Victor Claver has been the jewel of Pamesa for years. He has played in several summer international camps since 2005: Basketball without Borders European Camp, Reebok Camp in Treviso, Portland Trail Blazers (NBA) pre-draft workout… Besides, he has been the key of the junior national team of his category.
The next year he got relevance in the team. He played all the games, with 20 minutes per game, he won the Slam Dunk before the season started and Aito called him for the camp of the National Team before the Olympics.
But the real time of Victor Claver will begin now. Pamesa has made a plan for its roster with Victor as one of the keys: he will be the only small forward of the team.
For his whole career with the first team of Pamesa, Claver has played as power forward, taking advantage of his height and threatening from his opponents thanks to his speed and shooting skills.
Now he will have to think as a perimeter player, he is supposed to be starter and plating a leading role. Ruben Douglas could help him playing the small forward, but the man from Panama is a shooting guard and only will replace Victor when the team played “small ball”.
Victor should show that he is playing to outstand as all-around player, that he is able to create advantage playing against faster defenders, that he has a reliable shooting range and that he will add rebounds.
We have a similar counter-example with Ilyasova. He struggled for a big part of the last season playing as small forward in Barcelona. But in playoff, he was the real surprise and revelation player of Barça moving to power forward position. His rebounding skills seemed to be powered, and he took a leader role that nobody could suppose after the regular season.
It’s time for Victor, he has to take a step forward and become an important player. Keep him under the radar.
