Injuries during WC Qualifiers clearly show that the schedule has to change / News - Basketnews.com

In the days leading to EuroBasket, three potential tournament stars were forced to miss the competition because of injuries suffered during the WC Qualifiers. Danilo Gallinari, Toko Shengelia, and Sergio Llull will all miss EuroBasket because of a crazy schedule, indicating a need for change.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

EuroBasket 2022 will begin in just a few days but despite the excitement and the anticipation that this tournament is generating, the past few days have cast some shadows over the major European competition.

Danilo Gallinari

Position:PF, SFAge:34Height:208 cmWeight:102 kgBirth place:Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, ItalyProfileNewsStatistics

Because of the current situation of the incredibly congested international schedule, a window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers was played just a few days before the beginning of EuroBasket, not exactly an ideal scenario for the teams that were going to participate in the major continental competition.

Of course, every team played with the best intentions possible since reaching the World Cup is the only way to qualify for the Olympic Games.

But with the dates of the World Cup Qualifiers and the beginning of EuroBasket so close, it was almost inevitable that fatigue and injuries could have played a factor, and that's exactly what happened.

The Group L of the European World Cup Qualifiers ended up being a star-killer in terms of injuries. The first player who went down was Sergio Llull, who suffered a muscular injury during the game against Iceland. Although the injury is not a particularly serious one, Llull will still be forced to miss EuroBasket, leaving Spain with even fewer options available in the backcourt.

On the same day of Llull's injury, August 24th, another very important player went down with an injury. Georgian national team captain Tornike Shengelia suffered a shoulder injury while playing against the Netherlands and seeing his reaction on the court after the play it was clear that he was dealing with something serious. Shengelia will be forced to miss at least a couple of months of action due to the injury and consequently, he won't be able to play at EuroBasket.

On August 27th, while Italy was playing against Georgia, another EuroBasket star suffered an injury that will force him to miss the tournament. Danilo Gallinari, a key player for the Italian national team, went down with a knee injury.

Immediately after the episode, many feared that the injury could have been a serious one since there was no contact with other players and the Italian forward immediately stopped and grabbed his left knee.

The day after, the tests showed that Gallinari suffered a meniscus tear. Luckily for the player, the ACL wasn't involved so Gallinari will be able to return to the court this season. However, EuroBasket 2022 is officially over him.

A devastating loss for the Italian national team, just like Llull's and Shengelia's injuries was terrible news for Spain and Georgia. The situation, already serious enough, could further worsen if some players who have suffered injuries in recent days were to be officially declared out for EuroBasket.

Greece is probably the best example of this situation. After the news about Ioannis Papapetrou being available for the tournament, Coach Itoudis' side is currently dealing with three different injured players: Kostas Sloukas, Georgios Papagiannis, and Kostas Antetokounmpo. Currently, the Greek national team has yet to announce the final roster for EuroBasket and has traveled to Milan with 14 players.

Even EuroLeague superstar Vasilije Micic suffered an ankle injury during the game against Greece, another World Cup qualifier game, and was forced to leave the court. Luckily for Serbia, it looks like Micic recovered and already played in the World Cup Qualifiers.

It's one thing to not have important players at EuroBasket because their NBA teams don't give the green light or because someone wants to rest a little bit after an incredibly long season, it's a completely different thing to lose players because of injuries occurring during World Cup Qualifiers game scheduled just a few days before the beginning of the most important competition for the entire continent.

This is yet another signal that the schedule has to change. The amount of games every season is becoming simply astonishing and the number of injuries is rising. Between the EuroLeague schedule, FIBA windows during the season, domestic leagues, domestic cups, and other European competitions like the Basketball Champions League, there's virtually no space to rest for the players.

Even EuroLeague superstar Mike James who is not part of any national team is strongly opposed to the current regime. "We have to find a way to shorten the regular season," he wrote on Twitter. "Players need a longer offseason to get their body right and work on their game."

The European season lasts basically for an entire year, which is way too much. Gigi Datome, one of the most respected veteran players in Europe and a former representative of the EuroLeague Players Association (ELPA), recently said that a solution must be found for the sake of every side involved in the basketball world.

"Before EuroBasket, there are always preparatory matches but playing in a World Cup qualifier is completely different, those games have a different spirit and energy," the Italian national team captain said.

"I understand the reasons but it doesn't look to me like a great solution. I already expressed myself in the past, that a summer-only activity for the national teams would be better and lead to a better product on the court. I reiterate the invitation for all to sit around a table and find a solution."

We've been talking about this issue for years now but a solution still looks extremely unlikely at the moment. FIBA and EuroLeague don't seem anywhere near an agreement to fix the current schedule.

During COVID's busiest period, simply unacceptable heights were reached, with teams forced to play an absurd number of matches to make up for games that were initially postponed. Without, of course, any kind of surprise, this situation led to an increasing number of injuries, new COVID cases, and a sharply reduced quality level of games.

Right after Danilo Gallinari's injury against Georgia, Gianmarco Pozzecco, the new head coach of the Italian national team, shared his hope for a change.

"I believe that everyone now has realized that we cannot continue in this way, there are too many games. I hope that starting from tomorrow we'll start taking better care of the players."

Scheduling World Cup Qualifiers games just before the start of EuroBasket was a resounding own goal on the part of European basketball institutions. The responsibility for those injuries falls on FIBA, EuroLeague, and all other European basketball stakeholders who have so far not done enough to find a common solution to the scheduling problem.

The main basketball institutions continue to look deaf to calls for change coming from players, coaches, and managers. Once again, it looks like in this beautiful sport that we all love the most important things are status and political power, and not the games.

What's even the point of having a major tournament like EuroBasket if a lot of players will arrive at the beginning of the tournament already gassed or with lingering injuries?

Injuries happen, they're a part of this sport for sure, but other leagues around the world like the NBA do their absolute best to prevent them and change their schedule over the years to help avoid them as much as possible.

In Europe, instead, we keep relying on players to carry an insane amount of workload on their shoulders, hoping that in such a messy schedule and with slippery stickers on the parquet floor will miraculously remain healthy.

Losing players like Sergio Llull, Toko Shengelia, and Danilo Gallinari is terrible news for the players themselves, who were waiting for this tournament for a long time (it's the fourth time Gallinari is forced to miss the competition during his career), for the fans, and for the quality of the tournament.

The only hope that we can have is that this latest round of injuries might represent a wake-up call for the European basketball institutions. A change is necessary, and it has been for a while now.

This is no longer a time for war inside European basketball, we already have to deal with the war in our everyday life. The moment to sit at a table and find a common solution can no longer wait.

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