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There is the script, impeccable, round, so that whoever wants it, for a Hollywood movie or an HBO miniseries. The life and work of Sergio Scariolo (Brescia, 1961), the guy defeated all prejudices until he surrendered to the world when no one expected him. Because the gold of Beijing more than ever is a gold of the author .

Because the Italian (or Marbellí?) Had a hard time convincing more than any other. He did not care about his service sheet, his exquisite education, his tactical wisdom, his fidelity to the selection. Only his shiny hair and his transalpine accent could be seen. Here is the feat of the coach who, in just two months, conquered the NBA ring, world gold and, most difficult, the heart of all Spaniards. Here is the story of a coach who had on his arrival, back in 2009, the greatest of duties, because he did not land in office to build an empire from the ashes; Even more difficult, his mission was that the inheritance received would not be out of his hands.

His responsibility was to grab the wild bull of some boys who had submitted to the world, who came from literally putting the USA Team against the ropes in an entire Olympic final, and not getting off the wave. That all that talent, that hunger, that companionship, will not be squandered in a bad way. "My job was to shape your ideas," he said more than once. Put aside your ego - which does not hide itself that is great - and put yourself at the service of some great players. Not only did he get it, he revitalized it. Today, after the deed of China, you can only talk about a historical coach: in his eight tournaments with the national team he has won seven medals. Oh if not for that triple of Teodosic in Istanbul.

And that woke up with a headache, with that mad European 2009 in which he learned the first of all his lessons. Never give up for dead. He had to deal with that sometimes whimsical competitiveness of which he has continued to make the greatest threats, that doubts and criticisms and even the abysses became spurs. And that this mania so Spanish and so absurd to despise the glued Italian who drove Gasol, Navarro and company did not affect him even one iota.

Relationship with Marc

That very complicated tournament resolved with the first gold in the history of the national team was the spring. He had put the players in his pocket. They already watched him for what he was, a coach of tactical wealth but above all with superior intelligence, on and off the court. He has always shown sincere recognition to his stars, eternal gratitude to Pau and Navarro - "without Gasol we would not be here" - he even knew how to redirect his relationship with Marc to the point of making him conquer the planet with the Raptors as well.

Because the past, the three continental golds, the Olympic silver and the last three bronzes when the resources are already different but Spain maintains its validity - another of its enormous merits - does not tarnish its present. Personally, Scariolo is on the cusp . He made a decision that had been around for years, to make the jump to the NBA, and it was a triumph. Because he knew how to value the options and choose the winning horse. Although it was not a safe bet a priori. The Raptors came from the battalion of the previous year in the playoffs after wiping out in the regular season and bet on a first-time coach like Nick Nurse. Together and with the transfer in February of Marc Gasol in which Sergio had so much to do, they achieved a crush that is still hard to believe: winning the ring by ending the Warrior dynasty.

But even that step was not easy. When Scariolo finally decided on the jump to the NBA as an assistant, all the alarms went off in the Federation. How was he going to combine his position as coach? How was he going to go to the FIBA ​​Windows when no member of the best league in the world had interrupted his season? The Italian then also calmed the federative suspicions with another master move. He convinced the Raptors and by contract he would travel to the qualifying matches , despite the tremendous personal effort - trips to Kiev, Ankara or Minsk, for example. And, incidentally, he would accomplish another feat. Because those victories in the Windows with players of such a different level, without NBA or Euroleague, showed their great technical background, compulsive perfectionist. Those defensive features that have now been reflected in the World Cup with more effective pieces. In Burgos, after winning Slovenia, the coach lost his tears: "It is as if I had won a medal, I will not forget this week."

Alessandro in the NCAA

Sunday's Wukasong is a medal with its own name. With Ricky and Marc as protagonists on the court, but nothing had more to do with success than the influence of the Italian. His family could not accompany him on the tour of China. Because everyone is already involved in their own adventure that is also the family. Alessandro, his promising son who was European champion with the Under-18, is already in New York with his sister Carlota and Blanca Ares (whom he met after she praised him in a column written in Gigantes). Training already in Manhattan Collegue , in the Bronx. Of course, just an hour's flight from Toronto.

In conversations beyond the court they occupy their sleeplessness. The excitement that clouded his eyes last night had a lot to do with what was sacrificed, with an NBA season of work in the shade, little sleep, less paddle and golf (his passions), calls for heartbreak and just vacation in Sardinia or Formentera. With that memory that marked him forever, as a life lesson and he remembers so much: "Get up at three in the morning and see my father's office with the light on because I was working. It has stuck me much more than any word".

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  • Sergio Scariolo
  • Marc Gasol
  • sports
  • Basketball World Cup 2019
  • Spanish Basketball Team

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