By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Just like Virtus Bologna did in the previous days, the other Italian team in the EuroLeague unveiled its cards for the upcoming 2024-25, as Milano’s head coach Ettore Messina spoke to the press today. His words were collected by the club’s official website. and by Sportando.
The experienced mastermind touched on the recent retirement of Kyle Hines. “He leaves a void because he was a player of great prestige, personality, consistency, fairness. He was an example every day. He was our Tim Duncan for four years”, he commented on one of the greatest American playing overseas.
Alongside the 38-year-old American, another frontcourt player left the team to rejoin Fenerbahce. “He has been a very important point of reference for us but, as sometimes happens both in sports and in the world of work, mutual expectations did not coincide and then in these cases, we separate. It is not the first time it has happened, it will not be the last”, Ettore Messina touched on Nicolò Melli.
On the yellow-and-blue side of Istanbul, the Italian national team’s captain will find Devon Hall again. Ettore Messina was asked about his departure. “We would have wanted him to stay, but he was misguided”, the 64-year-old followed with an ironic laugh.
Another American guard who won’t be with the red-and-white side is Shabazz Napier, who joined Bayern Munich. “Last year he tried a lot to help the locker room find cohesion on and off the pitch. I am sorry that at the end of the first year, we were unable to find an agreement: if we had succeeded, perhaps things would have gone differently. He has given us a lot of leadership”, he said.
For somebody who leaves, others return. It’s the case of Zach LeDay. “It’s nice to see him again and see him improve after the years spent with Zeljko Obradovic. When you practice with such coaches, with requests of that level, they improve you”, the head coach said about the former Partizan forward.
PHOTO CREDIT: Olimpia Milano
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