By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Becoming ASVEL’s head coach at the end of October 2023 and parting ways with the French team at the very beginning of 2024, ahead of the 2025 EuroBasket Qualifiers appointments with Italy, Gianmarco Pozzecco has come back to in an interview with Corriere dello Sport.
“The experience in Villeurbanne changed me a lot: I became even more convinced of the few but clear ideas I have about basketball”, the Italian national team’s head coach first stated. “I am more aware of the direction I want to go in as a coach: to manage a team I believe it is essential to have players who have certain characteristics, and who possess a certain sporting ethic”, he also said.
Touching on a tumultuous relationship with the French team’s president Tony Parker, Gianmarco Pozzecco expressed that he doesn’t “want to compromise on certain topics”. After parting ways with ASVEL, the former San Antonio Spurs player heavily criticized Italy’s head coach.
At the end of the day, he considers the one in ASVEL as an important experience personal-wise. “I was born on a basketball court: with any kind of teammates, I never thought of blaming anyone if the situation was not what I had hoped for. In any case, experiences, whether positive or negative, help you grow”, Gianmarco Pozzecco shared.
Before being replaced by Pierre Poupet, during his tenure with the French side the 51-year-old Italian icon had a 3-12 record and couldn’t help ASVEL bounce back from a difficult start of the season with TJ Parker on board. He will now focus only on the Italian national team, which will face Turkey and Hungary in Group B of the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket Qualifiers.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague