By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
While everyone believes that CSKA Moscow can “buy” any player they want, things are not exactly like that due to the restrictions of the VTB United League.
As the coach of the “Army Team” explains: “Talking about our strategy on players market, we had to choose between two ways of building the roster. Either you sign all the important players available after the season finishes – and I have to repeat that we never talk to the players before the end of the season, – or you have to wait and risk, you may lose some players right now but acquire somebody after NBA teams start cutting their rosters. We all understand that NBA remains a priority for many players, especially Americans, because of the money and value of the championship. We chose the first way”.
And while CSKA Moscow has the money to be one of the EuroLeague big spenders, the restrictions of the domestic league make things tricky according to Itoudis: “We also had to take into consideration the limitations we have in the VTB League.
By the way, we are obviously in unequal conditions in comparison to other countries. Fenerbahce may have 9-10 foreigners, Olimpia Milan, Efes, Barcelona, Real have 9 foreigners…
So we worked together under the rules we have to keep the team that can play effective, attractive basketball adored by the fans and to keep our identity. I think we managed to do it. We have lost two very important players, Milos and Aaron. But we replaced them with high-quality players. Right now we need time because many players were busy with their national teams so we did not work much together. So the process will continue during official games and, hopefully, it will not cost us some losses. We know very well that both competitions we are playing will be decided in Final Four format”.
“The future of basketball is in the creation of a closed league”
The coach of CSKA also spoke about the ongoing debate between FIBA and EuroLeague: “People that lead basketball, FIBA, EuroLeague, they have to listen to voices of players. In the end of the day, it is the players who provide a show to the fans. We need them to be healthy, satisfied, ready to compete physically and mentally, to go on the court and give the fans joy and excitement the sport can give. The other part. Those misunderstanding, that we have in European basketball, should somehow come to an end. We are all adult people, we all love basketball. Egoism doesn’t help anybody. Basketball should be united. This is also a great moment to realize that we need to implement the same rules in all basketball competitions – NBA, NCAA, Euroleague and FIBA all have their rules. And people are confused. They don’t see the same sport.
The future of basketball here is in the creation of a closed league with more teams and more exciting games. The domestic leagues, with all due respect, should consist of the teams that develop the players. A team that has quality, budget, airport, good hotels can join the EuroLeague.
All successful leagues grow with time. I think we are going towards this direction”.
And once more, coach Itoudis repeated that for him and CSKA Moscow the Final Four is not the ideal format in order to decide titles: “Even though I have huge respect to Final Four, I participated in 11, but I think this format is dying. People say: “Let’s play the Final Four because in one game everything can happen”. Ok, let’s play one game then. Why we care about playing the long championship? Or let’s flip the coin. The championship is a long process. We play 30 games, 5 playoff games and then you switch sudden death. This is something that should be and will be changed. If you still want one game – make it a final game. Last year we would have full gyms in semifinal series, CSKA – Olympiacos and Fenerbahce – Real. You can set one final game in a certain city and you will get many fans from both teams coming”.
Source: CSKA Moscow