Jorge Garbajosa (Torrejón de Ardoz, 1977) faces the front of the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) the year in which it celebrates its centenary. Quite a responsibility, especially considering the great moment that the different national teams are going through. EFE interviewed him after the presentation of an agreement with which he reached HM Hospitals.
This centenary is a very beautiful year for the Federation, isn’t it?
It is just getting started, but the work done so far has been very satisfactory. Up come the hit but there is also that credibility, that tendency towards excellence that we want in the Federation. Generate illusion gives us gasolinegive us life in one year, and the ones to come, as important as the ones ahead.
Talk about hope and last weekend we experienced a moment that exemplifies it, the conquest of the King’s Cup by Unicaja. what did you think
It is excellent news that the unique resurgence, that the Lenovo Tenerife continue with this upward escalation at the national and international level, the youth… fans of Real Madrid, Barcelona the baskonia they will be disappointed but looking at the globality of our basketball, the alternatives of power, because they talk about consolidated ambitious projects that make an impact and competitiveness to improve
All this has a counterpoint. The big ones have doubts, they are starting to look at the bench… there is talk of Real Madrid’s interest in coach Sergio Scariolo. Were you surprised by the news?
took six years as presidentand, all with him as the absolute male trainer. We live everything. There are always them a lot of noise around and it’s normal, he’s a great coach and we’re talking about the best team in Europe and the world in force. When transatlantic teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona don’t achieve their goals, these kinds of rumors always come out, it’s normal.
I have a very close personal and professional relationship with Sergio, with his environment, with his agent, with his family… There is nothing. There is nothing to worry about, or even concern ourselves with. If there is, we’ll talk about it. When things looked ugliest in the case of his transfer to TorontoI said that we had to be creative and find solutions that would allow us to do so satisfied for everyone We did it then and if the time comes, we will find them again.
To you, who played for the national team and for Real Madrid, would you be surprised if someone changed the former for the latter?
We are talking about hypotheses that are far from real. He lived at the time with moncho lopezwho left the national team to train the Brogán. It wouldn’t be the first time; and here we all are and nothing happens. But we are very clear that Sergio is the one national selector, which we want to be for many years. I know he is very happy and very comfortable at home. He is very demanding and he found a very exacting place with himself, like this. We are very calm.
Seeing these situations… do you regret having been allowed to alternate as a coach in clubs and the national team?
Quite the opposite, not at all. I think it’s good that he’s a coach be active all year round. It doesn’t mean it’s essential, but I think it’s a positive. Stay alive, stay nimble, don’t get rusty. Sergio’s ability to work is an example for everyone and the results are successful with their clubsif with the selection.
Playing a World Cup like this summer as current champion is more pressure or is it the same?
He faces the same because the team is very consistent and intelligent on an emotional and sporting level. Last year we didn’t hide it, we had important psychological and mental work to do. We knew it was an almost impossible challenge. That the team maintained its ambition and took it as a challenge was one of the keys to success. Now we arrive knowing that we are not the favorites but that we are very competitive, that on a basis like that of the Eurobasket we recovered parts that could not be. There is a great favorite as it is USAand then a series of teams including Spain, because we are going with ambition.
Candidates to enter the Hall of Fame of the NBA. One of them is Pau Gasol. Do you think it will happen?
I am convinced that it is. I might lose a bit of affection, but it’s the truth. The dimension as a player of Stick and its social dimension I think make it perfect. Got challenges to sports level in the NBA, but he was also involved in social projects. Now she is an image as a representation very focused on women’s basketball, also as an ambassador of the FIBA World Cups… that makes you a person of 360 dimension, which makes him an ideal candidate to be a member of such a prestigious organization.