Weakened roster and modest expectations: in what condition did the Russian national basketball team come to the World Cup in China

Personnel disaster

Before the start of the World Cup in China, the Russian national basketball team can safely be put on a par with the current world champions from the United States. No, not in the sense that Sergei Bazarevich’s wards in the Celestial Empire will also qualify for a set of gold medals - bookmakers evaluate their chances of success very modestly. Domestic athletes are not even among the top ten contenders for victory.

Just one of those players who for various reasons will not help the Russian squad in the upcoming tournament, you can make up another team, and at least it will not be inferior to the existing one in terms of its potential - or even surpass it. It’s another matter that the personnel resources of the Americans cannot be compared with the basketball capabilities of any of the European countries, and even after several dozen failures, the Americans managed to form a combat-ready team.

The headquarters of Bazarevich had to choose from what is - and in China we will witness a unique situation where the honor of the country in the international top-level tournament will be defended by players from the Super League, the second most important division of the Russian championship, which was not the case in previous years could happen by definition.

The Russian team suffered significant losses in almost every position. The back line was left without Dmitry Khvostov, Alexei Shved and Dmitry Kulagin - high-class creator basketball players, each of whom is still possible to replace one by one (Bazarevich proved this in the qualification for the World Cup, in which the Swede practically did not play due to employment in the Euroleague), and here are three at the same time - no.

Under the ring, the Russian national team coach will not be able to count on Timofey Mozgov, Joel Bolomboy and Artyom Klimenko, and any of them, if he was healthy and in good competitive shape, could safely count on solid minutes in China.

Finally, Bazarevich himself did not take the risk of summoning famous veterans to the national team at the last moment, who could have come to her rescue in an epidemic of injuries and failures, for example, Anton Ponkrashov, bronze medalist of the 2012 Summer Olympics or continuing to play at a decent level Evgeniya Voronova. The specialist explained this decision by his own principles of building the team and the fact that the game system in it is much more important than specific personalities - and this, of course, is his right as a person, primarily responsible for the result.

Final composition

The final application of the Russian national team for the World Cup, which included 12 people, is an alloy of experience and youth. Especially on the back line, which has a very experimental look. Its clear leader in the current form of the national team is 33-year-old Vitaliy Fridzon, who had a hand in the latest high-profile successes of domestic basketball in the era of David Blatt - bronze of the European Championship 2011 and third place at the 2012 Olympics.

An excellent chance to prove himself at the top level will be given to 25-year-old Mikhail Kulagin, who has not yet won a place in the main rotation of the army team in the Euroleague for four years in the first team of CSKA, and the sniper- “role player” Evgeny Baburin will help them along with two performers from the Super League - Grigory Motovilov from Spartak-Primorye and Andrei Sopin from the capital’s IBA.

The main hopes of the fans for a positive result (and taking into account all the problems of the Russian team, one can consider overcoming the first group round and guaranteed getting into the number of participants in the qualification of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo) will be associated with the forwards of the team, objectively the strongest, most famous and her most titled link.

In the absence of Swede, Khvostov and Dmitry Kulagin, responsibility for key throws in decisive fights can and should be assumed by Sergey Karasev, who changed St. Petersburg Zenit to Khimki in the summer off-season. Whereas Semen Antonov, Andrei Vorontsevich and Nikita Kurbanov representing CSKA, are the main asset of universal fighters, who are able to close several positions if necessary, work out on the defensive and fulfill absolutely any coaching task in a specific unit of time.

Their colossal experience in international matches, the titles of the VTB United League and Euroleague champions, dozens of matches for the national team - something without which the Russian team in China would very likely have been inevitable disaster. With such basketball players as Kurbanov, Antonov and Vorontsevich, there will certainly be options, and Bazarevich knows how to use the strengths of the red-blue.

Finally, Evgeny Valiev and Vladimir Ivlev are called to close the fifth position in China. Basketball players who defend Khimki and Lokomotiv-Kuban colors at the club level, respectively, are not considered stars even in Russian basketball, but they are by no means new to the team either - and their own amount of rough work (struggle for selection, completion from under the ring and tenacious defense on the verge of a foul) will surely perform efficiently.

The final application of the Russian national team for the World Cup is as follows. Defenders: Evgeny Baburin (Nizhny Novgorod), Mikhail Kulagin (CSKA), Grigory Motovilov (Spartak-Primorye), Andrey Sopin (MBA), Vitaliy Fridzon (Lokomotiv-Kuban); forwards: Semyon Antonov (CSKA), Andrey Vorontsevich (CSKA), Andrey Zubkov (Zenit), Sergey Karasev (Khimki), Nikita Kurbanov (CSKA); Center: Evgeny Valiev (Khimki), Vladimir Ivlev (Lokomotiv-Kuban).

Tournament grid and opponents

At the group stage of the World Cup, the Russian team will meet with, it seems, not the most powerful opponents - the teams of Nigeria (August 31), South Korea (September 2) and Argentina (September 4). But under conditions to the limit of a weakened squad, the result of each next match involving the Bazarevich squad is almost impossible to predict.

This is evidenced by two points. Firstly, the results of the control meetings that preceded the championship of the planet, in which domestic basketball players managed to smash Spain and lose the Iranian team. And, secondly, the unwillingness of the head coach of the team to make any assumptions regarding the real capabilities of his team in the status competition.

During preparations for KM-2019, Bazarevich repeatedly said that the Russian basketball team is under construction and does not know what it will be capable of under pressure and a burden of responsibility. In this, he is certainly right - no one has ever seen this team in fights, on the outcome of which such significant things as the Olympic license depend. Neither the head coach himself, nor the management of the RBF, nor journalists with experts, nor ordinary fans.

To continue the struggle for medals based on the results of the main round, the Russian team needs to take a place no lower than the second in their group - that is, to win at least two victories in three starting fights (or one in the hope that she will be lucky in a triple “spin” )

At the stage of the top 16 of the World Cup, the two best teams of pool B, to which the domestic team fell by lot, will unite with the leaders of group A. There is not a single extra-class opponent in it either. Arrive Russia in China in the optimal composition, the teams of Poland, China, Venezuela and Côte d'Ivoire would be considered passable opponents for the wards of Bazarevich, and a direct road to the quarterfinals would open in front of them.

Now, one should not run so far ahead: Russian basketball players will strive to win in every next match and only then pay attention to global tournament goals and objectives. This, of course, is very sad and insulting, but Bazarevich has no other choice. Injuries to the stars and just the old-timers of the team deprived the fourth team of the last European championship of a good half of its potential.