Gennady Shetinin. About Shanghai, Chinese team and his players

On July 24 and 31 in the sport school of Kalininsky district Gennady Shetinin, who was the head coach of Spartak’s youth and junior teams during last season will review the players for our junior team. One week ago Gennady  returned from China where his U17 Russian team took part in the Chinese-Russian games.

Gennady Shetinin: «We were impressed by the organization of the games and Shanghai city. Shanghai is a modern, frankly, hi-tech city, stuffed with skyscrapers, with a population of 24 million people. But there is no feeling of having such a big amount of people in one town. We had a little free time, but when it was, we had excursions, various events, including a trip on the ship, and we were able to make some impression of the city.

Our opponent - Chinese team has made a very good impression. Contrary to the belief that the Chinese people can’t be high, in its roster there are high players, and good point guards. The Chinese were preparing for the tournament for a year, in preparation constantly worked together, we worked together in just 6 days. For me, working at such a brief and concise preparation and the short-lived tournament was a very rewarding experience. On the third day of the camp we had to define the roster for the games, although this was an element of the lottery-it was impossible to predict who is in what form will be in a couple of days. So in this case it was necessary to guys not be relaxed after the first couple of days, when they showed themselves, and continued to work on. Not all decisions about the roster were correct.

In the first match we did not expect such a tough defense from the opponent, what they showed. The Chinese did the emphasis on defensive play, work in the legs, and it was very hard to overcome the pressure from the opponents ' side. The match we lost in additional five minutes. The guys were in good mood before the game, but not everybody were able to show what they can do - excitement and fatigue after the flight affected. Referees were qualified, but Chinese, although they «did not kill us». The whole game we were in the role of catching-up, but we could win the main time: one second before the end our Sergei Balashov got the ball in three-second area, but made a hasty throw - there was no time and smeared. And in extra time, everything went wrong.

The second game was also difficult, although we took the lead from the start. I.e. in comparison with the first match game scenario has changed a little bit. In the fourth quarter we led 6 points, but the implementation of the free throws at this time was at the level of 33%. In this regard, at the last minutes deficit in points appeared, they scored and we could not. In the end, we were trying to catch up, hurry, made mistakes and lost.

The third match was the most difficult by the intensity and aggressiveness of the game. Vladislav Egorov had a brain concussion: he was faced with a rival head when fought for the ball. Guys showed themselves as a team and won 20 points. I thought the Chinese were not expected from us such fight to the end, they tried to change the course of the game, to break it, but our guys did not let them do it.

As for our Spartak’s players, I would say that Sergei Balashov did very well. In the season, he could not show himself in full: after the injury he was not ready physically. Ilya Popov was the main center in our junior team, Balashov was in shadow, and we failed to fully appreciate him. But in any case it is clear that Sergei has a good head, he understands the game and should be playing. In general, Balashov justified the hopes and became the main center of the national team.

I have many questions to Vladislav Egorov about his game. Ilya Usoltsev spent a lot of time on the position of point guard, but I am not satisfied at this position not with him, nor  with Lisovsky. Not satisfied with the quality of decision making them on the court. The point guard is the head of the team, but these guys are not yet ready for the game and to new requirements. In general, they need to work.

From July 15 guys from the youth and junior teams of Spartak and those who want to show themselves and get in the team began their preparation for the season. Egorov, Usoltsev and Balashov were given a week of rest after returning from China. As I have already noted, Egorov had a concussion. Usoltsev had back problems, in China Balashov played a lot but in the season he hadn’t  such quantity of game time, and he also needed treatment. Usoltsev and Egorov trained in the States before going to National team and there was no time for rest for them. So they were given time to rest, treatment and recovery before the beginning of preparation to the new season.