This morning in the company Club House in via Pietro Nenni, in Sassari, the end-of-season press conference was held with the general manager Federico Pasquini. The biancoblu giemme made a careful examination of the club’s season in all its facets:
“Good morning everyone, today, as head of the sports area, I wanted to take stock with you of all the sporting activities of this year now that the seasons of Dinamo, Dinamo Women and Dinamo Lab have concluded. I wanted to first I would like to congratulate Lab on the organization of the EuroCup 2 event which was also very successful this year, demonstrating that we have grown a lot at a company level. I think Jack coming in was an added bonus, and they all worked very well.
Coach Restivo spoke about the women at the end of the year but the progress in the EuroCup and the confirmation in the championship bracket shows that, after a difficult start, the girls have come out well”.
Pasquini continues: “As far as the men’s team is concerned, regardless of the result, it is clear that it would be trivial to read what the teams at 28 points say: we were not satisfied with the performance of this team because it has experienced ups and downs, without ever giving you the feeling of being consistent, of a real team. This in my opinion is the biggest problem and goes beyond the evaluation of the results, I recognize the excuses and the injuries starting 1-8 at the start. The matches in Ludwigsburg and Athens, the first seven of the championship then I have in mind the matches with Brescia and Bologna compared to the last two at home before Reggio Emilia: too many ups and downs that we must avoid in the future. This is regardless of the level of the championship, there have been mistakes and I am the one who feels most responsible of all, I have lived eight complex months with the aim of making this group a team. I think it’s important to all be on the same page: on Friday I read an article where in the analysis of the various critical issues I read how fundamental it was ‘having held Serie A calmly’, I think it’s important to fight on this thing.”
The analysis continues: “I believe that the difficulty arose from various aspects: in front of me I think of a team that is too multi-ethnic with many nationalities – Senegal, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Guadeloupe – what I thought could be an asset has become a disadvantage. The other is having almost all players whose contracts are expiring: I thought it would be an advantage, giving energy to have a great season, but instead it took away a bit of the sense of belonging that we had in the past. I say this after two seasons that we filmed making the semi-finals and there was a different atmosphere, in this year I had the feeling that even the emotions were always linked to the individual days. We have to go to the stadium and know what kind of show we can give, the daily life that the team lives is important and we haven’t been able to provide continuity. It’s obvious that Bendzius’ injury destroyed us, he represented a key player, along with the first eight games in which we had many injuries and problems: the year went this way, we must try to do better in the future. The foundations are solid, I feel a great desire to start again, a lot of energy from coach Markovic and I’m pleased because next season will be an even different season: I’d rather score 26 points with this spirit than 28″.
The future? “As for the 2024-25 season we will start again from Cappelletti and Bendzius: it will be a new team, an Italian base that can have multi-year agreements: the spirit of belonging and knowing where we have arrived will be fundamental. We will soon know the positioning in the European cups, unfortunately we are not in control of our destiny with tenth place. I was in Belgrade last week, there is great openness, they recognize that we are an excellent club and we have done all the BCL years except one. However, if there aren’t any cups it won’t be a drama, even in this championship several teams have shown that they can commit to doing well only in the championship. I want to stay positive, I want a consistent roster rather than talking about goals.”
On the critical issues of this season: “I don’t think the problem is leadership but years of experience: today basketball has become a sport for thirty-year-olds because as there are no longer players like Danilovic, experience and leadership are often created from the actual years on the pitch. Unfortunately these players had only a few seasons per role, I’m thinking of Ousmane in his first year of effective role, with a contract expiring, and the player who completed it was in his second year after a French Pro A season with a medium-low level team. Package number 5 paid for not having experience. Charalampopoulos actually had two years at Fortitudo and Pesaro, experience yes but not much, Tyree only had one year at Ostend. I thought I would complete the presence of Krule and Benji with Gentile and Whitaker who, however, as you know, immediately had problems. And certainly starting the season with 1-8 doesn’t help, we paid for all these things.”
What do you like about this season?
“The games played against Brescia and Bologna at home for sure: in particular with Brescia, even with -10 to go there was a good feeling with the public who understood the situation and we swore it there. I understood that if we continued with that type of energy we would continue the season like last year. Winning with Brindisi then made us relax, melting away in front of the motivations of Pesaro and Varese. But we have to start from those sensations, with a battle team we can conquer people. If we can immediately present a product with this energy we can think of doing well and starting from here.”
Is there anyone who would like to confirm?
“Obviously they are all under observation: Cappelletti and Bendzius are under contract. But it’s the beginning of May and it’s early: let’s not throw everything away, it’s clear that you score 28 points with important players. It’s possible that there are players you can no longer afford. I honestly believe Diop will go to a high level: He has a lot of market, I don’t know if Europe or Italy but he is destined for a big leap and we can only be happy for him.”
What kind of Dinamo will that be in 2024-2025?
“First of all, as you know, it is essential for me to collaborate with the coach I work with, I will never impose a player that the coach doesn’t like: among my tasks is to facilitate his work. Now there will be a Dinamo with the Nenad brand, which is reflected in its game system therefore with two players who create with the ball in their hands and physicality in roles from 3 to 5″.