season feeling it could undoubtedly reestablish itself among Europe’s elite and dethrone the Catalan dynasty domestically. A crushing victory over its arch-rivals in the Spanish cup made it look like the core built around some rather young pieces in Sergio Llull, Ante Tomic, Nikola Mirotic and some not so seasoned veterans like Sergio Rodriguez, Carlos Suárez, Jaycee Carroll, Martynas Pocius had finally reached its maturation point.
But a top 16 elimination in the Euroleague and a loss to Barcelona in the championship series of the Spanish league as Madrid blew a 17-point lead with 10 minutes remaining on game one and was unable to take the chance of clinching the series on game four at home, despite having a squad and a philosophy of play tailor-made to beat Barça, turned a rather successful season where strides in the development of the team were made into disappointment as they had nothing to show for their exciting play.
Management did a good job this offseason of judging head-coach Pablo Laso’s job based on how the team performed throughout the year rather than how they, on a way, imploded towards the end of the season. And rather than let doubts emerge, the club has bought into the process even further. Real Madrid is returning most of the personnel present on the past campaign and replaced the few departed mostly with guys that fit in nicely with the high-octane offense the team has run under Laso.
As Kyle Singler has left to join the Detroit Pistons, Real Madrid has signed Rudy Fernandez to take his spot on the wing. Before needing back surgery in February, Fernandez was enjoying one of the most productive seasons of his career playing on a fast-paced offense in Denver. According to Synergy Sports, he ranked second in the NBA in scoring in transition, averaging 1.72 points-per-possession, which accounted for 20.6% of his contributions.
In European basketball, Fernandez isn’t just a high-profile scorer running down the court and although it sounded like a no-brainer for Real Madrid to add Rudy, in a starting wing of Singler & Suárez, Real Madrid was pretty much always assured a height advantage in the perimeter. As they often had mismatches with their wingmen posting up, sometimes it was hard to find a balance between pushing the ball down the floor and slowing down and calling a set for Suárez or Singler to back down opponents on the block. Now, there is no more conflict.
Though Suárez is still there and he remains a skilled post presence, it is clear Real Madrid’s intention is to maximize the amount of possessions. Those wishes are also evident as the club declined to pick up the option on Tomic’s contract and replaced the seven-foot-three skilled post presence with the undersized but overwhelmingly athletic Marcus Slaughter, who impressed people with his performance manning the middle for Brose Baskets of Bamberg, though many were disappointed with his showing in the German league postseason.
Tomic, like the Singler & Suárez combination, also posed a conflict. The soft giant isn’t fond of contact, doesn’t rebound well enough for his position, is a pretty bad defender, doesn’t run the floor all that hard and wasn’t as incisive a finisher off the pick-and-roll as you’d like him to be. So, he was not a good fit to what Real Madrid was trying to do. What he did bring to the table, though, was terrific post-up offense when he had it going, on a way that it was silly for Laso to shove him aside as he did early in the season.
Eventually, Laso brought Tomic back into the fold. The solution was trying to get him going early in games. If Tomic struggled within the first five, seven minutes, Laso was justified not play the Croatian a lot more the remainder of the game. But if Tomic did bring it, contradictions emerged. Walking the ball down the court and play a half-court-oriented game wasn’t the way Real Madrid wanted to play but what were they supposed to; not go to the seven-foot-three guy who can score over the top of everybody and draw double teams?
With Tomic now gone, there should be no more doubts on procedure. The Croatian’s departure also opens up space for Nikola Mirotic to become the team’s go-to option upfront when they are forced to play in the half-court. Big things are expected of the 21-year-old this upcoming season. Mirotic went from promising up-and-coming prospect to bona fide contributing starter the past campaign. Injuries slowed him down at season’s end but after a summer of rest (which he didn’t get to enjoy in 2011 due to participation in the Spanish national youth squads), the Bulls-draftee has posted impressive production in the preseason. In the Spanish supercup, Mirotic went for 14 points and 11 rebounds against Valência and 11 points and four rebounds against Barcelona.
And if that game against Barça is an indication of things to come, we can tag Real Madrid as a contender for the Euroleague championship and the favorite for the Spanish league championship as the season is set to start. Though they struggled to cover the pick-and-roll a bit (Nathan Jawai undressed Mirza Begic) and went against a Barcelona defense that is nowhere close to last year’s level, the scoring output and the functionality of the offense were impressive as the team scored 95 points on a 40-minute game that was not a blowout, behind 30-point first and final quarters.
One day before the game, ESPN Brazil reported the club was close to inking a deal with big man Rafael Hettsheimeir. The six-foot-10 Brazilian center is coming off a career year with CAI Zaragoza, posting averages of 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds but he is also coming off a knee injury that held him from defending the Brazilian national team in the Olympics. Nevertheless, a pickup like Hettsheimeir’s is a tremendous luxury to have as a fifth rotation big man, as is having Dontaye Draper as the third-string point-guard and having Pocius play eight minutes, very likely in games Fernandez has explosive scoring outings. Expectations are extremely high for Real Madrid coming into the season and the Spanish supercup title proves they are entitled to them.
The squad doesn’t just enter the year loaded with talent but with a set identity and with a couple of shortcomings on their belts that should give them a little edge. They are ready bigger things.
Editor's Note: Rafael Uehara is the managing editor of 'The Basketball Post'. More of his work can be found here and he can be followed on twitter @rafael_uehara or reached via e-mail at rafael_uehara@live.com
Posted by Rafael Uehara at Wednesday, September 26, 2012 9:07:30 PM 
Categories: Euroleague, Spanish league
Tags: Rafael Uehara
Categories: Euroleague, Spanish league
Tags: Rafael Uehara
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