The team I learned most about in recent days has been Qatar.
Thanks to a friend and colleague (won’t mention name here, but for the purpose
of this post let’s just call him JOHN).
John who has worked with the Qatar team says that while the team is loaded with
money, it is highly mismanaged The team is really an old team (some of
their stars are no longer willing to put in the hard work, and have been
spoiled by money). I asked John, what
is Qatar’s plan given the restrictions FIBA has set with eligibility (e.g. must
have passport by 16 years old). His
answer - simple (which was surprising boarding on scandalous). Qatar is
currently recruiting 14 and 15 year old boys from Africa, Serbia (or wherever
they can find players) and making them citizens on the spot. While a
questionable practice, under FIBA rules it’s totally legit. So watch out for
Qatar in the next few years. But John and I have doubts
with their approach and strategy. All the money in the world does not buy you
good management, which Qatar is ridiculously bad at. This team can’t even get
the color right of which uniform to bring. It is such a contrast to working
with Gilas' professional management which thinks of every detail. Qatar on the
other hand just mails you a check and leaves you to do the rest.
Now back to the game, John's recommendationwas to play zone. Qatar is a bad shooting team. The other
thing he noted was being an old team with a short rotation and heavily dependent
on Jarvis, they will tire out, especially if you play quick and throw waves of
fresh legs on them. As I watched the
game unfold in front of me, what my friend just told me happened. I told him dude you were right. He laughs and says maybe I should be a scout :)
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