Russian basketball, like all of the sport, was isolated: clubs are excluded from the Euroleague until the end of the season, their results are canceled, the national team was removed from the competition under the auspices of Fiba. A review of the decision is planned in mid -May. Most of the legionnaires left the country and moved to other European clubs. How to live in new conditions? How to try to revive Russian basketball? The Honored Coach of Russia and the chairman of the Coaching Council of the RFB Stanislav Yeremin helped to understand this MK-Sport.
“We will not be in Europe for two or three years”: how to survive Russian basketball
Russian basketball, like all of the sport, was isolated: clubs are excluded from the Euroleague until the end of the season, their results are canceled, the national team was removed from the competition under the auspices of Fiba. A review of the decision is planned in mid -May. Most of the legionnaires left the country and moved to other European clubs. How to live in new conditions? How to try to revive Russian basketball? The Honored Coach of Russia and the chairman of the Coaching Council of the RFB Stanislav Yeremin helped to understand this MK-Sport.
Uniks-Zenith. Photo: vtb-league.com
About the Euroleague
The decision to exclude Russian clubs-CSKA, Zenit and UNICS-from the Euroleague until the end of the season (as well as Lokomotiv-Kuban from the European Cup, the second most important euro tournament) was announced on March 22. The results of the clubs are canceled, and accordingly, there are great changes in the regular regular championship table.
This was not a surprise. “It was clear that our clubs would no longer be a place and they would be excluded, although the Euroleague postponed this decision, – He speaks Stanislav Eremin. – The decision is political, not sports. If the Euroleague followed the sports principle, she would try to find some options. ”
On the other hand, it was very difficult to continue to play in this situation. “How and where to play? How to move ? – According to the expert, there is also a reasonable grain in the solution.
In addition to difficult to solve logistics problems, the question arose about how to ensure the safety of players, even get to the right place. Nevertheless, they lost everything because of this situation.
“Of course, it will negatively affect everyone! We are especially offended – after all, three Russian clubs this season immediately claimed the “final of four”, this never happened. UNICS generally became a surprise with his selection and the work of the coaching staff. But the Euroleague also suffered. The championship was halved, some of the results were canceled. Some of the European clubs ended up in a winning situation, someone in losing. Someone beat someone twice, and someone lost. Now the champion will determine – what do you think will be full and honest? If three teams were removed from the eight of the strongest. Very doubt.
Meanwhile, the same Euroleague already had questions of what to do with the prize. For the victory in the regularity, 37 thousand euros are laid for each club. CSKA and Zenit have 14 victories, UNICS – 13. But at the same time, these victories from the protocol disappeared, so it is not clear whether to pay? At the same time, all Russian clubs lost to someone, which means that their rivals should also receive prize for those matches that were canceled. And if you still pay all clubs, then how to transfer money to Russian?
So it was probably impossible to avoid decisions on exclusion, but it brought problems – a lot.
What to do?
“Look forward, – says Stanislav Eremin. – I think that in Europe we will not be at least two or three years. Therefore, you need to turn into the Russian market, or try to look for the possibilities of international competitions with those countries and clubs that could still play with us. If you close it in yourself, then it will be difficult. Although. For Russian basketball, maybe good. ”
About a single league
The whole situation also reflected on the Unified VTB league. The championship left Kalev and Green Gura, and the legionnaires are massively leaving the clubs. And only “Zenit” and “Lokomotiv-Kuban” by some miracle, plus, Kascho, incredible efforts of management, managed to preserve the main backbone of foreigners. The departure of key players is able to greatly change the alignment of forces, and the result can be unpredictable. On Sunday, for example, Lokomotiv-Kuban in overtime beat UNICS in second place (101: 94), and the situation in the standings was even more confused.
“The level of the championship decreased after the departure of foreigners from Russian clubs. And the situation turned out to be an ambiguous situation: someone, like Zenith, managed to preserve almost all their legionnaires-how they succeeded, I can’t even imagine! UNICS, for example, with the departure of key players in a hurry is trying to find a replacement for them. The struggle will be unpredictable in the end. CSKA – there is CSKA, they even have a solid Russian players – the level of the national team. Lokomotiv followed the path of giving a chance to young players. In general, everything will be unpredictable, and everything that happens can affect the final result. – explains Eremin.
The voids formed in the calendar after the exclusion of clubs from the Euroleague were covered. “The Unified League has already turned over the calendar, grouped matches and removed pauses– explains Stanislav Georgievich. – And so, of course, pauses formed for 10-15 days, this is bad. ”
What to do?
“I always said that a single league is a good commercial product, but there was always less attention to Russian clubs. Therefore, now we need to expand the internal championship, give a chance to other cities. We expand to 16 teams – jobs will appear. Yes, we will lose as the first time, because young guys will come, but if these 19-year-old guys play men, it will be a good school.Because it's funny: in Europe, at the age of 18-19, boys play at the adult level, but in our country it's still for boys. And they come to the national team for the first time at the age of 29! Recently, on TV, they recalled the final of the World Cup-82, when we beat the Americans. So then Sabonis was 17 years old! And in general, all the guys are 23-24. I was the oldest – I was 31 years old.
According to Eremin, right now it is very difficult for Russian players to show their best basketball: “When they make you a shell carrier for years, and then you need to be the main player, it’s hard to rebuild. Many Russian players played minor roles with their clubs. Now they have the responsibility to take the initiative. Not only to make a pass, but also to be able to score, play to win. But the chance has come, and that's good.
About Superleague
It is at the clubs of the Super League that they look at the big clubs in order to replenish the roster with one of the talented players from there. But are there really that many reserves?
“If Russian players are given a chance to compete at the highest level, one of the players can shoot and shine. And the Superleague in general was some kind of swamp: if there is no transition to the big leagues, there is no incentive to move forward. Here was the final of the Cup of Russia – a very good match, they showed high-quality basketball. Samara – well done, proved that they have a real Cup character. Such teams as Runa, Samara and Uralmash could safely take part in the United League.
Perhaps this is a good decision, but will these clubs be able to pull the participation in the United League in terms of finances and infrastructure? According to Eremin, the problem has always been that investors and sponsors wanted everything at once.
“When I was the president of Ural and met with potential sponsors, the first question was always: will we beat CSKA tomorrow?
Not! For one year, nothing is decided. Normal people with a normal approach do not immediately open a supermarket. They open a stall. And if things go well, they expand to a small shop, then to a supermarket, and then to a supermarket chain. It's the same in basketball.
What to do?
The financial situation should be equalized to some extent, Stanislav Georgievich believes. Because funding for big clubs will decrease, and in many regions the management is interested in a top level basketball club. “Competition will increase, and here it is important to revive the dynamics: so that the clubs of the same Super League know that if they win, they will be able to break through higher! To be an incentive. And when you play in your swamp, then no one wants to invest money – that's why there are no prospects. But if the situation turns in the direction of Russian basketball, then we will quickly rise. In a few years, we will revive Russian basketball, grow talents and star players.”
About the team
The Russian national team was temporarily suspended from participation in tournaments under the auspices of FIBA, but in mid-May the international federation will review this decision based on the political situation.Our expert believes that for two or three years we are probably not shining at the international level. But he sees in this a chance to tighten the level of the national team due to the decisions mentioned above.
“Problems are visible to the naked look. The generation of talented guys leaves the national team – Vorontsevich, Fridson, Monya, Broat. And a number of players simply refuse to play for the national team. In the summer they need to recover, heal, relax in the summer, then to earn money in the club. It turned out that the guys from the second, third composition went to the national team. Calculate players under the age of 23 who could be iron candidates for the national team. There is enough fingers of one hand! But in two or three years that we will not be, we will receive a new generation of players. ”
To do this, it is necessary to give jobs to young Russian players, give them to compete with strong, restore the coaching school and be sure to change their attitude to professional sports.
All issues that could not be resolved earlier, now it is possible to decide., – the specialist believes.