Federico Pasquini, general manager of Dinamo answered the questions of the fans, we have collected a summary of the most interesting and insightful ones for the white and blue manager.
1) The characteristics that point guards and pivots must have for today’s idea of basketball
As far as the choice of play is concerned, what matters most today is of an offensive nature, i.e. the ability to beat the man and create an advantage regardless because there are many situations of broken play especially after offensive rebounds or when a player does not develop game and if you don’t have a point guard capable of beating your opponent, you risk getting wrapped up. The pivot, on the other hand, today has a mainly defensive value because in the Euroleague there are very great defenders on the perimeter that allow you to also have a long shot with slow feet, you have more options within the roster. At the level of the Italian or European leagues, having a fast big man who is also capable of changing on the pick and rolls or getting to help certainly helps you, so I would definitely say that there is no stencil for play and pivot. in summary having the point guard who creates advantages for himself and for the others, the pivot who can be ready defensively, defense on the pick roll, assists and changes.
2) Stephens, some complain about the buyout paid for one like this, others ask that it is absolutely not suitable for the A1, so a response on Stephens at 360°
Stephens’s speech is very simple: Stephens’ choice stems from the fact that first of all you have to look at what the market offers you at that time of the season in which you are going to change, it’s not like in the summer that you have the choice major, we couldn’t get the person wrong and consequently Stephens is an incredible person, he’s a golden boy, he brought a lot of enthusiasm, he’s a player who from a technical and tactical point of view is incredibly useful because he’s capable of blocking the ball 4/5 times in the same action in 24 seconds, he gets busy, he’s altruistic, he passes the ball very well, he doesn’t need him to be the focus of the attack. He is capable of being very useful for his teammates and in fact the team has improved both in attack and defense since his arrival
3) If the Italian park can live up to the other teams, even pro-future
I think the Italians from Sassari are players who are absolutely in the A1 league because regardless of Chessa’s performance in the last few gameswhat Raspino told us two weeks ago or Gandini in Venice, plus they have great value in the locker room in team chemistry and in knowing one’s role. Gentile, Treier and Diop are players everyone would like to have
4) To make the Champions League, wouldn’t you need a longer roster?
I see that teams that have rosters made up of 8/9 players also reach the bottom of the Champions League. Last year and this year we probably paid for the fact that there were two tough groups without being full, for example, last year that we didn’t have reserve big men and that this year the situation of Robinson and Jones, I don’t want to find excuses but I’d like to play the Champions League right away with all the healthy players and see where we can get
5) You expected Kruslin at these levels, he was the most targeted by critics – lack of a real guard
Kruslin’s speech is a particular speech because he is a player who gives us an incredible defensive balance, so I speak little of the offensive speech, but he is a key to the improvement even last year of the team that went to the semifinal because in any case defensively he is one of the best players in the Italian league so if he can also score a basket that’s a good point. The idea was to be able to take advantage of Dowe and Robinson together too, the injuries allowed us to see them together for two or three games so now we hope we have already given and to see them together as happened for Reggio-Emilia. Our idea is that the two of them are absolutely capable of covering what may be the need to have a 2 that can create and that Kruslin is their perfect complement in both 2 and 3.
6) If you have any regrets about Onuaku
I have no regrets about Onuaku, I think he’s a great player and will have a great career, but there are moments where there are all the conditions to do well but you can’t. It had gotten to a point where he was no longer connected to the rest of the team. It’s part of the game and probably if we had won the super cup Onuaku would have stayed with us, having lost the Super cup and having had some difficulties in the first games, he who had a very high expectation of himself found himself in a reality that he wasn’t winning and was unable to restart, and the key at that moment was to have the strength to restart and find that positivity you need to have when things aren’t working out.
7) When do you start building the team for the following year, do you have ideas for moving forward?
It depends, you always have to look at the situations and the players who are on the market, you always have ideas, ideas change but they must have a thread of logic because if you only move according to the positive or negative results of your team, you do little road and there is no precise deadline, it is clear that the Italian market starts before that of foreigners because the Italians need to place themselves in teams of a certain type, while the foreigners are waiting to see who is the best bidder and those who are the most advantageous situations for their career
8) Which championships do you scout which ones do you follow with the greatest interest?
Basically I follow all the European leagues, I don’t watch the NBA and G-League very much, which I believe at the moment are not from Sassari, if I have to make a ranking of the leagues I prefer, nowadays they are Germany, France, in my opinion they are very useful leagues that make a lot grow players. For what you need in Italy you can’t help but look at VTB, Adriatica, Turkey which have completely different budgets and completely different players and leagues in which you can find players with incredible figures and players with little money, but in the look at all the championships surely these 6/7 championships are the most intriguing ones. In Turkey they take everyone above a certain range of money, in the Adriatic League apart from the top 3 teams, you can find interesting players at affordable prices.
9) How does Dinamo’s budget fit in Serie A with so many teams that have gone extra-budget?
We have a good budget, that’s all, I don’t look at other people’s houses
10) What was the hardest shot in the history of Dinamo and why?
I said Ignerski, the one I had the most difficulty signing from Dinamo, came from Russia, took a lot of money, all the negotiations were complex, but he was really difficult.