By John Rammas/ info@eurohoops.net
Berlin, Germany – Rudy Fernandez already achieved a record in Eurobasket 2022 and despite being 37 years old, there’s much more for him left to achieve with the Spanish national team.
When asked if his captain might retire, coach Sergio Scariolo was genuinely surprised: “I don’t think he is going to quit the national team after this, because he is playing his best championship ever. Why should he quit? If you want to play safe, you might say, yes, I can’t do anything better, but this is not Rudy. I expect him if he is healthy, to keep playing and he is enjoying it. His role in this team is different from any other role he ever had in any other team. And this is nice to enjoy because he is trying a brand new experience”.
Rudy leads by example, he had five steals against Finland setting the tone, and Scariolo is also surprised, about the way his player is responding to this challenge: “What can I tell you? He is amazing. And then he has a bad back, a bad neck, a bad knee, bad everything, but he is not scared. He dives on the floor, he gets those early third-quarter steals like he is 18 years old. He is leading by example in the best possible way. He is a great leader for his teammates in tough moments. We probably overused him against Lithuania, closer to 30 minutes which is crazy actually. He stayed the next whole day on the ice. We are hoping to still have energy and throw himself on the floor on the next day”.
Willy Hernangomez added, using the quarterfinal game against Finland as an example: “After a bad start, he was trying to get everything involved, to get everyone back in the game, and especially a young team like us needs a guy like that.”