Even Marcin Gortat didn’t have such an entourage. The star comes to Poland

He is the youngest, the best paid and the most popular, and he will come to the national team training camp with a five-person entourage. Coach Igor Milicić is not afraid that the presence of Jeremi Sochan will violate the hierarchy in the Polish national team. – I’m sure we’ll work it out. We all want to win, regardless of our role on the team. Jeremi will have the same attitude – the coach tells Sport.pl.

The Polish national basketball team is getting ready for the Olympic qualifying tournament, which will be held in Valencia on July 2-7. Before they have a chance for historic success – basketball players last played at the Olympics in 1980 – coach Igor Milicić is starting to put together the puzzle that will soon turn into a strong team. There are a lot of pieces to put together – Jeremy Sochan, Mateusz Ponitka and Aleksander Balcerowski, who have not been in the squad for a long time after not very successful seasons, and the issue of choosing a naturalized player.

Jeremy Sochan has resumed training, resting and practicing in Malaga

Let’s start with Sochan, because it is his presence in the national team that electrifies fans the most. The 21-year-old Spurs winger took another step in his development last NBA season. He was tested as a playmaker, then he shined as a winger – in one of the league’s weakest teams, he averaged 11.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He played 74 matches, missing the end due to an injury. At the beginning of April, Sochan underwent arthroscopy of the left ankle joint.

The 203 cm tall basketball player has already returned to training. – There are no complications after the procedure. The doctors said I had to give it up because I would be better off for it in the long run. I’m not 100 percent ready yet, but I’ve been making rapid progress lately. I have already started running, I also do typical basketball exercises – he said recently in an interview with Interia.

Currently, Sochan is in Malaga, where the NBA has its training center. After the season, basketball players come there for active recreation – they relax, but they also have the opportunity to train. He presented reports on social media showing him performing basketball exercises.

Igor Milicić does not want to confine Jeremy Sochan to a rigid framework

Sochan is also in constant contact with Milicić. – I really like the commitment that Jeremi shows. Some time ago he asked me for guidelines on how to prepare to play in the national team to help us as much as possible. We talked, I sent him a script with our set of offensive plays and all the rules we follow in defense. At the same time, I asked him to tell me what situations he feels good in on the pitch, which is what we do with all national team players . We will try to include him in our system – the national team coach tells Sport.pl.

In San Antonio – despite experimenting with playmaking at the beginning of the season – Sochan most often plays as a tall winger, and this position is the weakest in the squad. How does Milicić see his role? – Jeremi, I’ll say it again, is such a versatile player that I don’t want to confine him to a rigid framework and focus on one role. He can help us on many levels and that’s something I really like.

– This is the characteristic of our team – different players can play in different positions and give us an advantage not only in one element – ​​adds the coach. – We want to use the versatility of our players both in attack and defense. Jeremy is the perfect piece to this puzzle. He can help us in defense, in fighting for rebounds, in one-on-one defensive play, in steals. And when attacking, he can finish actions, make a good pass, and play a counterattack. We will try to match it as best as possible. Without a doubt, his presence will be a great advantage.

Sochan will arrive at the training camp with quite an entourage

– The average fan certainly cannot expect Jeremy to perform at the level of 40 points and 20 rebounds – emphasizes the coach. “He will just help us in every way, he will make this team stronger. He can play in various defensive positions, he will collect the ball and drive a quick attack. Offensively, he can go to the perimeter and stretch the game if he is guarded by taller players, but he can also play closer to the hoop, with his back to the basket, if we create opportunities for him to play with a shorter opponent. Jeremi is also a great passer, he is a universal player. He will give us some good everywhere – just like Michał Sokołowski or Mateusz Ponitka.

The challenge of integrating Sochan into a well-coordinated and battle-hardened team does not end on the pitch. Due to the place where he plays (he is the only Polish player in the NBA), the money he earns ($5.3 million last season) and the popularity he has gained thanks to his unique personality, Sochan rises above the national team. At the same time, he will be its youngest player (he turned 21 on May 20), with only one appearance for the team (three years ago with Romania). He is to arrive at the training camp in Wrocław on June 17 with quite an entourage – he will be accompanied by two trainers, a cook checking the quality of food, a dietician and a security guard. The entire team will travel with Sochan to friendly matches and the tournament in Valencia – even Marcin Gortat, who joined the team as a recognized NBA player in 2009-15, did not have such support in the national team.

But Milicić is not afraid that it may have a negative impact on the team if one player operates under slightly different rules. – I’m sure we’ll work it out. We all want to win, regardless of our role on the team. Jeremi will have the same attitude, says the coach. – Additional people around him? These are normal things. We have been cooperating with San Antonio Spurs for two years, we are looking for the best solutions so that Jeremi can play for the national team and everyone will be comfortable. The fact that he will come with such a group of people may give us an advantage, additional coaches can help other players and bring additional quality to our work – says Milicić, and people around the team are also calm. – Jeremy, with his character and positive attitude towards everyone around him, is a trouble-free guy who is pleasant to work with – we hear.

Three naturalized players are already there. And in theory there can be five to choose from

For now, Milicić has appointed a wide team – it includes 27 basketball players and it can be half-jokingly said that it includes everyone who can play basketball and has a Polish passport. Speaking of passports – it is possible that the group from which the coach will be able to choose will be joined by other Americans: Kyle Guy (Lenovo Tenerife) and Malcolm Brogdon (Portland Trail Blazers), great point hunters in their teams, who have submitted documents for Polish nationality. Whether they will receive them in time to play in the Olympic qualifications is unknown. But Milicić must take their potential presence into account, and he can only choose one of the naturalized players.

– This is obviously not a comfortable situation – admits the coach. – We worked very hard in this aspect, the director of the national team, Łukasz Koszarek, did a great job in strengthening the team with a naturalized player and we finally found the optimal options. There is no point in talking about details in such circumstances, I can only reveal that if something changes, we will be ready to react.

For now, there are three naturalized players in the squad: shooting guard AJ Slaughter (Gran Canaria), tall winger Luke Petrasek ( Anwil Włocławek ) and center Geoffrey Groselle (Trefl Sopot). – When it comes to team building and the desired quality, I think that we will need a player who scores on the perimeter, a typical scorer, rather than a player who scores around the basket. But we will see what the situation will be like at the beginning of June, then we will make the best possible decision, says Milicić.

Sokołowski is already at the Olympics. Ponitka and Balcerowski are waiting

Some of the team members have already finished their league seasons, others are still fighting in the play-offs. The moods are different – Michał Sokołowski had a very good season in Napoli Basket: he won the Coppa Italia, became MVP of the final tournament, although his team did not advance to the play-offs. But thanks to this, there was an opportunity for the 32-year-old winger to strengthen the 3×3 national team and the effects of this move were great – the Poles with “Sokół” played an important role in qualifying for the Olympics.

Mateusz Ponitka, the leader and captain of the team, is in a worse mood. His season with Partizan Belgrade was unsuccessful. It started with an injury, then there was a lot of irregular play in the EuroLeague and averages at a low level of 2.4 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists. It was the 31-year-old winger’s weakest season – especially since Partizan did not advance to the EuroLeague play-offs and lost to Red Star Belgrade 0-3 in the Adriatic League final .

Center Aleksander Balcerowski, another pillar of the national team, also had difficult moments in Panathinaikos Athens. While his team is doing very well – it advanced to the Final Four of the EuroLeague and is in the final of the Greek League – the 23-year-old midfielder usually plays a marginal role in it. In the EuroLeague his averages are 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds during 8.1 minutes spent on the pitch, in the league he is only slightly better. – Regarding our leaders, I have no doubt that they will come to the training camp with great motivation – says Milicić. – After talking to Mateusz and Olek, I’m not worried about anything, I don’t think it’s a problem that they played less this season. We focus on preparing them optimally physically, we want them to be in top shape in a month. Mateusz has great experience, both he and Olek will receive the support of additional coaches to help them in terms of physical preparation at the end of the game in the club this season. We will rise to the challenge, the coach assures.

What will preparations for the tournament in Valencia look like? – The training camp in Wrocław will start on June 10, we will call up a maximum of 16 players. It all depends on the health situation of the players, we will see until when the national team players will play in their leagues. We have a preliminary plan, but when it comes to specific arrival dates, we will react on an ongoing basis – says Milicić. According to information from Sport.pl, Sochan, Ponitka and Balcerowski will arrive later at the training camp.

Igor Milicić sees Andrzej Mazurczak in the squad, although he talks about him in general terms

Among the players from the Polish league whose names mentioned in the context of the Polish national team electrify fans is Andrzej Mazurczak. The 31-year-old quarterback of the defending champion Kinga Szczecin, who is in great shape and performs excellently as a field general. Representation? In the fall of 2021, Mazurczak left the training camp dissatisfied with the marginal role Milicić assigned him, and then he was not called up. – It is important that the national team coach feels comfortable with the players he appoints. He clearly doesn’t feel comfortable with me, he said in an interview with SuperBasket at the beginning of 2023.

When Mazurczak finally got the call-up, he refused to play in the national team in the summer of 2023. – The absence of a called-up player from the squad for reasons other than health is a disappointment for me. I cannot understand that a player may not want to come to the national team – said Milicić in an interview with “Wprost”.

Now he sees Mazurczak in the national team, although he speaks very generally about his potential presence: – We want to have the best possible basketball players in the national team, and Andrzej has a great play-off, he plays very well. I called him into the broad squad, and what will happen next also depends on the players – whether they will feel up to sacrificing themselves for the national team. The staff has its own rules, hierarchy and energy. Andrzej is one of the players who can help us, but he is not the only one in this group. There are several players who have not played in recent national team matches, but I know they can help us. There are also preparations to choose the best team possible. There is no animosity, I am glad that we have many players in good shape.

Before the tournament in Valencia, the Poles will play five friendly matches – away games against Greece, Croatia and Brazil, and in Katowice against New Zealand and in Sosnowiec against the Philippines. In the Olympic qualifying tournament (July 2-7), Poles will play in a group with Finland and the Bahamas. From the six-team tournament, in which the Spanish are the favorites, only one team will get a ticket to Paris. – We know that in Valencia we will not be the favorite, but we will go there with energy and heart, we will try to do something cool – says Milicić.

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