Andrea Bargnani pushes Pozzecco’s Italy.

Andrea Bargnani’s words

Andrea Bargnani, former star of the Toronto Raptors in the NBA, was a guest speaker at the Giardini Margherita Tournament in Bologna.

“Basketball? For me it is one of the great passions, one of the great loves to which I have dedicated so much time and so many sacrifices. But I have many passions and over time some passions tend to take over others,” he began in the interview given to the tournament’s Instagram channel.

He then charged Gianmarco Pozzecco’s National Team ahead of the FIBA World Cup 2023, scheduled from August 25 to September 10 in the Philippines: “I followed the National Team last year, the game against Serbia was epic. In my opinion Pozzecco is the right person on the national team to create the right vibes during the summer, someone who creates a special atmosphere. He is prepared from a technical point of view, I also like him for his attitude. I don’t like it when he goes on those rants and has those excesses but I think they are part of his character. The World Cup is more open, easier than the European Championship in some ways, there are no buffer teams however there is a chance to go further. It’s a national team that has no stars but a very solid group that has shown it can do great things. And then there is Gigi (Datome ed), with Gigi everything is possible.”

“Bologna has become my home for the past two years, and since I have been here I have really discovered how important basketball is in this city. It’s hard to understand it until you come to Bologna, you can’t imagine that in Italy there is a city so connected to basketball. It’s an obsession, even more than soccer, it’s “Basket City,” the Virtus-Fortitudo rivalry can be felt,” Bargnani concluded about the city of Bologna, where he has now lived for a couple of years.