By Lefteris Moutis moutis@eurohoops.net
The opening Euroleague games for the upcoming season will be held in Ostende where, the local team hosts the qualifying round for the last open spot in the top European competitions. Unics Kazan, Zielona Gora, Hapoel Jerusalem, Nymburk, ASEVL, VEF Riga and Strasbourg are the other seven teams which will fight for the 24th and last spot of the Euroleague groups.
The big favorite for winning the qualifying round is Unics Kazan, the team with the biggest budget and the biggest number of star players who have Euroleague experience. But as one of them, Greek forward Kostas Kaimakoglou, says “on paper we are already in the groups, but we must prove that we are the best team on the court”.
The Greek forward will play for a third consecutive season with Unics and alongside with Eidson and Antipov, who also played in the qualifying round of Euroleague two years ago, are the only players that have been in Kazan since 2012.
Back then, Unics Kazan missed the chance (lost 86-78 by Le Mans in the semifinals) to play in Euroleague, though it was again considered the man favorite. Kaimakoglou remembers well what happened in Desio, Italy, and warns: “In theory, we are the favorites, but in the start of the season there aren’t any favorites. The team with the best chemistry has an advantage. Our goal is to be a unit soon. However, in these kind of tournaments every team has the right to dream. I remember that two years ago we were again the favorite, but we failed”.
Unics is completely different this time. Coach Andrea Trinchieri is continuing his career in Germany with Bamberg and the Russians hired the ex-coach of Panathinaikos, Argiris Pedoulakis and signed many big names such as Curtis Jerells, Keith Langford, James White in the perimeter and also Viktor Sanikidze and D’or Fisher in the frontline.
“I know coach Pedoulakis, but I have never been coached by him. His teams play hard in defences and he like having five player on the court, who can run and have high basketball IQ. Generally, his coaching philosophy is great”, explains Kaimakoglou about his new coach. He doesn’t want to make any comparison with his ex coach, Andrea Trinchieri, because “there isn’t wrong and right, but a different mentality. We must just adjust to our new coach’s demands”.
About the big new signings, the 31-year old forward coudln’t be more happy: “I must congratulate the board after the great effort and the tons of money they spend. We were unlucky last season in Eurocup, but we will try to make it through the qualifying round to Euroleague. We will have a different style of playing with many American players who have a lot of energy. Nikos Zisis and I are more experienced and I believe we have a good chemistry. On paper, we are already in the Euroleague groups, but the most important thing is to play good as a team”.
How hard is to fight in the start for the biggest goal in the season in three games during four days? “Hopefully, we will have to play three knock out games and this will be hard for us. I want to thank my team because they allowed me to play with the Greek National team in the World Cup, though the qualifying round was too close to our games in Spain. I try to learn the philosophy of the team and thanks to our coaching stuff I’ve studied our plays before my arrival in Russia, because they sent them to me”.
Kaimakoglou’s name was mentioned during the summer as target of CSKA. Was it true? “Yes! CSKA was interested and the decision was too stressful for me. It was a decision that would affect my life. I had also many other offers with more money by other teams but I decided that the best for me was to stay in Kazan. I appreciated the moves of the team and the environment here. All this was a motivation for me to stay here and realise my goals with Unics”.