By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The early exit of Brose Baskets from the BBL play offs was indeed the end of an era. Casey Jacobsen and John Goldsberry retired – despite being 33 and 32 years old respectively – and coach Chris Fleming, who have won four German championship titles and three German cups with the team, was released by the team, despite having a contract for two more seasons. The general manager of the team, Wolfgang Heyder, resigned after this decision by the ownership and he will stay active with the team until a new coach is found.
The coach is usually the scapegoat in those kind of situations, however it was a surprise to see Fleming go, even after a bad season which cost to Brose Baskets the spot to next season’s Euroleague. That’s why we had to get his side of the story.
– Can you make a assessment of the season? What went wrong?
“We started the season thinking that we had the quality to achieve big things. We also added more quality players like Fisher and Harris, though he is still young, during the season and we had the chance to finish second in our Euroleague regular season group behind Real Madrid. However in the last two crucial games, we lost. We controlled the road game at Milan (ed.note: EA7 got the close 74-73 win) and then at home we lost to Zalgiris (84-80) despite having a 9 points lead entering the last quarter. I think those two games were symbolic of our season. In the past we were good in late game execution, we never really beat ourselves. This time we were close, but in the end not that good”.
– You expected such an early exit from the BBL play offs?
“No, of course not. However the play offs were a microcosm of our season. We had the lead at home in Games 1 and 3, but in the end we couldn’t get the wins. If you are a good team, you should win at home in the play offs. We didn’t and it’s disappointing”.
– Were you surprised by the decision of Brose Baskets’ owners about you?
“I can’t say that I am surprised, because there had been many reports in the press about this. However after winning four championships in a row, I was thinking that we will sit down, speak about what went wrong and what to do next. I can’t comment more on that situation, since I still have a contract with the team and we have to settle things first”.
– In the past you had some offers from other clubs, but you were loyal to Brose Baskets. Would you changed that?
“It’s tough to go backwards. For me, it was important to try and get to the highest level with Brose Baskets. We had the sponsors, the fans, the team to do that, I really believe that, and that was the reason I stayed. Of course, this is not the ending I expected. I really enjoyed my time here and the everyday collaboration with the people of the team”.
– Have you though your future away from Bamberg?
“It’s too early to speak about that. Before I do anything else, I need to settle things with Brose Baskets. Then I will need some distance in order to think about everything that happened”.