You don’t need to know anything about Spanish Basketball and the ACB to enjoy the roller-coaster ride of our Spanish blogger and big friend of badaball.com Fran Martinez.. Whatever the country and whatever the quality of the league, there is always the emotion of watching one of the smaller clubs battle it out for survival. Fuenlabrada crazy, Every Year Fran is praying his team can survive in the best league in Europe and even in his second language, you have to absolutely love this roller-coaster ride. Two teams are going down into the second division. Will Fuenla be one of them? British Basketball fans, cross your fingers for Fran!
And for those of you who have chosen an ACB team to follow in 2008/09 via our El Crack Message Forum - read about how one of your rivals is doing.
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It seems that Fuenla is making a great effort to get money to equalize the offer and keep Saul.
Rumours: Signing Oleson (one of the best players of LEB) is one of the objectives, but his club ask for 300,000 euros as buyout and we can pay only 100,000.
That's the typical situation when Estudiantes or another club comes, pays and get our idea.
FORWARDS
Sandes stays.
The same than I hope for Vasic.
Paraiso stays.
We have to find the Fountain of Youth to avoid the use of baby walker for ancient people.
Rumours: Fuenlabrada will play with three guards (that's my idea).
In the paint (fasten your belts) Guardia goes to Bilbao. We have "derecho de tanteo", but we have no money to equalize every offer.
Goodbye Salva.
Jorge Garcia has an offer from Alicante and could play in LEB league.I think he is the perfect fourth center for a top level team and he will play in LEB... I hope not to have to say goodbye :(
Wideman... he is not under contract and we have not extended him. Estudiantes was about to sign him but the thing got stopped.
PJ Ramos. Our Puerto Rican prospect returns to the team and he will be the tallest player of the league again. The world record of making 5 fouls in the shortest time period is in danger again....
We have signed Leo Mainoldi (another LEB man!). HE is an Argentinean power forward whose best weapon is scoring tHree pointers. Jorge Garcia substitute, I think.
We have signed Antonio Bueno too. Eight years ago he played for Fuenlal oaned by Real Madrid. Then we played against him and suffered his ugly game style. I don't like him, but somebody has to replace Guardia.
CONCLUSION
At this moment I don't like the team for the next year.
Fuenlabrada aka "The Oranges" and Their Mascot
07 July Worrying Times
Summer recap Hello everybody! After a some hard work days, a long trip in Greece and some surrealist scenes, I have time to write about Fuenlabrada!
First of all, we changed the coach. As you know, Coach Casimiro saidgoodbye in the last but one game of the season. Shocking? Not at all,during the season we had seen some things that made us think about his leaving. He signed by Estudiantes (boooooooo)
Well, we have a new Coach. His name is Luis Guil, and he was the boss of the junior teams of the club, besides the Coach of the National Team under 19 (Ricky Rubio and his "friends") who got the Bronze medalin the last European Championship U19.
He is a hard guy but I have never seen him coaching a team of meninstead kids. I hope the best for this bid of the club but I am not very sure about the risk we have taken. We are going to talk about the players now.
GUARDS
Ferran stays. He is old yet. I think we should sign a starter point guard and use Ferran as bench man. Chris Hernandez leaves. Casimiro wants him for Estu.
There are rumours about signing Jorge Jimenez, one of the best players of LEB league. It would be a multi-year contract and this season he will be loaned to Illescas, where his brother Juanin plays, in LEB league. It would be a great idea for a youngster, but Jorge is 27 years old, and we could enjoy his downhill... I don't see it clear at all.
Radivojevic stays. I hope the best for him and wait for a good season.It would be VERY difficult for him make a worst season. Vasic stays. I hope he got some minutes to play. Expensive sparring for trainings.
Tomas returns to Real Madrid. I think it would be great watching Tomasnailing three pointers to Barcelona or Euroleague teams, he is a little part of Fuenlabrada. Saul. He has a good offer coming form Valencia.
Now I will explain what is "tanteo". There are some players whose clubs have "derecho detanteo". When the contract of these players expires, their clubs have an option to keep then. If any other club has an offer for them, they have to show this offer to ACB. Then, his current club has 10 days to equalize the offer and keep the player.
01 May Time to Say Goodbye
Fuenlabrada played the last game of the season at home yesterday. It was a strange game, after all the day working I was tired, but Iwas not the only one.
People was bored and did paper plains throwingthem to the court. The game was equalized in spite of the few fun we had. Bilbao won because Weis knew how to stop Wideman and Recker scored 6 triples.
Besides, they were fighting to get the sixth place in the standings table. We fighted for... nothing.
It was a sad day too. It was the last day we will see in Fuenlabrada some players, in example Marko Tomas will return to Real Madrid.
He has been one of our best players, especially in the mid-season, when Saul was lost and we needed a leader.
Another player who likely will not play for us anymore is Saul Blanco.
Rumours say he will still play in orange... but for Pamesa Valencia...
Final ACB Standings 07/08
1 Real Madrid 29 5
2 DKV Joventut 25 9
3 AXA FC Barcelona 24 10
4 TAU Cerámica 22 12
5 Pamesa Valencia 22 12
6 iurbentia Bilbao B. 21 13
7 Akasvayu Girona 21 13
8 Unicaja 17 17
9 Kalise Gran Canaria 16 18
10 Cajasol 14 20
11 Ricoh Manresa 14 20
12 Polaris World Murcia 13 21
13 Alta Gestión Fuenla. 13 21
14 MMT Estudiantes 12 22
15 CB Granada 12 22
16 ViveMenorca 12 22
17 Grupo Capitol V. 11 23
18 Grupo Begar León 8 26
Tom Wideman should be extended, but I have a bad feeling about it. I think he will go to another team, and we will bring back PJ Ramos. And in the last moment of the nigth the biggest new of the day was announced:
Our Coach, Luis Casimiro, will not stay with us in the nexts eason. Time to renew all the team... we will sign another Coach, who should be a guy able to adapt himself to the peculiarities of our small club... not an easy person to find :)
I will keep you informed!!
photo design by Karl Southern
