By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Speaking to sportfakt.ru before the Euroleague Final Four, CSKA Moscow’s president Andrey Vatutin spoke about the obvious goals of his team in Berlin, but also about the FIBA – Euroleague debate and the future of coach Dimitris Itoudis.
On the first matter he said: “We can say that FIBA is trying to make some sort of basketball socialism, namely the creation of equal conditions for all. Euroleague is a commercial tournament, which for 15 years has proved its worth, demonstrating constant ecomic growth and also a growth sports performance. Its priority are the big clubs. In addition to its ambitions, they do not have anything else to offer. Despite all the promises, the financial proposal of FIBA is not as attractive as the one of Euroleague – especially after the new multi-annual contract with the IMG which will bring hundreds of millions of euros. And FIBA has to understand that they will not be able to convince the clubs start using other means and pressure”.
As for his coach, he added: “In general, we are satisfied with the work of Dimitris and we are thinking about a contract extension because he is also interested in staying in Moscow and he is making plans with CSKA. With a roster which was less “fancy” than last year, he led the team at the Final Four, taking the first position in the regular season and the Top-6. Then, playing with one and a half center, he got the sweep in the play-off. We won in Belgrade against a hostile crowd and the referees respecting the home court. We won thanks to our defense and our tactic, not because of our quality. In Europe nobody win just by talent. And our players gave little battles for the entire duration of the season – in Belgrade, Piraeus, Madrid … They fought and won. Now we hope to do the same in Berlin”.