Entering 2022, the second window of the 2023 Basketball World Cup qualifiers is coming, as far as the Asian region B group where the Chinese men's basketball team is located is concerned-
With top seed Australia against China postponed until June, the Kangaroo Team had only two opponents left in that window: Japan and Chinese Taipei.
Australia's strength occupies an absolute advantage in the Asian region, plus as one of the 3 hosts, Japan will not take the qualification pressure seriously and train its troops, the thin strength of Chinese Taipei has been put on paper, it can be predicted that the 4 so-called duels from February 25 to 28 are almost impossible to duel, there is no suspense...
However, such a good situation is not necessarily a good thing for the Australian men's basketball team -
Perhaps considering that the strength of the 2 opponents is not strong, Brian Gore, as the manager of the national team, stayed in Australia directly, and instead let the assistant coach temporarily replace him and fly to Japan;
The domestic top basketball NBL, which has been delayed by the epidemic, is basically certain that the schedule will not be modified for the national team because it has to catch up with the schedule;
As a result, male kangaroos face the embarrassment of snatching people from the NBL.
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On 10 January, the Australian Basketball Association announced that national team assistant coach Rob Beveridge would temporarily replace Brian Gore and lead the team to the second window of the qualifiers, while Gore would remain in the NBL Illawarra Eagles to continue to lead the team.
Of course, Gore did not randomly pick a few cats and dogs to indiscriminately fill the number -
Beveridge, an Australian, is currently coaching at the NBL in New Zealand (the country's basketball league is also called the NBL, which is also a 10-club team, but the overall level is much lower than that of the Australian NBL), owned by the Southern Sharks, but he was also the honorary coach of the Australian NBL before, leading the Perth Wildcats to win the 2008-2009 season;
In addition, he also coached the CBA's Shanghai Sharks, which was a matter from 2013 to 2014, but came with brilliance and eventually broke up with frustration between the two sides, and mixed in Shanghai Beach was not very successful.
Australia's current coaching staff also includes NBL legendary coaches Mike Kelly and Robbie McKinley, as well as NBL Coach of the Year winner Sean Dennis for the 2015-2016 season;
The Dennis is playing in Japan's B-League and is the head coach of Shiga Lake Star – with obvious pertinence, it seems.
Gore is completely assured of their abilities —
"There is no doubt that Rob(Beveridge)'s overseas coaching experience, his experience in developing young players, can fully ensure that we win in Japan. Moreover, Mike (Kelly) and Robbie (McKinley) are also familiar with NBL players and will fully assist Rob in his work. ”
If it is Gore who temporarily dumped the burden, then Beveridge felt that he was lucky to pick up the leak -
"Being head coach of the Australian national team has always been my lifelong dream and I am grateful, even though I have only played the role of manager temporarily in this short window. Being able to represent the country is a supreme honor and I sincerely thank the Australian Basketball Association and Brian Gore for their trust in me. ”
The coach has it, but the players haven't landed yet...
Previous qualifiers NBL will at least symbolically give up 1 weekend for the Kangaroo Army, training is not training is secondary, but at least to concentrate star players to play for the country;
But at present, because the epidemic has affected the league has been postponed a lot, considering that the epidemic situation is still unclear, it can be predicted that the future schedule will only become more and more tense rather than more relaxed, this time, the NBL really can no longer make way for national honor...
As for which players can represent the country, it is also unknown.
In principle, neither the NBL nor clubs have the right to prevent players from playing for their country, but during the pandemic, whether they can play abroad will have to be decided by the players themselves.
Australia also has a 14-day quarantine policy and will not change due to special individuals. The most recent example is novak Djokovic, the number one seed in the men's singles of the Australian Open, who was rejected directly at the airport, and today's latest news is that the Australian Federal Court has decided to cancel the visa of the Serbian.
Borders are equal for anyone, even if you've won 20 Grand Slams, 37 Masters Series titles, five year-end Finals titles, or the world's No. 1 title;
But for these players in the NBL, it is not particularly cost-effective if the quarantine due to national conquest affects the club teams that actually pay themselves salaries.
Previously, Gore has repeatedly stressed the need to send Australia's best players to the qualifiers.
Legendary Australian coach and former national team coach Chris Ansti directly pointed out that Melbourne United star defender Matthew Delavedova must play.
"We have to continue the culture and traditions of the national team, so I simply asked Dela Verdova to tell every new player what it means to join the national team... These games are very important and we have to win. ”
Ansti further listed his national team rosters: Dupe Rees, Nathan Soby, Mitch Creek, Luke Travis, Nick Kay, Javier Cooks, Angus Grovo, Vail Macdover-White, Chris Goulding, Dyson Sam Florin and DelaVertova, and Daniels/Mitch McCarron (1 out of 2).
But so far, of all these people, only Angus Grovo has publicly expressed his desire to serve his country.
"Any time you get a chance to put on the golden green robe you really want to do it. Isn't it 14 days of quarantine? Hopefully I can get a call from the national team. ”
Maybe it's still early, and the players are still waiting to see the progress of the epidemic and are not in a hurry to take a stand.
However, in case the epidemic worsens, Australia can only send youth teams to participate, coupled with the Japanese men's basketball team with the advantage of the home field, it may be reproduced the tragedy of the Australian men's basketball team in 2018.
At that time, Beveridge, who was supposed to lead the national team, may become a back pot man...
Speaking of me, I am also a black evil mouth, the news exposed that I wrote a good manuscript at that time, but the editor said that there are more Korean themes to push first, my manuscript is always exclusive two days late push or exclusive; two days late I am fine, but the kangaroo army has a problem -
Just today, Beveridge's hand-picked DelaVertova confirmed through the Australian media that he would not participate in the qualifiers.
Copyright Notice: Exclusive to East Asian Premier League, author Peng Fei. The material is mainly from the websites of Australia and NBL such as illawarramercury and theaustralian, and has been strongly supported by colleagues in the East Asian Premier League; the pictures are mainly from the above media and screenshots of the NBL's website, and the East Asian Premier League is used according to the practice of self-media. If you have any doubts about copyright, please deal with it immediately, and if other media or self-media need to reprint, please communicate in advance.
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