A couple of weeks ago, Pallacanestro Cantù announced – and at the same time officially presented – its new man-guide of the bench, Nicola Brienza. It was June 20 and the coach, off-air, implied that he would “talk again” openly only once the market was over. Therefore, postponing any consideration until he had been given the car, ready to go. In the meantime, in the last 48 hours he moved with the office to Roseto degli Abruzzi to enjoy a bit of a healthy vacation with his family. And that’s where we reached him by phone to try to get a few jokes from him, agreeing as a rule of engagement that of not mentioning the market. And then, off with everything else, since he broke his own order anyway.
So coach, beyond who the interpreters will be, what is the philosophy behind the construction of the next Acqua S. Bernardo?
The cornerstone is to be able to count on ten “real” players in rotation. Six outside players and four long ones. There is no compromise on this.
Reason?
Because, among other things, the championship will offer eight midweek rounds and there will be a period in which we will play five games in fourteen days. Especially in that period you cannot afford to lose – due to injury or for any other reason – a player because you would be undernumbered perhaps precisely at a time when you are fighting for the top spot. Nine, therefore, would have been too few.
Even if the nine had included a two-dimensional player in attack and multi-dimensional in defense like Nikolic, who instead preferred to leave the company?
In that case I might have considered the “9+1” hypothesis. But the argument never even arose.
He spoke of “primacy”: will that necessarily be the objective of his team?
No, I certainly can’t have this kind of presumption now. The focus should be on proving to be competitive from the first to the last day, against everyone.
Deduction, allow me: Cantù will fight for first place.
If he ever can do it, he will absolutely try, but certainly not just because he is called Cantù. History and etiquette do not matter. And there is no divine right. The last three seasons are there to prove it.
What will be the brand of the formation for the next season?
First of all, the team will have to have solidity and to have it, the defensive aspect is essential. Because, especially in A2, it is the starting point. Like my Pistoia in the year of promotion. We will have to be ugly and bad as well as always ready to get our hands dirty. Few frills, no bullshit. Focus on the substance.
The championship will have a new formula, with a single round of 20 teams, the first directly promoted and the second to go up that will come out of the playoffs. Do you like it?
A lot, because so far with so many teams at the start there has been too much diversity, with too many players distributed across too many teams. I would add that 20 teams are too many for me, I would stop at 16 or at most 18, perhaps adding the possibility of registering a community player to raise the quality without having to spend a fortune looking for Italian players of the same level.
By the way, the current market seems to be a very crazy one with crazy numbers floating around.
That said, your budget allows for a good amount of wiggle room.
We do not hide the fact that we can afford one of the most significant budgets in the category, but if I look around and observe some of the movements of our most direct competitors, then I realize that other clubs are also doing quite well, economically speaking.
By the way, there seems to be no shortage of competition. Who do you think could be the most credible rivals?
At the moment – because it is obvious that for a definitive and above all exhaustive answer, we will have to wait for the operations of all the teams to be defined -, I think I can say that Udine is in a very good position and that Rimini has built a great team. Pesaro, which is still being formed, is also of a high level and Brindisi also announces itself as qualified. Then there would be Forlì… In short, at the top the championship announces itself as extremely interesting.
She chose Michele Carrea as her first assistant.
The premise is that the club shared my idea of improving everything that can be improved. And Carrea is certainly a plus. In the meantime, the other assistant coach, Mattia Costacurta, has had a year of experience and will be able to be even more useful. Let’s not forget the return of a caliph of trainers like Roberto Bianchi. There is no need to explain it. “Sam” is “Sam”, period.
When will the season start?
I believe that the preparation should take place over a period of six weeks, so we will meet around Ferragosto. The exact day is yet to be decided. It is not excluded that a small part of the preparation will be carried out outside Brianza, probably in Valtellina.
Speaking of preseason, the Super Cup formula has also changed, eliminating the entire group stage and condensing the event into a Final Four that will be played on September 21 and 22. You will be there.
For me it’s much better this way because in the pre-season you don’t have to worry about the result at all costs and, consequently, having to win at all costs to make your way to the Super Cup. In fact, the group stage was a drag also because you were facing teams with perhaps very different workloads. Now, however, you can reach the final four with an adequate physical condition and therefore quite ready because now we are close to the start of the championship.
2024-07-04 17:53:37
#Brienza #Cantù #dirty #ugly #bad
