Why Real Madrid need Shane Larkin? / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Tolga Adanali/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Image Credit Tolga Adanali/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Image

Jose Ignacio Huguet of Mundo Deportivo shook up European basketball, breaking the news about the emerging agreement between Shane Larkin and Real Madrid.

Shane Larkin

MIN:31.48PTS:14.78 (60.65%)REB:3.13As:5.26ST:1.43BL:0.04TO:2.43GM:23ProfileEuroLeague2021/2022

Efes star firmly denied this report on his Instagram account, and it's going to be a very long wait until summer comes.

But Shane Larkin or not, Real Madrid needs an elite player on their backcourt to eliminate any possible concerns of bringing back titles in Spain and the EuroLeague.

Real just got an alarm recently, suffering the third straight El Clasico defeat this year. They lost all three games to FC Barcelona by an average margin of 13.6 points.

On a night when Florentino Perez, Jordi Bertomeu, and thousands of Real fans came to honor newly named EuroLeague legend Felipe Reyes, Barcelona ruined the night by starting the game with an enormous 24-2 run and were under full control for the whole game.

Once again.

Since Sarunas Jasikevicius took over Barcelona in 2020, the Catalans have won all four EuroLeague matchups over Real.

Saras won all six battles at Wizink Center, making Real fans go nuts.

Real Madrid lost 9 of 12 El Clasico's in two years, including the ACB title and Copa del Rey final.

If you could justify losing the main titles last year because of unprecedented Facundo Campazzo's and Gabriel Deck's departures during the season, this year there are no excuses.

It's too early to create a drama since winning Copa del Rey would erase everything that happened after ACB Supercopa.

But Real Madrid have to think about the other adjustments as they finally need to overcome a big obstacle named Barcelona.

It seems like Saras broke the code of Real Madrid. Even when he was coaching Zalgiris Kaunas, the team with one-fourth of Real's budget, they were 2-2 in head-to-heads from 2018 to 2020.

Shane Larkin

Team:Anadolu Efes IstanbulPosition:PGAge:29Height:182 cmWeight:80 kgBirth place:United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Even during Zalgiris years, Saras constantly attacked Walter Tavareseither with scoring guards (such as Lukas Lekavicius) or bigs who could spread the floor from a mid-range (Brandon Davies or Antanas Kavaliauskas).

In Barcelona, Saras has way more tools to neutralize Real Madrid, and Los Blancos suffer from it.

So what to do?

If they can't put Tavares on the bench to hide the main target of Barcelona's offense, they have to win the scoring race.

Real made some fantastic moves recently, bringing Gabriel Deck back and signing one of the best power forwards, Guerschon Yabusele, to a 3-year extension.

If they add Juancho Hernangomez, we'll be talking about probably the deepest and most versatile frontcourt in Europe.

But the most significant upgrade they need is on the backcourt.

For many years it was their main strength. Sergio Rodriguez, Sergio Llull, Luka Doncic, Facundo Campazzo were stars that made Real one of the most exciting EuroLeague teams to watch in the last decade.

Real set a footprint with running and gunning, blowing their opponents in the transition game, spectacular alley-oops, and masterclass improvisations on the halfcourt offense.

From 2017 to the day Campazzo left, Real was among the Top 5 EuroLeague teams per offensive rating every season. But when the last offensive maestro left, Real have changed.

Pablo Laso made an incredible adjustment.

He completely switched the direction of his team. In the first 10 games of the 2020-21 season, Real was the 5th best by offensive rating and ranked 11th by defensive rating.

What happened later? Real finished the season as the 2nd best defensive and 11th best offensive EuroLeague team, per BBallytics.

The myth about Real as the offensive-oriented team is gone now. Look at how they won games against Top 8 teams keeping their opponents below 70 points.

Zenit 85-64 Olympiacos 75-67 UNIKS 85-68 CSKA 71-65 Fenerbahce 70-69

Real managed to significantly improve the offense this year, becoming the 6th best team per offensive rating. On top of that, Madrid has the best defensive rating in the EuroLeague.

But in the last 3 of 4 EuroLeague games, some indicators already were alarming. Especially the way Real went into an early slump in those games.

Look at their halftime scores of their last 3 of 4 games:

Barcelona 31-52 (11/32 FG, 0/3 3FG); Fenerbahce 17-27 (7/30 FG, 2/14 3FG); Olympiacos 24-38 (8/33 FG, 4/20 3FG).

They fought tooth and nail (right, Vincent?) to bounce back in a tough victory over Olympiacos.

But Real went into the swamp of Istanbul, ending with the all-time low 17 halftime points and second-worst 51-point performance vs. Fenerbahce.

Walter Tavares is playing probably his best season with Real, averaging career-high 12.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.1 steals (career-high), and 20.7 player performance index rating (career-high).

You can't ask for more from Guerschon Yabusele, who's scoring 11.9 points per game on 59% 2-point and 39% 3-point shooting in his rookie year with Real jersey.

But Real's backcourt lacks elite consistency.

34-year old Sergio Llull still leads it. He's averaging 8.04 field goals per game, 2nd most in Real, after Yabusele.

However, he's making only 28.2% 2-point and 28.7% 3-point shots, averaging 7.2 points per game (the lowest since 2008-09) on a 4.4 performance index rating (the lowest since rookie year).

In all five losses Real suffered this EuroLeague season, Llull averaged 8 points on 22.6% field goal shooting and 10.6 FG attempts.

Real are losing not because of Sergio Llull.

Rudy Fernandez, who plays a crucial role in Real's offense in the 4th quarter, turns 36 in April.

Fabien Causeur, second in Real's 4th quarter points, is 34.

Thomas Heurtel turns 33 in April.

Llull is 34.

Nigel Williams-Goss, 27, was supposed to become that offensive spark to give fresh energy to Real's veterans. But Williams-Goss averages 6.4 points on 29.4% 3-point shooting and still didn't answer the question if he's ready to orchestrate the title contender team.

Causeur is playing his highest-scoring season in Madrid, and Heurtel has been performing his best since 2019, but they almost hit the ceiling.

Most of them, including Llull, could be very efficient in limited roles as offensive supporters behind an elite backcourt player of a championship team.

Currently, Real don't have youngsters who could take the torch from Luka or Facu. Therefore, Real have to look around with all these legendary players having their best years behind.

Tyler Dorsey, Elie Okobo, even Mike James, who are on expiring contracts, would boost every EuroLeague team.

But Shane Larkin, 29, is the biggest game-changer in 2022 free agency.

We're probably too harsh with the team, which recently went on a 9-game winning streak and was on the top of the EuroLeague.

But some concerning head-to-head records and low offensive numbers make us consider some things, especially when we're talking about the team which is built to win it all.

Obviously, Madrid's front office is aware of it, as you can see from their recent signings and upcoming targets. And if this Mundo Deportivo bomb is detonated in summer, the new Real project will turn into Los Galacticos.

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