F.C. Barcelona after Thomas Huertel’s injury
F.C. Barcelona after Thomas Huertel’s injury
The preparation games for the Fiba World Cup are taking their first victims. Between them the F.C. Barcelona’s point guard, Thomas Huertel, one of the most important offensive weapon for the Spanish club. The bad news is, after medical tests, the French will have to rest a couple of months. The good news is that he will be back this season and as well there are still 2 months till the beginning of the Euroleague and Liga ACB. So there is plenty of time to search for a solution.
Depending on how long Huertel’s recovery will take, Barca has different options. They can play rotating Kevin Pangos, Cory Higgins and Pau Ribas on the guard position at the beginning of the Euroleague waiting to see how it works. The other option, I think a better one is to sign a strong free-agent guard like Darius Adams, who is impressive on both sides of the court. The 3rd option is to add a decent guard who will take Thomas Huertel’s place only for the months of recovering from the injury.
The Euroleague schedule can also influence the decision because till the end of October when they will face Olimpia Milano away, F.C. Barcelona has only a difficult game, in the first round when they will meet in Istanbul, Anadolu Efes. After this opening clash, the Catalans will face only small teams, like Zenit, Alba Berlin, Crvena Zvezda and Valencia Basket, which can be beaten also in the absence of Huertel.
It depends as well on the budget the Azulgrana club wants to spend. They have invested a lot and it seems that the squad has the strongest lineup in the entire Euroleague. Without a doubt, experience and chemistry will provide huge results for them this season, if the injury list won’t start to grow.
Gratian Cormos
