This weekend contacts will be intensified in Real Madrid's offices To finalize the composition of the board of the basketball section, once it is definitive The decision to do without the services of Juan Carlos Sánchez and its technical director, Alberto Herreros. Both had been at the head of white basketball management since 2010, and In those 15 years his team lifted 28 titles (22 with Pablo Laso and 6 with Chus Mateo).
Florentino Pérez, chatting with Felipe Reyes and Sergio Rodríguez.
The new director of the section will be former player Sergio Rodríguez, who militated in Real Madrid in two stages (2010-2016 and 2022-24) conquering 17 White titles: An Intercontinental (2015), two Euroligas (2015 and 2023), 4 ACB leagues (2013, 2015, 2016, 2024), 5 Cups del Rey (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2024) and 5 Super Cups (2012, 2013, 2014, 2022, 2023). Next to him will be the former Madrid player Felipe Reyes, who performed tasks of institutional representation of the section and will now exercise Technical Director.
The most peliaguda decision
And the first decision that both must make, the most movie without a doubt, will be the Choose who will be the coach of your new project. Chus Matthew He has another year of contract, but in the club they consider the option to incorporate a winning, expert and prestige technician. And that select list heads it SERGIO SCARIOLOwhich already directed the white team between 1999 and 2002, and Pablo Lasowhich occupied its bench between 2011 and 2022 and became a white legend by conquering 22 titles.
The hours of Chus Matthew at the head of Madrid they seem to be counted, but only If it is feasible to hire one of the two bench candidates that whites handle, something that will not be simple, because they would have to save not a few edges, sports and economicto achieve it. That will be the main work of Sergio Rodríguez These next few days and once it is presented, possibly this Tuesday, as the new director of the section. These are the pros and cons of the three candidates to train the white team:
Chus Mateo (Madrid, 1969)
Pros:
He has won Six titles in the three seasons he has been directing to Madrid: a Euroleague, two leagues, a cup of the king and two supercopas, a loot more than remarkable than In any club it would be enough guarantee to continue. But the white team is not any club.
A year of contract subtracts him, so If they cut him, they will have to compensate him. Something that could assume without excessive problems, but that should be added the high cost of the new coach. And Scariolo and Laso cache is very high. The money they invest in one of the two would reduce their budget to sign reinforcement players they need.
The Real Madrid coach, Chus Mateo, in the final against Valencia.
His balance of victories in the league is the best of any coach of the ACB era, with 111 wins in 133 games (83.5%). And his last campaign in the league tournament has been imperial, with 38 victories in 43 games, including an 8-1 sidereal in playoffs.
The love of the Madrid fans has won the lovesomething that was not easy by having to happen in the position to a legend like Pablo Laso. AND For the club it would be difficult to justify its dismissal After the good flavor that has been left to his followers with the fantastic league end until champions are crowned.
Contras:
The League conquered so brilliantly It is not considered sufficient endorsement In some powerful spheres of the club, For those who weigh more to have been left out of the Final Four having ended in seventh place, which condemned him to face the leader Olympiacos in the quarterfinal playoffs. And neither does it help Not having won the Cup or Super Cup (He fell in the final of both against Unicaja).
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Those same detractors with weight inside the club (and some even outside it) They believe that another more expert coach, a top coach, would have taken more juice to a template With enormous potential and that, therefore, the results would have been better.
Those themselves see him without sufficient character or authority necessary to impose discipline and ideas And they believe that in some moments he lost control of that wardrobe full of roosters. They are no secret The strap that throughout the season have been revealed in public with players like Hezonja or Llull, Especially since they have not hidden them with their gestures.
Sergio Scariol (Brescia, 1961)
Pros:
Winning coach, with a lot of experience and great prestige that has proven to know get the most out of the templates you have directed. Although its greatest demonstration of this virtue has expressed it better than ever The last years with the Spanish teamwhere despite the march of the Totems (Pau, Navarro, Ricky, Rudy …), He has remained competitive and winning titles.
Sergio Scariolo, with the Spanish team.
It has the endorsement of powerful and influential people in the club (and outside it) that They have recommended President Florentino Pérez to be the best possible coach to handle a template with so many stars and both potential. They believe it is The ideal to get the juice to enormous potential They have their players.
Your ability to have everything under controlone of his strengths, and to handle changing rooms with many heavyweights without his pulse shaking, but Without great stridency and much communication with their players. Over the years he has gained left hand when dealing with their pupils and instilling in them where each one should be focused to improve collective performance.
He is a man who knows the house after having been your coach three seasons (from 1999 to 2002)in which he won a league (2000) defeating Barcelona in the fifth game of the final in an epic triumph. 23 years have passed sincebut know what Madrid is and the very high demands of this club.
Contras:
His output of the white team in 2002 was not exactly cordial. The Italian coach took to the extreme That ability to have everything under controlcausing discomfort in part of that costumes and, worse, in the high spheres of the club. But 23 years later that is just a past memory. It is neither the same Scariolo nor the same Madrid and both have passed page.
One of the main obstacles to his arrival would be his high salary. Scariolo has established himself as one of the best European basketball coaches (in addition to having worked as an assistant technician in the NBA) and He is not willing to go in Madrid at any price, because he would also stop charging his salary as a coach. By prestige it should be one of the best paid coaches of European basketball. And it remains to be seen if the club is willing to throw the rest for it.
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Scariolo has a contract as a national coach until 2028although the Feb would not put many obstacles if his desire is to continue his career in Madrid. Of course This summer is Eurobasket (from August 27 to September 14) and if he signs for the white team I should work on the planning of the next campaign (signings, outputs, organization chart, etc …) being concentrated with Spain.
The Italian coach He has not closed the door to the NBA. He was already an assistant coach of the Raptors between 2018 to 2021 (they won the ring in 2019) and There is some NBA franchise that has shown interest in reinforcing its technical staff facing the next season after having demonstrated in Toronto that he is a very qualified assistant coach.
Pablo Laso (Vitoria, 1967)
Pros:
It is a legend of Madridwhere he played two seasons (1995-97) although reached glory as coach. Landed on his bench in 2011 as an emergency solution after failing his managers his first option, and His stage until 2022 was the second golden age of the club, by conquering under his command 22 titles: An intercontinental, 2 Euroligas, 6 leagues, 6 King Cups and 7 Super Cups.
Trophies are undoubtedly their best endorsement, almost as much as the enormous affection that the Madrid fans profess, for which he was and remains an idol. It was demonstrated with its emotional receptions and their cheers Every time you have visited the Movistar Arena, last year with the Bayern Munich And this with him Baskonia. That love has not prescribed.
Laso, cheered by the Movistar Arena when he returned with Bayern Munich.
His return would also be An act of densagravio for its strident exit in 2022dismissed badly after having suffered a heart problem. The club, at the request of the director of the section, Juan Carlos SánchezHe did not live up and dispensed with him by force by the back door. But If it returns will not have to do with that leader that caused his departure.
The support of Florentino Pérez, who always valued his work and the successes he achieved for Madridcomparing it to the mythical Pedro Ferrándiz. And personally he still has a special appreciation. “You are one of mine” He told him one of the last times they found. And Laso He has always felt like one more Madrid playerand White heart who has always led to Gala, even after his departure from the club ..
Like Chus Mateo and Sergio Scariolo, Pablo Laso knows perfectly how the club works inside. He has already directed Tavares, Llull, Deck and Abalde, players who follow. And even Chacho and Reyeswhich could now be his bosses.
Contras:
He has a contract in force with Baskonia for next seasonand although the Vitorian club wishes to do without it, nor will make any movement in that sense until Madrid announce that it has a new coach. Josean Querejeta He does not want to compensate Laso and see him two days being presented as the new coach of Madrid. It would be almost a drain for the Baskonist President, who knows them all and does not happen.
Sergio Rodríguez and Laso, greeting himself when the coach came to Madrid with Bayern.
Like Scariolo, Pablo Laso's salary is coach Top. This consideration was won during his journey in the white club and That high investment to sign (provided that Baskonia opens the door) would result to the detriment of the budget for the incorporation of new players. It would be necessary to see if the Vitorian coach is willing to make something more flexible.
Your last season On the Baskonia bench has not been good. Los Victorians They failed to get into the final phase of the Copa del Reyeither did they choose to play The Euroleague play-inand in the Endesa League they fell 2-0 in the quarterfinals, precisely before Real Madrid. They say that second parts were never good … except in the case of Carlo Ancelotti in the white team.
