Going out with loot: Toma Hertel's tremendous journey to the Eurobasket final | Israel today

One of the players that this Eurobasket was also important to them on the personal side is Toma Hertel.

One of the best center backs in Europe had two nightmare seasons and this was his stage for a comeback.

The 33-year-old Frenchman is fighting at EuroBasket not only for the next contract and staying in the top but also for his respect after what he went through in the last two seasons.

He fights for his image no less than for professional respect.

The player will want to erase the last two seasons.

Not only did he not succeed professionally, he also suffered a heavy image blow.

He didn't finish the season in Real and Barcelona with almost no connection to basketball.

In the 20/21 season Arunas Yaskovicius came to coach the Catalans.

Hertel was not Charas's cup of tea who didn't like his defense and his attitude.

The professional tension between them was great and this was reflected in the position of the Frenchman in the group.

Nevertheless, what tipped the scales was a story unrelated to basketball.

Barca suspected that he was negotiating with the great rival Real Madrid and then in a very unusual act he was not allowed to board the team's private plane returning from a Euroleague game in Istanbul and was returned to Spain alone.

The explosion was big and after a long struggle and in the middle of the season he moved after the end of the transfer deadline in the Euroleague to Willerban to finish the season there.

Hertel.

What didn't work in the last two seasons works in the European Championship, photo: AFP

It is unclear whether Barca's suspicions were correct.

What is known is that last season he did wear the white of Real.

The thing is, there was no garden of roses waiting for him there either.

Again it all started in an away game in the Euroleague.

Real, which was then in a major professional slump, was surprisingly defeated by Panathinaikos in Athens.

After this game, Trey Thompkins and Hertel were dismissed from the team, accused of spending time together in the city against the team's rules. 

With or without connection after this move, there was a professional transformation in Real, who came out of the crisis in a big way to reach the Euroleague final and win the Spanish championship.

The two remained on the roster, but did not share any more games until the end of the season.

The episode at Real Madrid also ended, when the player got an image of someone who doesn't get along with coaches and is socially problematic.

To receive two such slaps and more from the two top Spanish women is not easy.

In the summer - the decline in ability and the scandals in which he was involved meant that the one who was considered a senior Euroleague coordinator did not receive offers.

When he already received an offer from the Russian Zenit St. Petersburg, which was kicked out of the Euroleague, he could not take it.

The French Federation announced before the championship that whoever will sign in Russia has finished his national team story.

In this problematic situation and after not playing basketball since April, he arrived at the European Championship.

The coach of France, Vincent Cola, actually believed in him and the missing center position in the team needed him.

It started off okay, but went on great.

Hertel regularly comes off the bench and replaces Andrew Alvisi.

At first it was an equal division, later the veteran center took over the position and proved that it was not a miracle.

Hertel leads France.

The veteran coordinator is waiting for Spain, photo: Getty Images

To demonstrate the change in numbers - the first three games: an average of five points and in all of them he scored a total of three three-pointers.

In the next four games: an average of 15 points and ten triples together.

The amount of minutes increased from 21 to 30.

We will not consider the eighth game in the semi-final against Poland statistically because it was a 40-point game in which he got quite a bit of rest before the final.

Hertel with an average of seven assists is fourth in the tournament in this category and beyond ability, France owes him a lot that it is still here.

His basket in the quarterfinals against Italy forced overtime which later translated into victory.

Whatever the result in the final against Spain, Hertel will leave the championship with a big trophy: a medal (it is not yet clear in what color), professional proof, the restoration of honor, a contract with a senior team that will surely come soon and no less important: from a certain stage in the tournament they stopped saying that France has a problem in the center position. 

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