By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
JDA Dijon has been having one of the best seasons in club history as they won the French Cup while also being tied for the top of the French League and have qualified for the Basketball Champions League Round of 16.
One of the key players in that run has been Richard Solomon who ‘blames’ team chemistry and trust for the team’s success: “We instill confidence in each other and on our team anybody can go off, so we just trust each other all the way. We had a few ups and downs, especially earlier in the season, but when guys trust each other like that, when they trust their coach like we do, then good things will happen,” Solomon told championsleague.basketball.
And being on the same page with coach Laurent Legname has been very important for the 27-year-old American: “Coach implemented his way of doing things and once we bought into that as a team, it just opened everything else for us,” Solomon said. “It starts on the defensive end for us, and once we all figured out that if we play defense the offense will come, it all fell into place. Coach told me early on ‘as long as you do what I need you to do on defense, I’ll never tell you not to take a shot on offense.’
“When you have that kind of confidence from your coach, it elevates everybody’s way of playing, it sets you free to play and you become the best player you can be.”
Dijon got the domestic cup trophy and they had to go through Monaco in the semifinal and ASVEL in the Final. No easy task but they pulled it off: “We knew going into this that we’d probably play Monaco or ASVEL and we were not getting the same level of respect that Monaco has been getting. So we went into the tournament with a chip on our shoulders, we were hungry for it, we wanted it, and we went out there and we made it happen.”
Solomon was, in fact, the guy who handed them the win over Monaco in the last second with an alley-oop dunk.
The squad’s next challenge will be winning the Basketball Champions League: “We had our goals set out at the beginning of the season, we knew where we wanted to go and this past weekend, we accomplished one of those goals. Another one is to win the Basketball Champions League, so that’s the next thing we’re going to focus on and try to accomplish. It was good for all of us to get proof that we’re capable to play with the best, that we have what it takes to win,” he said.
Their first step will be getting past Nizhny Novgorod in the Round of 16, and although Solomon isn’t a fan of long and cold trips (doesn’t get much colder than Russia), he believes they are ready for the task at hand:
“My only thought the whole time was ‘I just hope we don’t have to travel to Russia’. It’s going to be a long, cold trip for us. But now that we drew Nizhny we will get prepared to play them and for the trip. We have homecourt advantage and that’s going to help us, and as long as we keep playing the way we do, we would be ready for any team,” Solomon said.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League