The second division (LEB Gold) in Spain is ending, so now is time to analyse what happened during this season which was a special one overall because was the first time in Europe that a league introduces some new rules such as the new distance for the 3-point shots (6.75 meters). Anyway, I’m going to write about the prospects (born in 1988 or youngers) who played this season in the league. How many young players used every team in the games regularly?.
GROUP 1 (no one prospect played regularly):
In this group we find 13 teams, which is the 72% of the league. In these clubs it doesn’t mean that they don’t work out with their players, in fact Javier Marin (‘94) made his debut and played 3 games with CAI Zaragoza.
Other players such as Marc Pujols (‘91), from CB Sant Josep Girona, played and was very important in some moments of the season, but he didn’t find enough regularity to be considered like a main player because from the 39 games his team played, only in 15 of them he played with 8 minutes average per game.
In a similar situation were: Joan Cabot (‘88) from Burgos (17 games and 4 minutes averaged), Ivan Llull (’92) from Menorca (7 games and 3 minutes), José Pozas (’92) from Clinicas Rincón (12 games and 5 minutes), Miguel Lorenzo (’91) also from Clínicas Rincón (24 games and 8 minutes), Malick Fall (’92) also from Clinicas Rincón (21 games, 7 minutes and 1.8 rebounds), Pape Abdoulaye (’90) from Cornellà (8 games and 5 minutes). Albert Salat (’91) from Cornellà (17 games and 6 minutes), Carles Marzo (’92) also from Cornellà (8 games and 14 minutes) and Joan Creus (’92) from Cornellà (4 games and 7 minutes).
GROUP 2 (one or two prospects played regularly):
In this group we find 3 teams, which is the 17% of the league.
1-CB Tarragona had the prospects Michel Diouf (’89) and the shooter Terrence Oglesby (’88). The center played 34 games averaging 23 minutes, 5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 7.3 points per game. The norwegian player was signed in the last part of the season so he only played the last 9 games, but averaging 19 minutes and 9 points with a 34% behind the arc.
2-Palencia had the prospect Nikola Mirotic (’91), who in 31 games averaged 20 minutes, 2 assists, 1 rebound, and 8 points per game.
3- Lugo had Sergio de la Fuente (’89), who in 27 games averaged 8 minutes, 2 rebounds, and 3 points per game.
GROUP 3 (more than two prospects played regularly):
In this group we find 2 teams, which is the 11% of the league.
1-For Clínicas Rincón Axarquia played the following players:
a) Augusto Lima (’91): in 20 games he averaged 27 minutes, 13 points and 8.3 rebounds. So with these numbers he was the second best rebounder and scorer of the team. But in addition to this, Lima played also in ACB with Unicaja Málaga (6.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in 15').
b) Rafael Freire (’92): in 18 games he averaged 20 minutes, 2 rebounds, 2.3 assists (the best of the team) and 7 points. As Augusto Lima he also played in ACB and Euroleague for Unicaja Málaga.
c) Jhornan Zamora (’89): in 34 games he averaged 26 minutes and 11 points (the third top scorer in his team).
d) Miguel Servera (‘92): in 33 games he averaged 16 minutes. In these minutes he showed his personality and desire to score shooting 198 field goals (making 63 of them).
e) Ernesto Diaz (‘90): in 34 games he averaged 17 minutes, 5.5 points and 2.4 rebounds.
f) Carlos Cobos (’88): in 34 games he averaged 19 minutes, 2.4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 5 points per game.
And I’ve already talked previously about the other three players who didn’t play as much as the six above. These are Miguel Lorenzo (‘91), Malick Fall (‘92), and José Pozas (’92).
2- For CB Cornellà played the following players:
a) Xavier Rabaseda (’89) -at the pic-: in 32 games he averaged 31 minutes, 3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.4 steals and 14.4 points. He was the top scorer of the team. He also played 4 games in ACB with FC Barcelona, and 3 more in Euroleague.
b) Mamadou Samb (‘89): in 33 games he averaged 27 minutes, 6 rebounds, and 12.4 points. He was the top rebounder and the third best scorer of the team. He also played in two different positions (4 and 5).
c) Alejandro Hernández (’90): in 34 games he averaged 23 minutes, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 9 points per game. He played as point guard most of the minutes, but playing together with Daniel Pérez (’90) he also played in the position 2.
d) Daniel Pérez (’90): in 30 games he averaged 24 minutes, 3 rebounds, 3.4 assists (the best of the team), 1.7 assists and 7 points per game.
And I’ve already talked previously about the other four players who didn’t play as much as the four above. These are Albert Salat (‘91), Pape Abdoulaye (‘90), Carles Marzo (’92), and Joan Creus (’92).
So it was a big contrast that in two teams (Cornellà and Clínicas Rincón) played 10 prospects regularly (and 7 other with less regularity), while in the other sixteen only 4 young players played regularly. Of course these are two exceptional clubs because Clinicas Rincon Axarquia belongs to Unicaja Málaga (ACB) and CB Cornellà has a relation with FC Barcelona (ACB). And what about these two teams results? Clínicas Rincón finished the regular season in the 14th position with a 13-21 record. But in the last game of the regular season they had to win (in Cornellà) in order to escape from the play-out to lose the LEB Gold spot. Cornellà finished the regular season in the 17th position with a 10-24 record, so they had to play the play-out and they lost it (against Tarragona). So they will play in the LEB Silver next season.
Is tough for every team in the world to fight the whole season in order to maintain the place in the league, but if you fight with young players being the basis of the team the challenge it’s even bigger. Beside the lack of experience in senior professional basketball of these players, there are some other aspects to be considered.
For example Unicaja Málaga and FC Barcelona young players are used to win (in the U-18 national championships and the previous ones), so the fact of losing many games in the same season and live with this pressure is new for them. If we take a look to Cornellà's roster we can see that Rabaseda (’89), Marzo (’92), and Creus (’92) were Spanish U-18 champions with F.C.Barcelona.
So after these season in LEB Gold these prospects had a tough experience but very useful too, to become more complete players tactically and mentally.
Photo: Ruben Garcia Carballo
