By Cesare Milanti/ info@eurohoops.net
Pesaro, Italy – The VitriFrigo Arena was sold out to see Italy back on the court for an official game for the first time since the quarter-finals loss against France at EuroBasket 2022. Facing the reigning European champs of Sergio Scariolo’s Spain was the perfect opportunity.
Despite a great push by the 10.000 fans in the stands, Italy couldn’t get the job done, and the Azzurri will now need to win two of the following three games in order to qualify for the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Perhaps, this was caused by the absence of a lot of Italian EuroLeague and NBA players, such as Nicolò Melli and Simone Fontecchio.
In the post-game press conference, Italian national team coach Gianmarco Pozzecco joined the list of coaches who already made a statement related to the impossibility of calling up a lot of EuroLeague players and all the NBA guys.
After Dimitris Itoudis, Giorgos Bartzokas, and Zeljko Obradovic, the Atomic Fly shared his opinion with anger as well.
“We won when we were with everybody three games out of three. We got here and we had to put a completely different situation back on its feet. Greece lost by 20 points against Latvia. But let me understand one thing: who is the one who decided that Antetokounmpo won’t eventually play in the World Cup? Who is the one who takes the responsibility of going to the Filipinos and saying “There will be no Antetokounmpo”? I hope the best for Greece, but with these rules, we realize that Giannis could potentially not be there. Do we realize that Slovenia won the European Championship and then didn’t make it to the World Cup? But what are we going to see, Senegal-Egypt? With all due respect for Senegal and Egypt”, he said speaking about the defeat of Greece to Latvia with a roster that didn’t include NBA or EuroLeague players.
At this point, Latvia already qualified, while out of Serbia (4-3), Greece (4-3), and Turkey (3-4), national teams which can have NBA superstars or up-and-coming NBA players on their roster, only two will make it to the world top. And those top players, are not available for the winter FIBA windows.
The Italian national team head coach explained his line of thinking. “I can’t understand how you can conceive that the rules are so extravagant. I can’t understand it and I can’t conceive of it as you don’t all understand it. It seems crazy to me. Back when I was playing, the National Team was that one: you could have called whoever you wanted. I can’t call who I want today because some EuroLeague players can’t come. We will probably play against Ukraine coincidentally with the EuroLeague, how can that be normal?”, he added.
“I love the players who were here against Spain and who didn’t play at EuroBasket, because they replace the others in a crazy way. But why can’t those who wished to be here, actually be here? Everyone. I always talk to my players, and everyone wanted to be here. But nowadays players have to make painful choices”, he kept on.
Then, Pozzecco compared the same situation to the football world. “This sounds crazy to me. While the World Cup of football stops everyone, there are three competitions in basketball at once. I don’t know, does that seem normal to you? It seems absurd to me. Greece lost 20 at home against Latvia, and hats off to Latvia for that. Was Giannis there? Was his brother there? Was his other brother there? Were there Sloukas, Papanikolaou, and Calathes? Itoudis is a genius, I don’t want to talk about them, but it seems to me something surreal”, he added once again about the Greek national team.
“I don’t care if I win or lose. What I can’t stand is when the boys are not given the opportunity to live the National team and their seasons in clubs in a serene way. We’re putting the guys through the grinder because if we don’t have to go to World Cup next year, they will be the most upset. But at the next game, how do you go and ask “Do you want to play the EuroLeague game or the national team game?”. Are we crazy? Are we crazy or what? Like, “You want to punch your mom or your dad?” Because whatever you choose to do, you hurt either the national team or the club in which you work every day”, he said before walking out of the room angrily.
If Gianmarco Pozzecco erupted with all of his emotions, Sergio Scariolo stayed calmer but still had harsh words on this situation. “I understand that obviously, I think this is not the best situation, no doubt about it. We need to get together and agree. I am not as pessimistic as I used to be, I think we will find a way to solve this problem. But I think this spot and this game could be a nice boost for what you can do together rather than what you can do against”, he said.
Then, he talked about the way Spain has decided to operate for a few years now: “We have chosen a completely different line since 2017. We have created a different team, we have also entered players who came out of our youth national team, and created a common system of play from the beginning, from the younger generations to the first team, so that it was easier to fit in and move from one category to another. We chose something that nobody wanted or could do, so I’m in a bit of an atypical position. Even if a Federation were to start now with this idea, you must give it time to arrive at this compactness, cohesion, and uniqueness of program”, Virtus Bologna’s head coach added.
However, there must be found for a common solution between FIBA and the EuroLeague. “I’m not the best person to comment on this situation, but I’m definitely one of many who says let’s agree and find a way to make it work. Clubs need national teams, and national teams need clubs. And it is really stupid, since we are neither rich in resources nor in strength in general, to disperse these few forces we have in really trivial conflicts”, he said at the end.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA Basketball