Iran take important steps in right direction

TURIN (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - When a team is on the wrong end of a 78-53 scoreline, the positives would seem to be few, if any at all.

Yet for Iran, who lost to Greece in the opening game of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin on Monday, there was plenty to appreciate.

The Iranians have travelled to the north of Italy with a talented but inexperienced group of players. They are not favorites to win the OQT, yet that would have been the same had more veterans been in the squad.

"My goal is not to learn from it so that we can become better and then one day we are more successful against Asian teams. The goal is to become good enough to beat them one day and hopefully, this was a small step in that direction." - Iran coach Dirk Bauermann

So when his players are able to go out and compete with a European power like Greece for the entire first quarter and in other parts of the game as Iran did on Monday, coach Dirk Bauermann has a right to be encouraged.

Behnam Yakhchali and Mohammad Jamshidi had the most striking of efforts for Iran. Yakhchali doesn't turn 21 until 12 July yet did a lot of very good, interesting things against Greece. The same could be said for Jamshidi, who turns 25 at the end of this month.

Yakhchali hit 4 of 8 shots from long range and Jamshidi was 2 of 4. The two combined for 25 of Iran's points. They also handled the ball well, executed some give-and-go plays and made plenty of slick passes.

"We have a super young team," Bauermann said. "We're also getting great leadership from (veterans) Oshin (Sakakian) and Hamed (Haddadi) and Arsalan (Kazemi)."

With youth, and a shortage of big-game experience, comes mistakes. Jamshidi had 7 of the team's 27 turnovers. Greece scored 33 points off those turnovers. Iran also gave away a lot of cheap fouls.

"Sometimes, because we have such a young team, we tend to compound errors and stuff like turnovers becomes contagious," Bauermann said. "But we have a young team and we're very happy to have a young team. It's a process. We try to work hard each and every day. I know it's a cliche, but for us having a young team with most of our guys not having much international experience, there is no such thing as Euroleague or Eurocup in Asia, but these games are really important."

Bauermann understands the European game because he is German and has worked in the sport on the old continent for much of his life. He led Germany's national team for a long time, steering it to a runners-up finish at EuroBasket 2005 and to a spot in the Olympics in 2008. Bauermann has also coached Poland.

There is more competition on old continent and that is why he believes his players are at a disadvantage. They will get better, he says, with more games against teams like those currently in the OQT field.

"We played against the Latvians a few days ago," Bauermann said. "Some of us were shellshocked by how good they were defensively, how well they read the game, the level of decision making. It was obvious today that we have already adjusted.

"So for us, I think it's extremely important to play as many games against top European teams, or any European teams for that matter, as possible. It helps us tremendously.

"My goal is not to learn from it so that we can become better and then one day we are more successful against Asian teams. The goal is to become good enough to beat them one day and hopefully, this was a small step in that direction."

Iran return to the court on Tuesday to face Mexico in a Group A game they must win to have a chance of advancing to the Semi-Finals.

FIBA