Valdeolmillos back in Mexico, Pan Am Games squad announced

MEXICO CITY (2015 FIBA Americas Championship) - Mexico have unveiled Sergio Valdeolmillos as their national team coach once again and also announced their squad for the 2015 Pan American Games.

Valdeolmillos, who has had two stints in charge of the Mexican national team, has returned to the helm of a country that he most recently coached at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in his native country of Spain.

Mexico's most famous win under Valdeolmillos was the title triumph at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship.

Bill Cartwright, the former NBA champion of the Chicago Bulls, replaced Valdeolmillos after Spain 2014 and led Mexico at the Central American and the Caribbean Games in Veracruz but he did not continue after a disappointing fifth-place finish.

Mexico then handed the reins to Eddie Casiano, the coach of Halcones Rojos, only to announce several weeks later that Valdeolmillos would again lead the team.

The 49-year-old had left after the World Cup because of unpaid wages but that issue has been resolved.

"The Pan American Games are beautiful and the Olympic qualifiers [FIBA Americas Championship] a very important event," Valdeolmillos said after being re-introduced to the media.

"It's like the World Cup, events where any coach would want to work."

"After what happened in September [after the World Cup], I had a lot distrust of what might happen," he said to laaficion.milenio.com. "After everything that happened... I had no confidence.

"I do not want to go into details because it was a fairly ambiguous process.

"What has been done is to assess the economic issue and find the solution for me to come.

"It is what CONADE (Comision Nacional de Cultura Física y Deporte en Mexico) and Alfredo Castillo (CONADE Director General) have done for me to be here."

The desire for continuity is what led to the return of Valdeolmillos.

Everything is very advanced because we have maintained our philosophy - Valdeolmillos

"There will be practically 80 or 90 percent of continuity and if someone has to take responsibility to have a good performance in the competitions, of course I will assume that responsibility," Valdeolmillos said. 

The Pan American Games will be held in Toronto 21-25 July.

After that competition the expectation is that Mexico star Gustavo Ayon, who is currently playing in Spain's Liga Endesa Championship Finals with Real Madrid against Barcelona, will link up with the team to get ready for the FIBA Americas Championship.

Veterans who played in last year's World Cup that will go to Toronto include Orlando Mendez, Hector Hernandez, Adrian Zamora, Israel Gutierrez, David Meza, Marco Ramos and Francisco Cruz.

Lorenzo Mata, a key man in the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship winning side who was injured an unable to play last year, is also in the Pan Am Games squad.

Go to fiba.com/Americas2015 for complete coverage of the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship.

FIBA