Rudy Fernandez agrees with Itoudis to increase national team rosters / News - Basketnews.com

Rudy Fernandez thinks that national teams should be allowed to register more than 12 players after Sergio Llull suffered a muscle injury that ruled him out from EuroBasket 2022.

Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall Credit AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

After Sergio Llull's injury that ruled him from EuroBasket 2022, his Spanish national team and Real Madrid teammate Rudy Fernandez shared the idea of increasing the national teams' rosters.

"With the injury of a teammate so close to the championship and all the injuries other teams and we have, why don't we propose registering more players for championships or reducing the number of games?" Fernandez asked on Twitter.

Fernandez is not the first one to voice such an opinion. Greece and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul's head coach Dimitris Itoudis also proposed to allow the team to register at least 14 players instead of 12.

"It's time for national teams to have 14 players," Itoudis said after the win against Georgia. "If FIBA wants to keep the rule of teams having 12 players, it's unfair for those who might have an injury to be left with 11 players. A solution can be found. It's an opportunity to open up the rosters."

"We are in a period where there are different viruses, a high level of competitiveness in competitions, and there are injuries and fatigue. FIBA is driven by the evolution of the sport. Back in 2000, we had 10 players on the squad. Then, we increased them to 12, and now I think it should be 14. I firmly believe I have a point here," the 51-year-old tactician added.

However, FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis has other ideas. As he told BasketNews, FIBA doesn't see why the rosters should be increased.

According to the FIBA executive, the data clearly supports such a decision.

FIBA research shows that between EuroBasket 2001 and 2017, the 12th player has never averaged more than 3 of 4 minutes, and the 11th has more than 5 minutes of playing time.

Also, the average number of players used in the competition never really exceeded 11. In the last years, it was closer to 10.

"We don't have any basketball evidence suggesting we should move in that direction. Quite the contrary, I would say. I should not hide from you that we have had private requests from the opposite of perhaps going down to 11 or 10 men rosters given how limited minutes the 11 and 12 players have," Zagklis revealed.

"But we believe that with 12 players, we have a good rule, and we plan to stick to that rule," he confirmed.

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