Manu's New Article (Translation Needed) [Archive]

urunobili

08-04-2008, 09:49 AM

We are still not one of the best three teams, by Manu

Nanking, China- I am living an incredible experience here in China; Mostly because I didn’t expect our presence to generate so much excitement. I did know that they consume a lot of NBA, but I didn’t believe we were known this much, that we generate a lot of enthusiasm for being close, to take a picture with us or get an autograph. They surely are different from the Japanese’s; how can I put this together… they’re more “Invasive”. Japanese’s were calmer and more respectful by the other hand Chinese’s would throw themselves on you, they put you the paper in the face and stay in front of you.

The other day, when I was getting out very late of a press conference post-match, and a Chinese boy grabbed my arm; I kept on walking and he still was grabbed to me, so I dragged him a few meters. I couldn’t believe it. Anyhow, it’s nice to receive so much affection, knowing that you are well known and appreciated, but what surprised me the most was how exited they get: they shout, scream, jump and ask you for stuff.

From the city I couldn’t get to know a whole lot and I think there were not many things to see. In addition, the day was grey and the rain took away from me the willingness to go out. There were also lots of people and when one is walking on the streets and willing to do some sightseeing, some fans may get a no for their photos and autographs requests. Anyhow I was surprised by such a different culture from ours. I do not judge it, each one has its own traditions, you have to understand it and accept it. But it does catch my attention so much difference.

About the tournament that we played here, we had a very poor game against Iran, another bad one against Serbia (though we defended very well) and the third against Australia were we turned up a notch on the second half after having lots of mistakes and imprecision’s. We were the champions and it’s always better to win the tournament than not to. It’s like that. Something important about the Diamond Ball Cup was that we recovered back the best Fabricio Oberto, he is on rhythm and got his accuracy back and that is very valuable for us.

There are some details to be corrected, by example, do not get frustrated when things are not going our way. We have to know that it won’t be easy in Beijing and that we cannot have letdowns with our mood because we’re down by 15 points. Just because we were champions once we will win all the games with the name. in the games we will have to fight a lot, with more patience and calm.

If we get frustrated when we get down by an important difference it’s probable that that advantage will get bigger, just like what happened to us vs. Australia, that surprised us with 5 triples and we fell. Then it’s two times more difficult to get back in the game. You have to run more, hustle more, defend tougher and everything means double effort. My dream is not to have an excessive difference ever.

It has been said on the last hours the lack of plays creation, and the utilization of different systems. When a team has great individual players, or 5 or 6 players that are capable of take the load by them, you have to use them and it doesn’t matter what system you use. It can happen that we may have not all our systems at full throttle, but some sort of dependency we will have with the individual talent. Thing is that Luis (Scola), Carlitos (Delfino), me or anyone, do not want to go over 4 guys to try to score, and that is able to understand that if he got 4 defenders together there is a teammate wide open for a better shot. Sometime I don’t do that and I keep my way to the hoop looking for my points. Pass the ball more is key. By example, Spain uses three systems, but the ball is moving all the time. We have to rotate the ball more; look the extra pass, generate spaces and do not force plays or shots.
That’s why; I would say that I am more worried about defense than offense.

You know that when the time comes, we are going to improve a little more, but this is not a matter of doing click and that’s it: we’re the same we were before. We probably need that the adrenaline goes through our body to react. But; instinct; it is not automatic; we cannot hope on that, it may not happen at all.

If we compare this team with the one in 2004, it’s true that the 6 we are stil left have accumulated a great experience on these years and we have more tools, but we also have more kilometers on our legs. The other difference is the rotation. In 2004 we had a bench with Hugo (Sconochini); Walter (Hermann), that was key on both games against Greece and the USA team, and Colo Wolkowyski, that was a great back up for the front court. Now there are lots of guys that are doing their first experience at this international level and have to earn the coaches confidence.

Today we don’t know at what level we stand. We are not yet one of the best three teams I think. But that is about to be seen once the tournament begins. We can go far. We have to wait for the ball to be up in the air to know where we stand. For us is key to win the first game, it gives you a huge emotional lift. It gives you a great tranquility. It is not the one that determines your future but if you then lose a game after that it is not that severe.

About my game, I feel fine, getting better and without any pain in my left ankle. Now I have the right one a little sore from overcharging my weight on it, I also had a lil thing in my left thigh but nothing important. It is complicated to play back to backs, luckily in the games we pay every other day. More so; I will be better overall, more adapted to the time difference, no more trips, chilling in the Olympic village, without packing training and preparing for the matches. This is key for me and my performance.

If we are all healthy and do not have problems with the rotation, what we have to get better at is our patience, do not get mad when things go wrong. After that we’ll see what happens once the ball gets up in the air.