Simone Pianigiani began today his second season as the Olimpia Milan’s head coach. During his first year, he coached his team to the Italian league championship. Trying to repeat, a feat Olimpia has not achieved in the last 30 years, is definitely a goal, just like competing at the highest possible level in the Euroleague, whose quality promise to be spectacular.
OUR PRESEASON – “We approach the preseason knowing very well that we need to immediately work hard and pay close attention to what we will try to do. It will be a different preseason than usual because the windows for the national teams will interrupt the central part of it and at certain times we will have no more than half a team available. We will have to take advantage of every single practice. During the summer we have never interrupted the communications with the players both the returning players and the new ones. This will help us in this phase in which we will have to build the guidelines for the season both at the offensive and the defensive end, because then we will have games very competitive especially in Zadar where we will immediately face Maccabi and Fenerbahce. For a EuroLeague team it is mandatory to look for the best possible level of competition, right from the beginning. This is why the individual part of the work must be done over a 12-month period while the team will have to be tested immediately. But we are enthusiastic, even the new players are aware of the growth process that the club wants to complete and want to be part of it. We are not in the initial stage of our journey, because we have a good core from last season, but there is still a long way to go”.
THE ITALIAN LEAGUE – “The season is going to be tough: the EuroLeague level keeps going up and the fatigue will drag us down both physically and mentally. Many teams made great moves, signing former NBA players or EuroLeague players, most of the team are taking part in the international competitions and this is what makes them attractive for quality players. It will be complicated from the beginning because we will play eight road games during the first half of the regular season, many of them against playoffs’ teams. But we know what to expect. We are not completely new like we were one year ago. We want to stay at the top all year long and be ready when trophies are going to be raised”.
THE EUROLEAGUE – “It’s gonna be tough now, in the future it’s gonna be tougher. It’s obviously the best league in the world after the NBA. It takes a lot of physical and mental energy to stay competitive. All the team are preparing for a long-distance run. Just a few top players left for the NBA while many great players came or returned so the competition is going to be impressive. There are the usual three or four teams aspiring to win it all and all the others trying to make the playoffs and to have some memorable nights. That’s what we want to do: play games that will stay with us for a long time. We want to increase the respect that we earned last year. We want to stay close with everybody but we also want to win more close games than we won last year, in order to make the standings the real expression of our job. The schedule is tough especially because we bring along the tough nature of the Italian league but we know what to expect and still we aspire to be ready at the start. We are no more the bunch of rookies we’re last year. Our core group is excellent. I’m confident because we are not going to back down from anybody”.
THE NEWCOMERS – “I don’t include Simone Fontecchio among them: he was with us last year, he knows Olimpia, for him it’s just like returning home. The first thing – and I like this because it’s very useful for the team we want to be – is that all the newcomers are interchangeable players, versatile players, they can adjust to whatever we want to be. Burns is a player of energy, mobility and he can run the floor. Almost all of our players are good runners. Burns will be able to play at the 5 in Italy, not just at the 4. Jeff Brooks can also play two positions, he’s a 4 who can play some 3 and stretch the floor too. The perimeter guys are all capable to push the ball and this is exactly what I wanted. You can’t build a running team in a 80-game long season but you can run in spurts, during games. James, Nedovic and Della Valle are scorers, they can create and play different kinds of basketball, while adjusting to the other guards that we have. They understood the team and the path the club set up for us. They bring positive energy and enthusiasm. We are going to struggle, we are going to fight against difficulties but our core group is healthy and we are going to overcome everything”.
