By Stefan Djordjevic / info@eurohoops.net
Zack Wright carried SIG Strasbourg to the important win over Rosa Radom in the Basketball Champions League on Day 13. The American guard posted a strong line and he was just one rebound away from the triple-double, something that only two players were able to record triple-doubles in the Basketball Champions League so far.
“I was happy that I was close, but I’m upset about missing the triple-double. I thought that I had the rebound but I was a short one. Coach didn’t know it, but he said he would have kept me in the game to get the last rebound if he knew. Maybe next time but for me being close was a great accomplishment”, Wright notes.
SIG Strasbourg still have chances to qualify for the Play-Offs and the crucial game will be against Banvit and Wright is confident that they can book their Play-Offs tickets in Turkey.
“We are ready to play against Banvit. It’s a very difficult place to win but it’s possible. We just have to play aggressive and confident.”
Wright and his team are aiming for the big things this season. “The goals for this season is to win a championship in the French league. That’s the most important. Second would be trying to go back to the Final Four in the Basketball Champions League and trying to win it as well”.
This is the second year for Zack in the Basketball Champions League. He knows how the quality of this competition improves and how difficult is to play in BCL.
“BCL is a very good competition in my opinion. I have played in every competition so I think I can speak about it. A lot of people think it’s not as good as Eurocup but I think it is equal. There are a lot of good teams, and for sure we have the toughest group in the Basketball Champions League”
It’s difficult to find a player with an experience like Wright has. He is playing in Europe more than 10 years now. He changed 14 clubs, he played in different countries. That’s not a path that he thought that will have, but he is more than happy about it.
“When coming out of college I don’t think any player thinks about playing basketball overseas. We don’t know anything about it. I think now with the European basketball expanding through social media more people know about European basketball. I am more than happy to have played so long in Europe. I came from playing 2nd division Germany to winning a championship with Panathinaikos. I also won a championship with Cibona, bronze medal with Monaco, and have received many awards throughout my career. I can’t complain about my European career, it has been great for me so far. ”
Most of the Americans dreaming about coming back to the States, but Wright doesn’t follow the NBA. “To be honest I don’t really watch NBA games. I would rather watch Euroleague games. I still watch Panathinaikos games all the time”
On the other side, he does follow NFL and with SuperBowl game approaching Wright reviled which team will he support. “I really hope that Eagles will win it because I don’t like the Patriots”.
In his long career, Wright faced numerous players, but one really stood up. “The hardest person I had to guard would be Patrick Beverly. We played together in Russia. I never met a person who always had as much energy as me, he was a true fighter”.
Strasbourg’s guard picked the best starting lineups from players that played in Europe. First, he selected a lineup of players that retired and then he selected lineup with active players.
“If I had to do a past starting 5 it would be Dimitris Diamantidis, Vassilis Spanoulis at guards, Anthony Parker at 3, Antonis Fotsis and Michael Batiste at 4 and 5. Starting 5 now I’m taking: Me, Dee Bost, Jamal Shuler, Rakim Sanders, James Gist or Stephane Lasme”.
If Zack Wright stays on this level until the end of the season Strasbourg will have a great chance to accomplish all their goals. However, first, they will need to take down Banvit next week in the Basketball Champions League.
Photo credit: FIBA