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Real Madrid: From one golden generation to another

Real Madrid: From one golden generation to another

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5 Mins read

Geoff Gillingham

Real Madrid: From one golden generation to another

For Real Madrid, the end of the 2022-23 season provided a hint of déjà vu. Just like they did in 2014-15, Los Blancos found themselves in the championship games of both the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the Adidas Next Generation Tournament. And, as happened in 2015, Real came away with both trophies on the same day.

Back then, Real defeated Olympiacos Piraeus to become European champion thanks to double-digit scoring nights from Jaycee Carroll, Andres Nocioni, Sergio Llull and Sergio "Chacho" Rodriguez. While Carroll and Nocioni have both hung up their sneakers, Llull and Chacho played key roles in the 2023 success against, curiously enough, Olympiacos.

The 36-year-old Rodriguez turned back the clock with the title on the line, pairing 15 points with 9 rebounds, while it was the 35-year-old Llull who hit the game-winning shot – his only basket of the night – with 3.1 seconds left. The 38-year-old Rudy Fernandez also played in 2015, scoring 7 points; in 2023, he had 3.

A few hours earlier on championship Sunday in Kaunas, Real's U18s were busy defeating the U18 Next Generation Select Team 71-60 in the ANGT Championship Game. It was the same story as in Madrid in 2015, when the U18 team of Real downed U18 Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade 73-70. That day, Los Blancos' quartet of Jonathan Barreiro (19), Santi Yusta (15), Luka Doncic (14) and Emanuel Cate (11) reached double figures in scoring en route to becoming champions.

Doncic later went on to play a key role in Real's 2018 EuroLeague title triumph, including scoring 15 points in the championship game against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, while Yusta received a winners' medal after appearing in 16 games that season. Given the difficulty of reaching the first team for a club like Real, that would have been viewed as a major success by those in charge of the basketball section.

Fast-forward to 2023 and there are a few candidates from this year's ANGT title-winning squad who may follow the same path. While the 18-year-old Jan Vide recently committed to UCLA in the NCAA and therefore won't be in Los Blancos' plans for next year, he shined in the championship game with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, earning MVP honors in the process.

There are a pair of 17-year-olds who have been spoken about in European basketball for some time now – Hugo Gonzalez and Egor Demin – and they both rose to the occasion to help Real become this year's ANGT champion. Gonzalez, one of the great hopes of Spanish basketball, recorded 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks in an incredibly complete performance, whereas Demin came close to a double-double with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in 39:13 minutes, meaning he rested for just 47 seconds.

Such is Real's confidence in the duo of Gonzalez and Demin that both have already appeared in the Spanish League this season, with the former making four appearances and the latter one. They will soon be hoping to follow in the footsteps of 2021 ANGT Finals MVP Eli Ndiaye, who at age 18 played in 15 EuroLeague games this season and became the youngest-ever starter in the EuroLeague Championship Game. The future is certainly looking bright for Real, even if it was the veterans who stole the show in the championship game.

Aside from Vide, Gonzalez and Demin, two 16-year-olds – Mitar Bosnjakovic and Ismaila Diagne – also made their mark in the 2023 ANGT Championship Game. Bosnjakovic, a native of Serbia, ended the game with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal, whereas Diagne had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double that also included 1 block. They, too, could find themselves in and around the first team in the coming seasons, with Diagne having already made his first-team debut in the Spanish League.

All of this is to say that, while Real's 2023 EuroLeague victory was characterized by the veteran players, there is a group of youngsters who are waiting in the wings waiting for their chance to explode. Ndiaye has already displayed a fearlessness that comes with youth, and it would not be a surprise to see the likes of Gonzalez or Demin get more game time next year as Los Blancos look to retain their title.

Real, winner of three of the last four editions of the ANGT, has one of the best academies in not just Europe but the world, which should ensure that its production line of talent continues to bear fruit. Moving on from legendary players is always a tough task, but with Llull, Chacho and Rudy all up there in years, fans of Los Blancos can rest easy in the knowledge that a new golden generation is on the way.