Alex Mumbru is the man to beat. According to media reports, the Spaniard is on the verge of becoming the new national team coach. We introduce the 45-year-old
The name of the former Spain international has been circulating through the rumor mill since Sunday. It is a personnel matter that few had expected. At least there were no points of contact.
Mumbru spent his entire career in Spain, playing for Badalona, Real Madrid and Bilbao for the last nine seasons of his career between 1997 and 2018. He was relegated there in his farewell season, but immediately took over as coach in the second division, immediately leading the Basques back to the ACB and finishing a respectable ninth in his final season.
Valencia then came knocking, where Mumbru even coached in the EuroLeague, even though the team missed out on the play-offs twice. The 45-year-old was sacked after the penultimate EuroLeague matchday due to an embarrassing home defeat against ASVEL, which basically buried Valencia’s play-off hopes.
Mumbru was also part of Spain’s golden generation, who won numerous medals at major tournaments. Mumbru won a total of five medals, including gold at the 2006 World Cup and EuroBasket 2009.
Alex Mumbru: Defense is his hobbyhorse
The Spaniard has plenty of experience at the highest level, both as a player and as a coach. There are also clear patterns to his style. Above all, Mumbru stands for stability in defense. “They defended the opponent’s pick’n’roll hard and aggressively and tried to force a lot of turnovers,” said Lukas Feldhaus, currently an analyst at MagentaSport, about the style Valencia played under Mumbru.
“His teams want to put a lot of pressure on the player with the ball, but also close down the middle and are more likely to shoot threes.” There are certain parallels here with the DBB team under Herbert, who also played physically and were keen to close down the zone. “In terms of style, that could be a good fit, as Herbert also tended to rely on more mobile big men,” believes Feldhaus.
In Valencia, Mumbru relied above all on his stars, mostly point guard Chris Jones and Brandon Davies. According to Feldhaus, it was also noticeable how deep Valencia’s rotations were, with all twelve players usually being used “He relied on a broad collective, which is typical of Spanish coaches. ”
Alex Mumbru: Great rotation, still room for improvement offensively
Mumbru used 15 players in at least twelve games in the EuroLeague, all of whom played an average of at least 13 minutes per game. It was probably also a result of the aggressive defense to always have fresh players on the court.
It shows that defence is prioritized, while the offence was somewhat neglected under Mumbru. “They played a lot through their stars. It wasn’t usually a complicated offense and they were usually rather mediocre,” says Feldhaus.
Mumbru’s appointment is not yet official, but according to the DBB, there will be a press conference tomorrow (Thursday) at which the new national coach will be introduced
