By Nikos Varlas / varlas@eurohoops.net
Τhe FIBA Hall of Fame is ready to induct the class of 2015 and despite the absence of the GOAT Michael Jordan who couldn’t make it to Lille, France, because of prior engagements, legends of the sport are ready to be honored.
National icons Antoine Rigaudeau of France, Lithuania’s Sarunas Marciulionis, Vladimir Tkachenko of Russia/Ukraine, Cuba’s Ruperto Herrera Tabio, Anne Donovan of the USA, coach Jan Stirling of Australia, technical official Robert Blanchard of France and contributor Noah Klieger of Israel were present in their meeting with the press, remembering the old times, but also speaking about the present and the future of the sport.
Sarunas Marciulionis was the epicenter of interest, since Lithuania is playing at the Eurobasket final against Spain. As he said: “I will not say that we are the favorites, even if Pau Gasol makes Spain looking sometimes as a one man team. The last time I said something like that, we lost in the 2013 final to France”. As for his long career he remembered the Eurobasket final of 1995 against Serbia in Athens, Greece – “I will never forget this game” – and he was asked to compare his old teammate Arvydas Sabonis with Pau Gasol: “Arvydas was much bigger, Pau seems to be longer. They are different players, but they are both great”.
Antoine Rigaudeau, Olympic silver medalist and among others a former player of the Dallas Mavericks, would prefer to see the French national team in the final, still he believes that the future of the French basketball is safe: “We have a lot of talent, very good young players and we are among the European elite”. And he is going to be a part of this future as the new rookie coach of Paris Levallois.
The gentle giant Vladimir Tkachenko, a center of CSKA Moscow and the USSR team, remembered one iconic moment of his career, him accidentally hitting with his elbow Greek Panagiotis Giannakis in the final of Eurobasket 1987: “I was just protecting the ball. We are good friends with Panagiotis and we catch up everytime we meet”.