Scariolo agrees with Bartzokas that there aren't enough young local players being produced and thinks that a system where a foreigner can be treated as a local player after several seasons in the youth ranks is flawed.
The day before the EuroLeague Championship Game, Olympiacos Piraeus head coach Georgios Bartzokas highlighted a serious problem that he thinks the current European basketball has to deal with. One of his colleagues agrees with him.
"There is a lack of production of new domestic players, in my opinion," Bartzokas said a week ago. Virtus Segafredo Bologna's specialist Sergio Scariolo shares a similar opinion.
According to Scariolo, top-level European teams face the big issue of having to rely on foreigners to achieve the same goals that otherwise would have been reached with locals.
"It's true, it's a fact and a serious problem. Since there's been the possibility of playing with the status of a local player despite not being born at the place or having spent the majority of their life there, players have been produced who have some presence – 2-3-4 seasons in the youth sectors – but they are not selectable," he said while talking with the local media before the Italian League (LBA) semifinal against Bertram Yachts Derthona Tortona.
"They often don't have that self-respect, that attachment to the shirt and those intangibles that are the cement of the teams," Scariolo continued. "When a team has a strong nucleus of local players, it has a sense of attachment and a willingness to make a higher effort. You can also get there in other ways but it clearly helps a lot."
Before coming to Italy, Scariolo coached in Spanish clubs for 14 years. Young players in Spain have to play 3 seasons in the country until the age of 18 to be considered locals in the Liga Endesa (ACB) regardless of their nationality.
Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.
