Basketball in crisis: Prigioni’s continuity in the Argentine national team and the sporting and political future before the departure of the main coach

Very troubled days are experienced in Argentine basketball. Of crisis. Not qualifying for the World Cup, a blow that a very traditional sport in our country had not received for 41 years, struck a chord. Those responsible for the sports debacle are numerous, but Fabien Borro, the interrogated president of the Argentine Confederation, remained center stage. In some media, on social networks and on various pitches in the National League -with insults included that cost clubs like Boca fines- he was the main accused, a situation that goes against his political status. , considering that it is already an open secret that he will assume in May as the new President of FIBA ​​​​Americas and will therefore be the second most important person in the body that governs basketball -ball on the mainland. There has been no public self-criticism, from Borro or any leader. Only photos that show a supposed unity of leadership, even if the dissatisfied are more and more every day.

What there was was a decision announced on Tuesday: the renewal of Pablo Prigioni at the head of the senior team. “Not qualifying for the World Cup was a hard, painful and unexpected blow. We must focus on sporting revenge and we all have a new goal with Pablo and our players: to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games. It will not be easy, the road is long. Pablo’s commitment and professionalism make him the best choice for this enormous challenge,” Borro said in the CAB newsletter which announced Pablo’s continuity. “It’s a blow not to be in the World Cup, now we have to focus on the possibility that we have to reorganize ourselves as a team. Our short-term objective is clear: to go further in the search for qualification for the Olympic Games. I have great confidence in the team and, as always, we have the full support of the Confederation to achieve this,” added the Cordovan coach from Minnesota, where he works as a senior assistant. a team that qualifies for the NBA playoffs today.

This seems like a wise decision because, beyond the final negative result, Pablo has the support of the players and his potential as a coach is promising. It is true that he makes his first weapons as a DT, especially on the FIBA ​​​​court, which was noted in momentous decisions in the last game in Mar del Plata, but that does not weigh so complex at this time. In addition, his commitment is total with the shirt. He grabbed a hot iron after the clandestine sacking of Néstor García in August last year and is now doing it again after the MdP debacle. He was champion of the Americaup, his greatest merit, and above all suffered the two defeats against the Dominican Republic which determined that Argentina did not obtain any of the seven tickets that America gave for the Cup of world which will begin at the end of August.

Its first major objective will therefore be the American pre-Olympic which will be held from August 12 to 20 in a place to be determined (will Argentina be a candidate?). It will be contested by eight teams from the continent who have not participated in the World Cup. The five eliminated from the second round (Argentina, Bahamas, Uruguay, Colombia and Panama) and the three with the best record from the first round (Chile, Cuba and Virgin Islands). Only the winner of this competition will qualify for one of the four venues which, shortly before the Olympic tournament in France, will issue four tickets in total to Paris.

If Argentina gets that ticket, we’ll pass it on properly: there will be four venues around the world, each with six teams who will be split into two groups of three and then compete first against second in the semi-finals and finals. . in a single game. Only the winners will participate in the Games. The other seven places will be distributed in the World Cup and the 12th is logically from the local, France. In total there are two tickets for America and Europe, one for Africa, one for Asia and one for Oceania.

In other words, the national team must pass two tournaments and eliminate 12 rivals on the way to the Olympic ticket. If he doesn’t succeed, he will miss out on significant competition until the 2025 Americaup and hopefully the 2027 World Cup. Along with Prigioni, he will have to undo that one chance to qualify for the Games and avoid spending many years without great competition. The other event this year, in which Argentina will participate to defend the 2019 gold medal, will be the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, between the end of October and the beginning of November, but surely without the best representatives of the national team.

The political party

For now, there is another battle off the pitch and it is about who will occupy the main positions that will govern the future of a degraded Argentine basketball. DELETE, president since December 2019, will be elected to lead FIBA ​​Americas, a political post that is below the real boss, the Brazilian Carlos Alves, its executive director since 2017. But the shrewd politician who is the owner sanitary facilities. This position corresponds, by rotation, to South America. The statute establishes that he should be the president of Consubásquet, but the Paraguayan Marcelo Bedoya resigned after a political weakening movement that was organized and the way was clear for Borro, who has been working for this goal for years. He not only has the support of Alves but also of Andreas Zagklis, the Greek who is the FIBA ​​General Secretary.

Borro’s dream is to reach FIBA, to occupy the position that Horacio Muratore de Tucuman (Honorary President between 2014 and 2019) held for five years, but the global rotation makes it impossible for 12 years (it is to the other continents before). For now, Borro will replace Carol Callan, the Canadian who has been working on our continent until now.

The question then is what will happen in TAXI, since May, while in FIBA ​​​​Americas assumes the director of union extraction. There are several theories. Some believe he will seek special permission from the continental entity to pursue an interim CAB until elections, which are expected to be held this year, tentatively in November or December. The least likely is that they advance the election and the moderate alternative is to choose a temporary successor to run from May to November.

The question, in this case, is who. Miguel Angel Chami, The 1st vice-president is today in conflict with Borro and also has a big problem -already pursued- in the Federation of Buenos Aires. Following him is Mario Ontivero, the 2nd vice-president who was dismissed as president of the Córdoba Federation due to alleged irregularities. It has no political cap. Both seem discarded today.

So who? they all wonder. And there, the problem lies in two names. On the one hand, Sergio Gatti, de Neuquén, who has been with the CAB for more than 15 years – today he is Secretary General – and is a man of extreme confidence in Borro and, in addition, in hourly bricklayer, political ally of the current head of the CAB. And on the other hand, Juan Manuel Cavagliatto, the only new leader that has emerged strongly in recent years in Argentine basketball. He is the president of the Institute, leader of the resurgence of the Cordovan club, institutionally – the Institute has been merged – and sporting. He achieved promotion to the National League and has already won important titles, in addition to reaching the first division of Argentine football. In addition, very gifted in politics, Cavagliatto is on the small table of basketball and national football, alongside Chiqui Tapia.

Cavagliatto embodies the image of long-awaited renewal. This is why players, managers and even supporters are calling for him for the next generation. But, so far, Borro hasn’t told him anything, as far as he’s found out. GlobeLiveMedia. The Glory holder has been close to the CAB president for years, but at the same time they see him with his own flight and they don’t like it. “Do you remember when it was said that Néstor Kirchner would be Duhalde’s puppet and then it was the opposite? It could happen with Cavagliatto and that’s what Fabián fears. That’s why I don’t think he’s the chosen one,” a source who knows the detainee told GlobeLiveMedia.

Cavagliatto would be ready to do so even if he might have to sacrifice – or delay – his AFA career. Basically because he feels like a basketball player. But he would only accept “if he can bring about a real transformation of basketball, with a strong sports director, with a work team, several dialogue tables and without clashes”, said someone who knows him well at the ‘Institute. Of course, since he does not hold a position in the Córdoba Federation, he should legally enter through the Association of Clubs, one more federation after the implementation of the new statute. Today, at the AdC, he is strong beyond being the second vice-president. “Forget it, Gatti continues for me until the elections. To save time and see who can win in an election,” bet a federation president who is in the opposition.

It will be seen. For now, the only certainty is that Prigioni will continue as coach. We will see who will be the ones who will take over to try to get basketball out of the new crisis, the second in barely a decade, if we remember that of 2014 when the heaviest players got up before the Cup of the world, to get Germán Vaccaro. and the rest of the leaders out, accused of fraudulent administration. Vaccaro admitted his guilt – he was ordered to pay $80,000 and banned from public office for life – after an agreement that ensured that the trial did not continue in order not to “defile” anyone from other. For now, while more news is expected, no one else has confessed anything and Argentine basketball is the victim.

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