Simone Fontecchio granted an interview to Christos Tsaltas di Sportal.grin which he also spoke about his first NBA season and Italy’s prospects for the World Cup.
“I feel I’ve proven my worth, I’ve proven that I can play at that level. Not just because I scored a buzzer beater, but because of the way I played in the second half of the season. I consistently played around 20 minutes a game and did well. I don’t think I have anything else to prove. I don’t know what will happen, I still have a year of contract with the Jazz. Obviously I hope to extend my NBA career even further, but if that doesn’t happen I wouldn’t consider it a failure. Under no circumstances.”
The national team, of which he is the offensive leader.
“Playing and being with these teammates for about a month brings me so much joy and happiness. We like to be together, we have known each other for many years and we are more or less the same age. We are a very nice group, being part of it makes me happy and proud”.
“Team Chemistry? It’s terribly important. We need to stick together and help each other in both good and bad times. Then events like this are not easy at all. Even if this will be my first World Cup, I already know it won’t be easy to get ahead. You also have to be lucky to be successful. The most important thing is that the team always stays together.”
“Where can we get to? I don’t know… It’s not easy to talk about goals and results because anything can happen in these competitions. We have a tough group with the Philippines, the Dominican Republic will be bolstering with Karl-Anthony Towns, so it’s not going to be easy. We have to play well, stick together, and have a bit of luck. We want to go as far as possible…”.