Why Brazil must thank Spain

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Any time a Brazilian men’s national team wins a basketball medal, the South American giants should provide an official thank you to the Spanish basketball league for their help.

For those a bit baffled, here is the necessary explanation.

Seven of the 12 players on the Brazilian national team at the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship went to Spain as a youngster to learn the game of basketball and develop. And that trend is continuing with a couple of Brazil’s top talents.
 
Perhaps the best example of this is Tiago Splitter. The national team center went to Spain when he was 15 years old and signed a seven-year deal with Tau Vitoria in 2000. It’s well known what became of Splitter, who after 10 seasons in the Vitoria organization moved to the NBA last season and will be spending his second campaign with the San Antonio Spurs.

Barcelona floor general Marcelinho Huertas meanwhile has been picking apart defenses in Spain since he was a 21-year-old back in 2004, when he was brought to Iberia by DKV Joventut Badalona.

Rafael Hettsheimer arrived in Spain in 2005 as a 19-year-old and worked his way up through the ranks in Spain before finally reaching the top flight ACB last season with CAI Zaragoza. And he helped Brazil to the silver medal last summer.

Augusto Cesar Lima may only be 20 years old but this season is his fifth campaign in Spain with Unicaja Malaga after making the move to Europe as a 16-year-old.

Caio Silveira was just 17 when he swapped continents in 2004 and he spent seven seasons in Spain before moving back to the Brazilian league for 2011-12.

And Guilherme Giovannoni made the move in 1999 as a 19-year-old and stayed in Spain for about two seasons before another seven campaigns in Europe – predominantly in Italy.

The seventh player from the 2011 FIBA Americas roster is 19-year-old emerging point guard talent Rafael Freire, who moved to Unicaja Malaga as a 15-year-old in 2007 and is playing this season with Lucentum Alicante in the ACB.

Another player who would have been on the Brazilian roster was Anderson Varejao, who signed with Barcelona in January 2002 as a 19-year-old and spent two-and-a-half seasons in Spain before moving to the NBA.

And the trend does not appear to be slowing, including among Brazil’s elite players.

At the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship, Brazil barely missed out on playing in the quarter-finals and finished ninth with a 5-3 record.

Three of the players from Brazil’s U19 team in Latvia were already or have taken the jump to Spain.

Brazil’s leading scorer and assist man Raul Neto Togni moved to Spain following the tournament and has turned himself into the starting point guard at top flight Lagun Aro GBC.

Lucas Nogueira is in his second season with Asefa Estudiantes Madrid and excelled in Latvia as the fifth-best rebounder and second-best shot blocker.

And Gabriel Aguirre spent two seasons in Spain but has moved onto a college in the United States.

Rafael Freire would actually have been eligible to play in Latvia but he has already moved onto the senior team. Neto and Nogueira are not expected to need a lot more time to make the jump themselves.

That would give Brazilian basketball even more reasons to thank Spain for developing their players into international stars.

David Hein
FIBA

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