Andrea Trinchieri, who is entering his second, but only his first full season with the temporary capital of Lithuania, entered the training ground with a big smile, as if after a resounding victory.
Speaking to journalists, the 56-year-old Italian recalled the painful Betsafe-LKL final against Vilnius Rytas and revealed his new rule.
“I was very hungry to start the preseason. I’ve been carrying rocks on my shoulders all summer because the season didn’t end the way we wanted it to. This means only one thing – we have to work even harder and even better, – assured A. Trinchieri.
We had a lot of changes in the line-up. I will run ahead of events – you will ask me if I am happy. Every coach is happy in August and September. I am not an exception.
I made a rule for myself that I would not rate anything in the first three weeks. It doesn’t matter if the player looks bad or very good. This is preparation, and we must prepare. I will add that we do it in a particularly good mood.”
This summer, “Žalgiris” worked from the shoulder – they added as many as 7 basketball players to the team. There were a lot of double quotes in the media about lineup depth, a long bench, and future players being released. However, the team’s strategist assured that 15 solid basketball players is not a lot for such a level.
“If we compare with other Euroleague teams, we don’t have a large number of players,” A. Trinchieri began. – We have too few of them, but I am satisfied with what we collected. It’s going to be a long season, so everyone’s efforts will be needed.”
When asked what the idea of this set-up is and how he will try to exploit all basketball players, the Italian, as always, did not mince words and was open.
“I would divide the squad into three parts – defenders, forwards and tall players. We have a stack of defenders, a lot of forwards but not a lot of tall players, which is the main problem.
My goal is for all the team players to play with great energy every night, which requires a long line-up with basketball players who can play in several positions”, said the head of “Žalgiris”. coach.
The 56-year-old Italian, who is entering his tenth EuroLeague season as a coach, also talked about last year’s lineup and the free agent market.
“I don’t know, we’ll see,” A. Trinchieri answered when asked how this “Žalgiris” will differ from last season. – We added a lot of strong players, but strong does not mean tall. I want to see how everyone plays on the pitch.
When we get to the free agent market, we won’t have… Let’s compare the EuroLeague player market to a sea of both big sharks and small fish. I know we can’t be sharks, but we also don’t want to be eaten like small fish. We have to be unique, very fast fish that the big sharks can’t catch so easily. Ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking are needed.”
At the end of the season, A. Trinchieri, who reviewed the objectives, emphasized the great competition in the Euroleague and the unfinished work on the domestic front.
“Every year the goals are the same. I don’t like to repeat myself because it’s not interesting for the listeners, but if you asked… We want to do better in Betsafe-LKL, which means we only have to do one thing better (ed. – win the final). We also want to be among the top ten teams in the Euroleague. When you think that there will be 17 other teams that want the same thing, and 8 of them will be on the sidelines – wow, I have nothing to add,” the strategist concluded.
Kaunas “Žalgiris” will play its first friendly match against Utena “Juventus” on September 4, at 6:30 p.m.
2024-09-04 09:05:31