More from Author Melissa Galbraith here: https://globelivemedia.com/author/melissa-galbraith/
EI Barça beat CSKA on Friday without three of their big. Nikola Mirotic, Brandon Davies and Víctor Claver were out to meet the Euroleague leader in Moscow. Relevant absences in the inside game that Jasikevicius solved with Ibou Badji (2.15 m. And 18 years) and Sergi Martínez (2.02 m. And 21 years), two young men from a quarry who is recovering with the Lithuanian coach their light, turned off in recent seasons. The first completed 3 very worthy minutes, while the second did a great job: in 23 minutes he scored 6 points with a triple and captured 5 rebounds for a PIR of 11.
Saras’s confidence in these young projects is not sudden. It is a key part of his philosophy as a manager. “I would like to play with many people from the house, I already did it in Kaunas,” he said on the day of his presentation. And, for the moment, it meets, with the debut of four homegrown players: Brancou Badio (1.91 m and 21 years old), Michael Caicedo (1.99 m, and 17 years old) and the aforementioned Ibou Badji and Sergi Martínez. The latter, power forward, already made his debut last season in the Endesa League, but not in the Euroleague as has happened this year. Of all of them, the only one who has not yet played in the top continental competition is Caicedo.
Closet ground
Between the four they accumulate 31 games (10 in the Endesa League and 21 in Europe), the maximum in the quarry in the last decade, above the 17 of last season, the same that Martinez has played in his debut in the Euroleague. A figure that is another record: no promising Barça player had played so many games on his debut in a competition, whether national or international … and we are still in January.
The power forward is the leader of this new breed that points to the NBA: several draft forecasts give Badji within the first round. And, which also has a wardrobe bottom. The junior team won, with Caicedo as MVP, the Adidas Next Generation of Valencia, which gives a ticket to the final phase of the junior Euroleague in Cologne (Germany). Barça B, for its part, is leader of the Eastern Conference of the LEB Plata with 11 victories in 13 games and will play in the final of the category Cup against Juaristi ISB. A lot of talent for Saras.