Diesse Pasquini: «We have been able to remedy the problems. Against Brescia we present ourselves with respect and zero fear ”
SASSARI. At the end of November the prospects were terrible, with only one opponent behind him and so many doubts. If we had then asked any of the hottest protagonists or fans what the Dinamo standings would have been like at the end of the regular season, finding a shred of optimism would have been a challenge and there were not a few who believed that the group had serious structural problems. Today that same team, entrusted to Piero Bucchi and with the appropriate modifications, is sixth in the playoff grid, with the same points as the fourth and on the white-blue horizon there is the challenge in the quarters with Brescia (race 1 on Monday 16 at PalaLeonessa).
And after such a regular final the prospects and the mood are very different compared to some uncertainty revealed in the races preceding the double thunderous success against Virtus and Varese, both buried with over 100 points. «We have had some ups and downs – explains sporting director Federico Pasquini – which are very normal when you put together new teams that need a little time, you never know what comes out. We knew it was a particular year in which we were going to change the play-pivot axis at the ready-to-go, in these cases it’s a bit like throwing a coin ».
Any bad choices? «I must say that our corporate philosophy, and this is the merit of President Sardara, has always been that of not detaining anyone, players or staff, who did not want to stay in the project. Thus you become a team of sympathy, the pride of a region. We did not stop Spissu as he was in a position to make a further career step. And when you change a play for over 30 ‘on average, and you have to do it at the end of July when the big shots of the market are gone, everything is more difficult. We chose Clemmons, which did not go well (there was also a personal situation linked to the birth of the twins), but then he had a great season in Ankara, then moving on to Burgos, confirming that it was certainly not poor. Perhaps Battle needed another kind of play, and these things initially wrapped us up ».
Good at changing during the race: «Yes, and we are very happy. Let’s consider that by now the teams never make less than two changes, and we are among those who change less. The team has grown a lot during the season and this means that a good job has been done – says Pasquini – We were lucky enough to be able to take on people of the quality of Robinson and Bilan, but I would like to point out that if everything goes well it is also thanks to the the fact that we wanted to follow up on the Treier-Diop project, of which everyone now says “how good”, both veterans of surgery, but which we waited because we wanted to be “the ones there”. And maybe we’ll see them explode like Spissu. Gentile was good at adapting to needs. And then the return of Kruslin: he is a player who does a lot of dirty work and at that moment we needed a balancer, who did a lot of defense and did not ask for balls in attack. He was extraordinary, I will never stop thanking him ».
Now the playoffs: “At this moment the team gives us confidence: we see that the boys are well together, there is a lot of feeling and the inclusion of Bilan was also successful, a potentially very slow process given the different characteristics compared to Mekoluwu . We are very proud of the position we have acquired, in a championship that has seen so many negative surprises, the fact that we are always there, where we have been for 11 years anyway, gratifies us a lot ». Introducing himself to the post season like this he is not too bad: «Yes, because we are in the perfect position to say: respect for everyone, fear of no one. In the playoffs, however, the games are decided by the players who have the “lightest” ball, now let’s refine the last details and then think about a team like Brescia, which is the surprise of the year for the quality of play and continuity of results ». Good news for the fans: race 1, 2 and 3 will be visible on Rai Sport.