Pustovoy and Bliznyuk asked not to be called to the national team – Bagatskis

The head coach of the Ukrainian national basketball team spoke about the personnel situation in the team.

The Ukrainian national basketball team will not be able to play with its strongest line-up in the next qualifying matches for the World Championship. The head coach of the national team, Ainars Bagatskis, spoke about personnel problems and their solution before important matches against Iceland and the Netherlands.

“We will go to Riga in the morning, November 7. I want to see what the health situation of the players is. Maybe on the first day there will be an extra day, let’s see, if not on November 8, 9 and 10 we will have a training session, maybe one of these days there will be two training sessions in one day. On the 10th we will fly to the Netherlands where we will have morning training, some video sessions, then the game itself, after that we’ll be back in Riga. Before Iceland we’ll have another big training session and then the game.

Bogdan Bliznyuk and Artem Pustovoy asked not to be summoned for personal reasons. I understand that if a player is not mentally prepared, he cannot play his best basketball. You can only show your best game if you are in a good emotional state and have the desire to play. If some personal reasons interfere, it is better to let the player rest. There are no problems with these guys in terms of wanting to play for the national team.

Regarding Dmitry Skapintsev, he has real chances to get a foothold in the G-League team and even in the eyes of NBA teams, and as a coach I sympathize with this situation. Here I would like to repeat my words that the national team helps the players to show their strongest qualities. Everyone always wants more minutes, but in the national team every minute is at stake, and you can reach a new level. Skapintev’s situation only proves this.

I have always believed that there should be an opportunity for young players with potential in the national team. They need to be involved in the training process. Kovlyar was with us in the summer, but we decided not to touch him from the youth team. I would really like, of course, if I had a chance to try Shulga in the national team. But during the season, there was no chance to call a player from the NCAA team, unfortunately. We follow all the young players. At the same time, I don’t think that players in the national team should be changed often, there should be a backbone in the team. In this regard, I am pleased with the return of Alexander Lipovoy.

As for Slava Kravtsov, this is an example of a professional and patriot of Ukraine. Despite his star status, due to the leagues in which Slava played, he did not refuse the national team and said that he was reliable. I can imagine what kind of resentment he has inside, because he didn’t participate in some matches, didn’t get into the squad for the European Championship. But he did not refuse the team. This is not just an example of a professional, but how a high level player can come to terms with his ego. In team sports, it often happens that experienced players put their ego before the interests of the team. Slava Kravtsov is an example. I talked to him, he played a lot in a young team and now I want Kovlyar to drive him a little.

As a coach, I want the players to make the right decisions on the court, but if a basketball player, receiving 20 minutes, makes a throw, then it is naive to expect him to throw a more than the national team. I don’t know what his state is now and what Ivan Tkachenko will show. Budivelnyk has few matches overall, and Ukrainians don’t get big minutes there. I don’t know what they will show. This also applies to Prometheus players, but Sidorov and Sanon play a little more than that. For me, this is the biggest problem, although such a problem should not be. I believe that if a basketball player of the national team plays for a Ukrainian club, he should receive at least 20 minutes in the club. Otherwise, it’s an additional problem for me as a coach.

These are unpleasant opponents who play disciplined basketball. They play aggressively and shoot at every opportunity. They have a lot of strong shooters. In Iceland we shut down their scorers in the first half but in the second half they punished us for everything. The assistants have been giving me information on these teams, showing me what these teams are doing, especially defensively. Basketball is a very easy and understandable game, you have to show your strengths and hide your weaknesses. We will do it in training,” the official website of the Basketball Federation of Ukraine quoted Bagatskis as saying.

Recall that in the qualification of the 2023 World Cup, the Ukrainian team played six matches and was fifth in the table of group L. The three best teams from the group will go to the World Cup. Before the final selection teams have to play four games.

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