VARESE – First official purchase for Pallacanestro Varese 2024/2025. It is Justin Gray, a winger born in 1995, who showed off with good numbers in competitive leagues such as Greece and Germany. In the meeting with i General Manager Zack Sogolow e Maks Horowitz the characteristics of a quality player are described, who can be useful to the team. Lots more, of course, the meat on the fire. From Failure to participate in the Europe Cup (a sort of fake news that circulated in some media about a renunciation by Pallacanestro Varese, because the non-admission should instead be attributed to Fiba) to technical idea of building the team of the future.
Justin Gray’s career
Born December 15, 1995 in Tampa, Florida, Justin Gray frequenta la Texas Tech University with good numbers that immediately project him into European basketball. His first overseas stop is in England where he plays for the Flyers di Bristol (13.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game on average); the following year he signed with Kosovo (KB Rahoveci) and then, in January 2021, in Portugal, where he defends the colours of CAB Madeira recording 15.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Between 2022 and 2023 he played in Poland and Greece, positive experiences that earned him a call from Bamberga team with which he closed the season averaging 9.1 points (43.5% from 3) and 3.3 rebounds per game in 20.7 minutes of play.
Maksim Howoritz, General Manager of Basketball Strategy
Team building
We are working to recruit players, Italian and foreign, suited to our type of system. We have very extensive lists. With Nico Mannion the dialogue is continuous, we also spoke this morning and he is very involved in the team building process, even if now his focus is on playing as best as possible with Italy. As Italian players right now we have Assui, Librizzi, Okeke, Virginio and Mannion and we will also talk to Woldetensae. Jeff Brooks? We don’t deny that we like him a lot, but the problem is that other teams like him too. Davide Moretti? He played an incredible season with us, then he and his agent made the decision to leave Varese, it wasn’t a surprise for us, now he has become an important part of our history and we have to look forward. The formula will always be that of 5+5.
La Fiba Europe Cup
Varese will not compete in the cup this year. It is important for all of us and we believe that there are many positive things about competing in it. We had continuous contact, but FIBA didn’t give us the opportunity to sign up. We are very sorry, unfortunately the 14th position in the championship did not allow us to return.
A new defensive dimension
Sean McDermott and Gabe Brown are two very good players. The question of the joints will be decisive. One of the focuses for next year will be to grow in the defensive part while maintaining the offensive attitude. It’s not a question of a single player, but of how the team will be built for this specific aspect. And then the defensive and rebounding mentality of the players themselves. Justin Gray he is a good defender, has experience in Europe and is a specialist shooter in attack.
Physical size
Last year we paid a lot on the rebound. Of course, we will have to have more physical size for defense and reboundingbut for us it is also important to remain light and fast. We focus a lot on Leonardo Okeke: It’s a challenge for us who trust him, but so far he has shown that he is very focused on becoming an important basketball player.
Budget and gathering
The budget is more or less similar to last year, but we think it is enough for build a very strong team like the one two years ago or even this year’s second round. We want to aim for the playoffs. The gathering should be on August 12th. We will prepare for the championship by playing some tournaments, fortunately we have many invitations to choose from in Italy and abroad, we will surely play against strong teams.
“We want to confirm Mannion” and “we are ambitious”. Perego reveals the Varese programmes
Gray Sogolow Horowitz Basketball Varese – MALPENSA24
2024-06-27 19:25:35
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