Basque Courage | Basketball | Kinds of sports

A month ago, when Baskonia dropped the services of Dusko Ivanovic after quietly completing the fourth stage in Vitoria, I told Juan Morenilla, who regularly follows the ACB and Euroleague Basketball news in El Pais, that this was truly an audacious move for the organization led by Josean . Querejeta will try to sign Pablo Lazo. We both agreed that it was very difficult – Laso had an existing contract with Bayern Munich and perhaps a large cushion for the Vitorian budget – but that such a hypothetical move could greatly benefit Baskonia and Spanish basketball in general. What I in any case could not imagine was that this would happen, I thought that I was probably confusing my dreams with reality, although on the other hand I knew that the word “audacity” was a constant in the history of the Basconists and I kept a little hope

In a video posted yesterday on social media by Baskonia to announce the signing of Laso, they talk about “character, struggle and appreciation of the great moments experienced” and remember that “only those who lived it know what we are talking about.” Just like that. Laso was a player before he became a manager, and while the 22 titles won as a manager at Real Madrid define his career and more than confirm his placement on the bench at Vitoria, his time has come as a great assistant playmaker at Caja de Alava and Taugres, Alava’s brand sponsor for the 11 years he wore their jersey before signing with Madrid, are what Baskonia fans remember most.

In old Mendizorroza, where almost 3,000 people gathered to cheer for this fighting team that was fighting to reach the elite, Laso made us vibrate with his passes (the 2,879 passes he handed out in his career, number one in the ACB until this year, surpassed Marcelinho Huertas (2964) and led his teammates to the club’s first successes in the 1985 Association Cup, a now-defunct tournament that lasted only a few years, but most notably the 1995 Copa del Rey, in which Laso was chosen as the most valuable player. were the first successes in a flurry of titles that would come in the following years, without the great playmaker from Vitoria in the ranks of Baskonia.

Laso made a decisive contribution to breaking the glass ceiling in Spanish basketball, which was then dominated by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Joventut. In the 15 years since that magical 1995, Baskonia have won five more Copa del Reys, won three ACB leagues, four Super Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup, the club’s only continental title, and have come close to becoming Copa del Rey champions twice. Euroleague, a tournament co-founded by Josean Querejeta’s team in its current format. However, since 2010, the man who led the club for 36 years has seen the team gradually lose momentum. ACB has won only one title in the last 15 years during the pandemic, at that strange tournament held behind closed doors in Valencia.

Winning trophies is not easy, nor is competing in the current context of European and world basketball, as Querejeta reminds us in his few media appearances. But he and the club know that they will not even be able to compete for the Cup in 2015, 2020, 2022 and 2024, perhaps the tournament that sentimentally unites fans the most due to the number of people who have historically moved Baskonia to the final stages or the recent non-qualification this season for playoffs For the first time in history, ACB is undermining the fans’ confidence in the present and future.

Baskonia needed a blow. A blow of audacity. Laso is a homebody, from Vitoria, forged in the courtyard of the San Viator school and then in Baskonia, a super-successful coach at Real Madrid, the best coach in Europe for the last 10-15 years. A leader who exudes confidence and will bring great excitement to the city and the fans. He also signs a contract for three seasons, which, although in sports it may mean a little later, today means trust and commitment from both sides. Baskonia needed something like this after repeated decisions such as four stages with Dusko Ivanovic (always thanks, Dusko), three with Perasovic, two with Pedro Martinez or two with Sergio Scariolo. Laso is a novelty, but he is not a novelty, a novelty in the Baskonia family. He is one of us.

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