Spain set to have the most inexperienced team in country's history / News - Basketnews.com

Rudy Fernandez (238) has almost as many major international tournament games under his belt as all other players combined (288).

Credit: Federación Española de Baloncesto Credit Federación Española de Baloncesto

The Spanish national team is probably the best example of how a change in basketball generations can impact the roster. This EuroBasket, Sergio Scariolo will feature seven players who will make their debut in the biggest European tournament.

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With the news of the final 12-men roster being announced, only five players will have had major tournament experience, and one of them, Xavi Lopez-Arostegui, made the team in the Tokyo Olympics only because of Juancho Hernangomez's issue with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

According to information compiled by Marca's journalist Nacho Duque, with 238 international games under his belt, Rudy Fernandez will have almost as many as all other players combined (288). Sergio Llull, who will miss the championship due to injury, would have been the only other player with more than 100 matches for the national team.

The team's head coach Sergio Scariolo commented about the roster's lack of experience last week, stating that it has to make the team hungrier in order to live up to the expectations set by the previous generation.

Consequently, only two players remain from the EuroBasket 2017 roster. The Hernangomez brothers, Willy and Juancho, were the only ones on the team that placed third in Istanbul.

According to Duque's calculations, the Spanish team that represented the country last year in the Tokyo Olympics finished the tournament with a total of 1428 matches played for the national team, while this year's team will end EuroBasket 2022 with 526 at most.

However, Spain is currently ranked no. 6 in BasketNews EuroBasket Power Ranking. The team is placed in Group A together with Montenegro, Georgia, Bulgaria, Belgium, and Turkey.

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