By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
The interview conceded by ASVEL’s president Tony Parker to L’Equipe in which the French team’s owner was heavily criticizing Gianmarco Pozzecco created a lot of buzz within the basketball community.
Commenting on the approach Tony Parker had towards his national team’s head coach, the Italian basketball federation president Gianni Petrucci ironically said in a short declaration to Tuttosport that Tony Parker “Maybe wanted the EuroLeague Final Four” and that “Great players don’t always become great managers”. With Italy, Gianmarco Pozzecco reached the Top 8 at EuroBasket 2022 and at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
In a press conference before Zalgiris Kaunas’ EuroLeague double-game week, Andrea Trinchieri – who lost with his team against Gianmarco Pozzecco’s ASVEL himself – also talked about this situation, as reported by Basket News. “Coaches are the ones that usually pay the price of bad results. It’s very common, and it is what it is. This won’t change. Sometimes, it is easier to change a coach than to fix things with a team, players, and stuff like that”, he first said.
Hinting at Tony Parker’s behavior, he had criticized the approach. “I believe that a club can decide to change the coach. It is something that they have this right. At the same time, I believe that being a gentleman and without saying stuff in the media can always help. It’s never good for the category of the coaches to expose someone in the media. It is something that I would not do, but I’m not the owner of a team”, he then commented.
Lastly, he talked about Gianmarco Pozzecco’s way of coaching. “I don’t know the situation. I was not there. But I know that sometimes the way Gianmarco Pozzecco coaches can be divisive because he is very emotional and gives everything, and whatever I say won’t be the right thing. So, he is this kind of coach. I believe that he can give you some big things: the emotional side, also playing every 48 hours, sometimes, the emotional side is not the only thing that you have to take care of”, he concluded.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ciamillo-Castoria