|
Home
- Rudy Mbemba is
back in town
|
|
|
|
|
Rudy Mbemba is back in town
|
|
November
19, 2009
After
winning the Swedish championships in 2008, Rudy Mbemba moved to Italy,
where he had a good season in Lega 2 with Gruppo Tibaldi Soresina. From
there he moved to Greece to play for DASH Peristiri, but things did not
go as planned. After a couple of disappointing games he returned to
Sweden and was signed by Solna Vikings, the 2008 champions and 2009
finalists.
Rudy
is a crowd-pleaser
Opinions differ concerning Rudy Mbemba, as they always do about
spectacular and individually orientated players. Before Jonas Jerebko´s
breakthrough, many fans believed Mbemba would the first Swede in NBA,
but it was not meant to be. Instead, the talented guard, still only 22
years old, will be a valuable asset to Basketligan in general and Solna
in particular. With Mbembas understanding of the game, his quickness,
passing skills and scoring potential, it´s showtime again, and the
crowds are happy. Basketligan has not been able to fill the seats
this season. One of the reasons is lack of outstanding players.
Mbemba
shines, Stockholm suffers
After his first two games with Solna, Mbemba has taken his team´s lead
in scoring and assists, with an excellent field goal percentage. In
Tuesday night´s game against his former club, 08 Stockholm, he had a
great evening, excelling with his entire repertoire offensively but
also doing a good job in defense. Mbemba collected a double-double with
15 points and 12 assists. Poor Stockholm, with only one win in their
first 13 games, was able to keep the loss down to 73-91against a strong
Solna team. Despite the uphill, Stockholm has no intention to change
their strategy to play with an entirely Swedish squad, even though they
lost several quality players coming into the season. However, long
losing streaks are always a mental burden, and the team is beginning to
suffer. Attitude on court is what coach Stefan Pettersson wants most of
all from his players.
-They need to “go to work” every night, every game, says Pettersson.
Defense
compensates for length
Solna on the other hand, with the addition of Mbemba, once again
emerges as a potential finalist. The back-court is strong, with
Mbemba, Andrew Mitchell, Icelandic international Helgi Magnusson and
Swedish star Martin Pahlmblad. Playmaking and long rage scoring is not
the problem. Their concerns lie elsewhere. One is the lack of a really
big man, as it has been for a couple of years. Solna has compensated
for that with a smart and tough, some say brutal, defense. One of their
trademarks, adapted under Finnish coach Pekka Salminen, has been the
doubleteam on low-post, which always comes from baseline, a defensive
play that has created lots of opponent turnovers. Under two years with
Salminen, one must say that Solna has executed their defensive strategy
extremely well and produced results. They won in 2008 and were
runner-ups in 2009. Their key players in the paint during those years
have been Solna icon and captain Lesli Myrthil, along with
Lithuanian center Saulius Dumbilauskas. Those two have to keep up their
good job in both ends also this year if Solna wants to go far.
Team
play is the key
The other concern is about the importance of team play, another
characteristic of Solna, a fact that coach Björn Hjalmarsson is well
aware of. Hjalmarsson, assistant coach under Salminen, took over as
head from Icelands national team coach Siggi Ingimundarsson, who this
year replaced the Finn, but was sent home after only a few weeks. With
a player like Mbemba in the team, things will have to change in some
extent. Solna cannot afford to abandon one of their major strengths,
the team effort, and rely on individual performances entirely.
The question is, will Rudy Mbemba have to adjust to
the Solna style, or must the style of play adjust to him?
- It´s both give and take, says Hjalmarsson. We have to stick to our
team concept, that´s for sure. On the other hand, a guy like Mbemba
needs, and must have space to execute his skills. His presence of
course leads to a different balance in the team, so we are in the
process of changing a few things, mainly offensively, to adapt to our
new situation. However, the basic plan is still to maintain the team
effort that has been so successful for us.
The
final four
The other three semifinal favorites this season in Basketligan are
Norrköping, Plannja and Sundsvall. On forehand, Norrköping and Plannja
were named the title candidates, but Sundsvall and Solna want to have
their say in the matter.
Sundsvall, runner-ups in 2008 and champions this spring, lost several
of their most important players, including Alex Wesby and Australian
Liam Rush, outstanding player in the final series. With several new
additions, both Swedish and foreign, Sundsvall again has a competitive
team. As in the previous years they are coached by young but
experienced duo Peter Äqvist and Pontus Frivold. They know what it
takes to be in the heat and how to get there. Sundsvall is at present
11-3 in position 3 in Basketligan, better than most had expected.
Plannja, that team that gathers the biggest crowds
in Basketligan, has won five national titles in the last 10 years. They
are hungry for more. Last season they were knocked out in the
quarterfinals, which was a disappointment for everyone in Luleå. Coach
Mattias Kenttä, who does his second year as head, has a good squad to
play with. The bulk of his roster stayed and Plannja managed to recruit
young star Christopher Ryan, rookie of the year last season, Swedish
national center Johan Äkesson and American Brandon McKnight. Plannja
has so far won 10 gamed and lost 2. They are going for gold. Plannja
certainly has the players and the experience needed.
Norrköping was everybody´s favorite last year, but despite a very
strong line-up and a new arena, the first one built in Sweden just for
basketball purposes, they stumbled in the spring. Norrköping was almost
eliminated in quarterfinals by Jämtland and then fell against Sundsvall
in the semifinals. Some argue that the team didn´t last the season due
to their participation in the Baltic Basketball League. With all the
games and the frequent traveling, there was too little time for
practice. This year, with Basketligan increased to 40 games, they again
double with the Baltics. It will be interesting to see if they have
learned their lesson and go all the way this season. Anyway, coach
Kelly Grant has no shortage of players or experience. They lost star
guard Andrew Pleick to Borås, but landed Swedish international
Micke Lindqvist from 08 Stockholm, and still have competent players
like Kenneth Grant, Joakim Kjellbom, George Gervin
and Fred Drains.
The situation in Basketligan:
1.
|
Solna
|
11-2
|
|
|
2.
|
Norrköping
|
11-2
|
|
|
3.
|
Sundsvall
|
11-3
|
|
|
4.
|
Plannja
|
10-2
|
|
|
5.
|
Örebro
|
8-6
|
|
|
6.
|
Borås
|
6-7
|
|
|
7.
|
Gothia
|
5-8
|
|
|
8.
|
Uppsala
|
5-9
|
|
|
9.
|
Södertälje
|
2-9
|
|
|
10.
|
Jämtland
|
1-11
|
|
|
11.
|
Stockholm
|
1-12
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our Partners
|
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|