Umberto Gandini applauds Virtus
The words of Umberto Gandini
Lega Basket Serie A President Umberto Gandini spoke to Radio Sportiva about the Supercoppa: "È everything went very well. Brescia responded great with two “sold out” both Saturday with the semifinals and Sunday for the final. The result of the final was not predictable with this gap, with Bologna benefiting from the arrival of coach Banchi who – while working on an already defined team – transmitted to the group the right intensity” in both games”.
In the championship, another duel between EA7 Emporio Armani Milano and Virtus Segafredo Bologna is on the horizon: “I see it positively. Bologna and Milan are the two teams with the highest budgets and can bring sap to this league. A coach like Banchi coming to Virtus as the best coach of the World or great players – like Mirotic to Olimpia – these are shots that have given additional luster to Serie A. The other companies, too, however, precisely because of this power of attraction of the first two, have more and more desire to emulate them and find space. The fact that we have a league that has so many intermediate goals (such as the race to get to the Final Eight of the Italian Cup and the playoffs or to avoid relegation or fight to maintain the category), allows each of the 16 teams to identify their own goal. In this way, all of our lineups bring their own brick to the world of Serie A UnipolSai”.
The President then analyzed the issue of the growth of young Italian basketball players and the competition from another sport such as volleyball: “The system we have in place stipulates how 50% of the players who take the court must be of Italian background but this does not mean that everyone will have the chance to play with the blue jersey. However, it depends on many factors: in addition to technical quality è it is necessary to add a personality with which the players coming from the youth sectors must approach the stages of Serie A. This is helped in this by the national team of coach Pozzecco, who has brought so many examples, such as the legend Gigi Datome who è just retired, that provide so much stimulus to young basketball players. Competition from volleyball is mainly seen on athletes of great stature who are also attracted to volleyball. This è an issue that all of us in the movement need to think about: for example, I am thinking about the simplicity with which a volleyball game can be organized in a school gymnasium, which can lead to more people following and practicing the sport than basketball, a contact sport that requires more attention from staff".
