Last night LEB Gold -the spanish second division league- started with a very interesting game between Menorca (last years in ACB) and Cornellà, that promoted after playing last season in LEB Silver. Cornellà is the second team of Regal FC Barcelona (ACB), and most of the players are coming from Barça youth teams. To follow all them -and specially Xavier Rabaseda ('89)- in their debut in the new competition Eurohopes staff travelled to the city close to Barcelona to watch on live what's going on with Samb, Pérez, Rabaseda, Abdoulaye, Hernández,... (VIDEO)
Great bet of FC Barcelona building this kind of team only one step underneath ACB. Usually LEB Gold teams are full of veterans looking for their money, but this it not the case. Xavier Rabaseda definitely will be the star of this team. This was our opinion already some days ago but yesterday we confirmed it. Doesn't care if they signed Robert Joseph (MVP LEB Silver) and Anthony Smith (17.6 points last season in NCAA's Liberty).
The kid borned in Ripoll, a small town of Girona, is the main wheapon of team coached my Chema Solsona, and yesterday finished as the player with more minutes on both teams (36'). This summer Spain won the bronze medal in the U-20 European Championship of Rhodes (Greece), with the small-forward (6'6'') in the All Tournament Team with frenchs Kevin Seraphin ('89) and Antoine Diot ('89, greek Kostas Papanikolaou ('90) and montenegro Nikola Vucevic ('90). After that Rabaseda has made all the preseason with the ACB team, sending messages showing that he suffered a mutation.
The spanish prospect has been in an upper level over all his teammates last years, talking about physical conditions. Good defender and excelent on traffic crossing the paint to dunk it. He repeated these actions many times, but now he has become a pure shooter, completing a type of game that will send him briefly to the top level. An example? Some days ago Barça and Madrid played the final of a friendly tournament in Reus (Spain). Rabaseda played 11 minutes, and only shot from 6.25 (1/3). Amazing stats for him in the past, but normals in the present. And not only shoots, he is scoring with good percentages. At the other side he has improved also in defense and he plays like a veteran in LEB Gold. LEB Gold fans must enjoy with his game, he won't stay long in this competition.
Yesterday Cornellà started great, taking a 10 points lead in only a few minutes, with the small-forward scoring 8 points in a while, with 2 bombs behind the arc. LEB Gold is the first european league with the new 3 points shot line rule. Is at 6.75. So, no comment. Rabaseda finished with 18 points (3/8 threes), 6 assists and 3 steals. No opponent stop him, and Menorca lost 77-72. Michael Umeh (four years in UNLV and two in Germany) seemed a junior defending Rabaseda. He has a tough job to win minutes in the ACB team. Let's see what happen next months. Some lines ago we talked about his defense. He is really a great defender, using his long arms always trying to steal, blocking shots and helping in the rebound. In offense -forgetting his outside shot- he has a quick first step, difficult to defend. But basiclly he plays like a shooter. Amazing mutation.
Talking about his young teammates... Mamadou Samb ('89) -Senegal borned with spanish passport- seemed to stop his progression, but difficult to know because he is not in shape now. We'll see in some weeks. He keeps having a nice outside shot, with huge arms blocking and rebounding. Maybe he is tired after the summer (he also played in Rhodes). His player scored two fastbreaks in a row as cherry-picker because Samb didn't run. Finally the two pair of young point-guards borned in '90 (Alex Hernandez and Sergio Pérez) played well, but not great even Cornellà won. Hernandez feels more comfortable, shooting easy, not like Pérez. The lefty, usually a good outside shooter, struggled from 6.75 (0/4), but showed his passing hability. Both played the U-19 World Championship of this summer in Auckland (New Zealand). It has been a long summer for them. Also participated on the preseason of the ACB team.
Finally Papa Abdoulaye ('90) didn't play because Cornellà hasn't received the transfer of Senegal federation. Chema Solsona's team started with a victory without playing great, but showing that the "shooter" Rabaseda will make a big impact this year.
Photo: FIBA Europe / Harry Zampetoulas
