By Stathis Trapezanlidis/ info@eurohoops.net
Alba Berlin might have found themselves in this season’s Euroleague through the little “window” called the wild card but they were the tournament’s surprise, getting important wins and missing out on the qualification to the quarterfinals literally in the last game. Marco Baldi, the general manager of the Berlin team spoke to Eurohoops about very important issues regarding the future of European basketball, revealing his views in an interview that was not expended on trivialities.
Mr. Baldi, what is after all Alba Berlin’s goal for this year’s season, the championship or the participation in next season’s Euroleague?
I’d say it’s the same thing. At this point only the champions will get to play in next year’s Euroleague. Facing us we have many tough opponents such as Bayern and Bamberg. Even Oldenburg, who won the cup and are a very experienced team, will not be an easy opponent in the first round. So we are going to focus on the first round of the playoffs and we don’t have to say too much about things that might happen in the future. Before the start of the season we set as our goal to at least reach the semifinals. That was the minimum that we wanted to achieve, therefore we will look at each series separately.
Don’t you think that the team that will reach the final will at least compete in the Euroleague next year?
We’ll see. We are seeing a lot of rearrangements in world basketball right now. FIBA has some ideas, we’ll see what is going to be implemented in the future. At this point, only the champions can count on participating in the Euroleague. What we can do is try and succeed in those things that depend on us and not those that depend on others. As for the rest, all we can do is wait. In any case, we more or less proved that we can and deserve to be at this level. This season we were very competitive and we couldn’t advance to the Euroleague’s quarterfinals but for one game. I don’t think there are many clubs in Germany that can pull that off.
“FIBA is not creating the right conditions for cooperation”
European basketball is heading towards a rift. What is your position and, by extension, Alba’s?
As a team we have some principles and we have to think according to those principles. One of those is very simple and it’s this. If your employer is a company and they have been paying you for the past 12 months, then you are working for that company unless they allow you or want you to do something else. This is the situation at the moment. FIBA comes and says that they want our players. But only ours, not those that are playing in the NBA. I don’t understand the difference. We have to talk about a lot of things and in depth, because, after all, I don’t think they simply want the national teams to play qualifiers for the World Cup. I think that they want to push the national teams to play throughout the year, something that is understandable since the same is applied in football as well by FIFA. Of course we should talk about that but by threatening that in case of a negative response there would be consequences I don’t think the best conditions for cooperation are created in basketball.
FIBA is really promising a lot of money. Is that enough?
In this line of work a lot of people promise a lot of things. What we need to know is where we are at, where we want to go and whom we will work with to get there. We found ourselves in almost the same situation in 2000. Then, the Euroleague had just arrived, they had a big contract from a sponsor, they travelled in order to meet with the teams and they were discussing a new situation. FIBA did the same. We stayed with FIBA because that was what existed up to that point and that’s where we belonged.
In the following season the company that supported FIBA as a sponsor stopped doing so and then only one organization was left, the Euroleague. Our decision will not be based on who will pay a little extra money. As I mentioned before, our decision will be based on where we are, where we want to go and with what partner we will manage to get there. That is our position. Regarding next season I don’t think anything will change, but the season after that, everything is open.
“We should make the system healthier”
Alba is a team that spends only as much as it makes and the way the team functions is really an example to follow. The financial fair play is something that is being discussed more and more in the past years…
We are a team that lives off the market. We don’t have an investor like Mr. Giannakopoulos or the Angelopoulos brothers have. We are not expecting from someone to come and invest nor do we want something like that. We are constantly trying to improve our position in the market. We are making a big effort to attract people, to have a big arena, we have partnerships in matters of marketing and not only with China, we are very involved with infrastructure and our young athletes etc. We don’t want what happened to Artland to happen to Alba. From one day to the next the team stopped functioning because whoever was investing for so many years decided that they couldn’t of didn’t want to continue to do so. So I’m telling you that the primary goal that we set 25 years ago when the team was founded was for the team to still exist after 100 years. We are not going to risk this for a season just so we can win the Euroleague. This is our vision. We are doing everything we can to keep our club at the highest level but in our own way. If you want a project that will last then you can’t spend more than what you have.
This is the reason why the financial fair play that we have started to discuss in the last few years is so important. All the teams are in the same championship in the same market. This means that if someone offers more money from me who pays as much as I can and have to offer, then it makes sense that the athlete will prefer to go with them. And in the end, they might not even pay him the amount they agreed on. If the financial fair play functions in a very wise and smart way then it is very important. Of course, I’m not suggesting that we keep the investors out of the sport, but to make this whole system healthier. That’s what’s most important.
“We are 100% reliable as a team and as people”
Key players in the team such as Renfroe and Redding are free agents in the summer and one of them (McLean) has a very low buy-out clause. How can Alba keep them?
We’ll see. Throughout the season there were some rumors regarding the market. People constantly talk about transfers because of agents etc. Managers are doing their job but we’ll see what happens in the end. What’s important is for the players to keep a clear head and not presume that they have already achieved something because like you yourself know these days no one knows if they will eventually get the money they had agreed and signed on. I think that at the end of the year there will be plenty of time to think about which situation is better for their career. What each one should think about is that in Alba you have a good coach, better conditions, a good environment and, at the end of the day, a great city as well, while we’re 100% reliable. This means that what we say is going to also happen. That is our way. Beyond that, if someone thinks another offer is better and more interesting then that’s life. That’s how this this line of work operates and we are not going to cry over it.
“Dirk is of course a great player but he’s also a great person”
I would like a comment about the Eurobasket that is approaching. The ambitions are high as Germany is holding their group in Berlin.
I think that we are going to have a fantastic tournament here. Look, I’m half Italian, Demirel – the sports director – is Turkish, our coach is Serbian (Obradovic) and one of the assistants is Spanish. Which is all of the opponents in our group. What remains is to get a physiotherapist from Iceland. The best teams in Europe make up our group, it could just as well be the final round, only France and Greece are missing. So I think we have a tough team, I think that Dirk (Nowitzki) will be present. I think that the tickets are selling very well and we expect to have a full arena. I’m really looking forward to the tournament.
Perhaps this will be Dirk Nowitzki’s last tournament. Does this give Germany the opportunity to qualify?
There are many good teams and so you can’t say that you’ll be comfortable you’re going to qualify in the group. It’s a very strong tournament but this is how we like it. If everyone is united as a team then we will succeed. Dirk is of course a great player but he’s also a great person as well. He’s the one who keeps the team united with his skill, his experience and the gift he has of making things easier. But even without him I think that Germany will be a very strong team. There is no time for preparation, the first game is very important because it can give you confidence and so many other things that can get the team rolling subsequently. In an entire season things are different when you have many ups and downs but in these kinds of tournaments anything can happen. So I think that Germany has the chance of qualifying.
Finally, in response to a question about the fear of episodes with Turkish fans in the Eurobasket, Marco Baldi revealed that the authorities have already found the perpetrators in that notorious Euroleague game against Galatasaray.
As we now know it was a group of hooligans from Belgium and The Netherlands. There are no Turks like that here in Berlin who want to support their team in such a way. But in any case we have extensive experience and the measures that will be taken are the appropriate ones for this situation so there is no reason for me to be fearful.