There is a spirit of renewal in Valencia, an air of ambitious growth that is not only reflected in the excellent results at the start of the season, the 11 victories for two defeats that only a stomach virus that seriously affected the squad stopped last week with setbacks. in Badalona and Milan. Not far from La Fonteta (and the impressive L'Alqueria) the Roig Arena is emerging, which will be “the best pavilion in Europe”, a basketball temple that in a few months will be the pillar of a club that looks beyond. This Tuesday, on the eighth day of the Euroleague, Real Madrid's streak will be challenged with Alex Mumbrú at the controls, seven new faces on the field and a rejuvenation in the offices in the figures of Enric Carbonell, general director, and Luis Arbalejo, sports director.
Last season, Valencia Basket finished eighth in the ACB, but with its worst win-loss balance ever.. A toll for an exultant Euroleague at times, which, however, did not take him anywhere. A learning too. “Valencia needed a change at the squad level and in its club structure,” Arbalejo, who upon his arrival had to go hand in hand with Mumbrú due to the traumatic departure of one of the absolute protagonists of the recent past, explains to EL MUNDO. none like Bojan Dubljevic.
The objective was to build a squad with muscle and experience to face the two competitions with guarantees.. And set the challenges: “To face the Cup and the ACB playoffs as seeds and be alive in the Euroleague, where there are only two budgets lower than ours, until the end. And, from there, see if we can aspire to something more. “We dream big”. However, losing at home on the first day did not seem to be the best of omens.
“Equal to the prop man and the star”
“I am very fond of that defeat at home against Girona. The management that was done at all levels, coaching staff, club and locker room for the following streak was fantastic…”. Of the next 12 games, they only lost one, against Efes, equaling their best historical start in the Euroleague. “Now there is a peak with Madrid, Barça, Baskonia and Panathinaikos, we 'only' have two casualties, Hermansson and Jared Harper, but it will not be easy,” says the sports director who arrived from Alicante of LEB ORO (he was also a scout for the Jazz of the NBA) in his first experience in the highest continental competition after a brilliant career in which he climbed all the steps of basketball and with a philosophy based on “emotional intelligence”.
“I believe a lot in people. In which human beings are above positions or salaries. I have done it in every step, from the training categories to EBA, LEB and ACB or being an NBA scout.. Behind a coach, a player or a physical trainer there is a person. And you have to treat the kit player the same as the star of the team.. I've always done that. It's my seal,” summarizes Arbalejo, who was also Zaragoza's youth academy director for six years.
Chris Jones and Semi Ojeleye.
His summer, hand in hand with Mumbrú and Carbonell (the general director arrived in 2022), was intense in the Valencia offices. “Dubljevic has been the greatest player who has passed through Valencia Basket, but he had been there for 11 seasons and we considered that we had to go to more physical profiles, with more blocking ability, more aggressive on the rebound. Other important players also come out in that philosophy (Prepelic, Van Rossom, Jasiel Rivero…). The seven (Brandon Davies, Semi Ojeleye, Nathan Reuvers, Kassius Robertson, Damien Inglis, Boubacar Touré and Stefan Jovic) who arrive are in that profile. To make a squad that is tougher, longer and more capable of enduring 80 games,” he analyzes, focusing on three pillars: Chris Jones and the signings of Brandon Davies and Ojeleye, “complex operations, almost all of Europe wanted them.”
Despite the initial good feelings, the club's sights go further. “I am one of those who thinks that for big things to happen you have to think big. It's been 25 years since the last Cup and almost 10 years since the League. We dream of winning a title in the short and medium term,” challenges Arbalejo, who highlights two key objectives: “Always be a leading team in ACB and we would love to have a license in the Euroleague so as not to be on the edge and to give us that peace of mind in the medium long term, which conditions the template”. For that, the transformation. And an argument as powerful as the Roig Arena, whose inauguration is scheduled for the end of 2024.