Italbasket, the'foreign hypothesis for post-Pozzecco divides fans

Luca Banchi, Sergio Scariolo, Peppe Poeta… but also Ergin Ataman. The names for the post-Pozzecco on the bench of the’Italbasket continue to chase each other, and that of the Turkish coach is the new name, which divides fans between those who would welcome him and those, instead, who would continue on the path traced since 2001 to this part, with only Italian technical commissioners to lead the National team.

Ataman himself, at the time of Messina’s farewell in 2017, admitted he had been contacted by the Italian federation, which then, however, chose Meo Sacchetti. Another lunge is possible, but the’idea of a dual-role coach (Ataman also coaches Panathinaikos) would have to be carefully evaluated and, in any case, it will have to be understood whether the 1996-born coach will also remain at the helm of the Turkish selection, closing the door to any other hypothesis.

In its 99-year history, the Men’s National Basketball Team has had only three foreign technical commissioners: Elliott Van Zandt, American, from 1948 to 1951 (bronze medal winner at the Mediterranean Games in ’51), Jim McGregor, also American, from 1954 to 1956 (silver medal at the Mediterranean Games in ’55), and Bogdan ‘Boscia’ Tanjevic, Montenegrin, from 1997 to 2001 (gold medal winner at the European Games in ’99).

From 2001 onward, the technical commissioners of the national team were Carlo Recalcati until 2009 (silver at the 2004 Athens Games, gold at the 2005 Mediterranean Games), Simone Pianigiani from 2009 to 2015, Ettore Messina from 2015 to 2017 (for him, the second experience in the Azzurri after the one between 1992 and 1997), Meo Sacchetti from 2017 to 2022, and Gianmarco Pozzecco from 2022 to 2025.