By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
The fans of Olimpia Milano have taken their fury to every social media form with a campaign against the prospect of Simone Pianigiani coaching the team they love.
Actually, the “#NOPIANIGIANI” is already quite popular on Twitter (a simple search will convince you for that) but expresses only a small fracture of how much Milano fans hate even the idea of the former Montepaschi Siena coach becoming a Forum resident.
Still, Milano president Livio Proli ignores these voices for now. And he’s willing to pay Pianigiani’s buy-out in Hapoel Jerusalem to bring him on board with a three-year deal.
According to a story by La Repubblica, Pianigiani already designs the strategy for the next season and his agenda includes the names of Keith Langford and Mike James.
Both players are free agents this summer and quite possibly two of the hottest names in the market. Ex Unics Kazan Langford arrives from one of the most fiery seasons of his long career, having won the “Alphonso Ford” Top Scorer award in EuroLeague for a second time. He’s no stranger to the Milano surroundings, where he operated from 2012 to 2014.
One of the most “explosive” scoring guards in Europe, James is currently focused on the Greek League Finals where Panathinaikos is down 1-2 against arch-rival Olympiacos, preparing for a do-or-die game at home on Thursday (8/6). He’s expected to attract notable attention (maybe not only from European clubs) after the title series.