2018 Final Four Official Programme

Photography: “Fons Justo Conde & José Ramón Ramos. Fundació Bàsquet Català” The Coach: Pablo Laso, Real Madrid As Pablo Laso leads his team into their fifth Final Four together in the last six seasons, his success recalls the past golden eras of Real Madrid basketball and makes the club’s quiet spell before his arrival easily forgotten. Before Laso, the team’s former point guard, took over in 2011, Madrid had reached just one Final Four since the turn of the century and had last become European champion in 1995. All that changed very quickly as Laso took his team to consecutive runner- up finishes in 2013 and 2014 before ending the long wait for Madrid’s ninth EuroLeague crown in 2015. Over his seven years in the Spanish capital, Laso has worked with a core quartet of stars – Jaycee Carroll, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Llull and Felipe Reyes – to make their goal of lifting Madrid back to great heights a shining reality. Laso’s smooth integration of other important players to keep the team balanced and his ability to develop young talents, like Luka Doncic and Nikola Mirotic, are particularly notable aspects of his time in charge. As anyone who loves basketball knows, Laso’s teams have always been entertaining to watch. Madrid has averaged at least 85 points per game in five of his seasons on the bench. Likewise, his Madrid teams have posted three of the EuroLeague’s seven best performance index rating averages this century. Achieving that unique blend of competitiveness and creativity is among Laso’s greatest achievements. This 2017-18 season has been without a doubt the most challenging one that Laso has experienced so far with Madrid. A seemingly endless succession of injuries to key players has tested his coaching abilities to the maximum. Despite that misfortune, Laso was able to instill his teamwith enough resilience and versatility to pass the test and progress to the most decisive games of the EuroLeague season – something that, to his great credit, has become a habit once again for Real Madrid. The Legend: Rafael Rullan, Real Madrid A power forward who was ahead of his time, Rafael Rullan starred for Real Madrid throughout the 1970s and ‘80s and was among the club’s signature players when it won three EuroLeague crowns in seven years. He also helped win 14 Spanish League titles – including 10 in a row from 1970 to 1979 – and lift nine Spanish Cups and four Intercontinental Cups during his time with Los Blancos. Rullan first came to Madrid at age 18 and would remain with the club for almost two decades. He teamed up with center Clifford Luyk, who became his mentor. Rullan inherited Luyk’s winning mentality and aggressiveness to quickly became one of Madrid’s leaders. Those attributes, combined with his mobility and deep shooting range, made Rullan a nearly unstoppable force on the frontline. On the continental scene, Rullan led Madrid to EuroLeague titles in 1974, 1978 and 1980. He scored 14 points in the 1974 title game against Varese, which Madrid won 84-82. Those same teams met again in the 1978 final and Madrid prevailed again, 75-67, with 10 points from Rullan, whose battles against the great Dino Meneghin were memorable. Rullan led Madrid with 27 points in the 1980 EuroLeague final, an 89-85 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv. He also lifted the Saporta Cup in 1984 after scoring 12 points off the bench in the final against Olimpia Milan. Rullan wore the Spanish national team jersey 161 times and was a member of the squad that won the silver medal at EuroBasket in 1973. He finished his career at Bancobao Villalba in 1988, but will always be remembered as a Madrid legend. His 18 seasons with Madrid’s first team remain an all-time record, and Rullan is the club’s No. 2 scorer all-time, behind only Wayne Brabender. Rullan came back to Madrid as a team delegate from 1991 to 1999 and still works for the Real Madrid Foundation. OFFICIAL PROGRAMME 38