Valentyn Melnychuk

A Battle for Pride

Basketball is not football, a sport in which Christiano Ronaldo and his national teammates are accustomed to frightening their European opponents. With the big orange ball, it is only the second time Portugal gets to a Final Round of a EuroBasket. So the main goal will be to show all basketball fans that the qualification did not happen by chance, but that it was the a well deserved prize for a tough qualifying campaign. In the Group B, Portugal had to face teams like Israel, Bosnia & Herzegovina and F.Y.R. of Macedonia. Those nations, which have a long and rich past in European basketball, were beaten fair and square in the Qualifying Round by Portugal, as evidenced by their 20+ win over Israel in the final game. Now, at last in the same "playground" with the top European basketball countries, the Portuguese National Team does not have anything to lose. The team coached by Valentyn Melnychuk will need to go on the court and concentrate, play hard and stay focused even if the learning process gets a bit harsh. But, above all, Portugal should take advantage of the quality of the opposition to learn and improve. Apart from that, they also need to enjoy the moment. That will be the solution to make Portugal a regular EuroBasket final round participant.   

Biggest EuroBasket Success

It was in 1951. More than half a century ago… Portugal went to Paris (France) and played the Final Round of the European Championship. After seven games, the Portuguese came away with two triumphs. Eighteen teams took part in this Championship and Portugal finished a15th position.  Before 1951, Portugal only played in friendly games. It took 56 years, to make in another Final Round. An eternity for Portuguese hoops fans…

Biggest EuroBasket Disaster

Since Portugal never had great success, it can also be said that the country never had great disasters… But if the 1951 European Championship stands out as the biggest success, the Qualification Round for the 1983 European Championship in France was undoubtedly the worst performance for Portugal. As so many times before, Portugal did not qualify. Worse, the qualifying round was played in Lisboa (Portugal). Expectations were raised, but in the end, Portugal lost all of the five games they played. Such a bad result was unexpected after the first two games (versus Sweden and Germany) which were very close. But after those early disappointments, Portugal just lost track and collapsed.

Best Individual Performance/Best Player of All Time

Carlos Lisboa, once as the best Portuguese player ever, was a terrific outside shooter, very quick and he did not need much space to shoot. Born in 1958, Lisboa had  almost perfect mechanics. He won many championship titles in Portugal playing for Sporting Lisboa and Queluz, but it was when he was with Benfica Lisboa that his performances went sky high. He was the National MVP and Best Scorer on many previous occassions, but the performance of this 1.90 m shooting guard in the European Clubs competitions made him feared by opponents. With the national squad, he was the go to guy and as a result, defenses revolved their schemes on stopping Lisboa. For many games he carried the team on his shoulders, but unfortunately for Portugal, the rest of the players did not perform at the same level. If he still played today, Portugal would be among the 10 best teams in Europe. 

Scouting Report

Portugal plays fast. In EuroBasket 2007, that will also have to be their way of playing. It’s going to be hard, because Portuguese players will face bigger and stronger opponents as well as more experienced players. Their opposition is certainly more accustomed to playing in leagues much more competitive than the Portuguese championship. To run, Portugal needs to win the battle under the boards, and the Portuguese centers aren’t as big and strong as their opposition. The team will have to defend as far from their basket as possible. They will need to box out properly to be able to run and score some easy points. In the half court game, Portugal has guys who can shoot well from outside, but not many who can slash to the basket, apart from Paulo Cunha. The inside-outside game functioned well in the qualifying round. There was always plenty of space to take open shots from the outside. The ability of guys like Francisco Jordão and Miguel Miranda to shoot from three creates some problems for opponents. The big body of Elvis Évora enables him to get inside position to either score or dish the ball out. Any of the Portuguese guards who’ll be present can shoot well from behind the arc and the same applies to the guys from the 2 and 3 positions. No problem there. The difficulty will be (besides height and weight) the ability to maintain defensive pressure throughout the game. Portuguese players usually lack consistency on defense. In this EuroBasket, they could get quickly punished for doing that.

Likely Squad

The squad for Spain will not be much different than the one that achieved qualification in the summer of 2006. Filipe Da Silva and Miguel Minhava will divide minutes at the point guard position. Èlvis Èvora will take most of the minutes at center because the other options at that position are a bit weak. Francisco Jordão is the perfect option to play at power forward. The spots which will give more options to coach Melnychuk, are the 2 and 3. There, Portugal has a bunch of players who can perform. The ones in the best shape will get more minutes. Paulo Cunha, Sergio Ramos, Nuno Marçal and João Santos all know what to do and how to do it. Portugal will hope they can bring as much intensity on the floor as possible. The spot available for the naturalized player is now being well thought. Carlos Andrade is the first in line, as he played great during the qualifying round. But João Gomes or Ian Stanback could also be considered . Another question to be answered is the possibility of adding one or two young players like Antonio Pires or Claudio Fonseca to give them experience.
 
Prediction

EuroBasket 2007 will be no doubt be a difficult task for Portugal. But at the same time, EuroBasket is a competition that should keep everybody on the team focused. One of the biggest problems in Portuguese basketball is precisely that: mental strength and concentration. But, in this competition, that shouldn't be a problem because all the players are eager to prove they can compete against the best of Europe. Things can work very well when players are highly motivated. Nevertheless it would be utopist to expect better than a 12th – 16th place finish

Last 10 FIBA Events

2006 - World Championship Saitama: Did not qualify
2005 - EuroBasket Belgrade: Did not qualify
2004 - Olympics Athens: Did not qualify
2003 - EuroBasket Stockholm: Did not qualify
2002 - World championship Indianapolis: Did not qualify
2001 - EuroBasket Istanbul: Did not qualify
2000 - Olympics Sydney: Did not qualify
1999 - EuroBasket Paris: Did not qualify
1998 - World Championship: Athens Did not qualify
1997 - EuroBasket Barcelona: Did not qualify