Olimpia, market rumors don’t like Sandro Gamba
Sandro Gamba grooms Olimpia and does so from the columns of Repubblica in its Milan edition. “We arrive at this last day of the Euroleague with our ears very low,” he says. “Aware that this Olimpia has no consistency or continuity in the 40 minutes even when it plays some good flashes. And it has not acquired defensive weapons during the season. It is not special. First-place in the league, however far from excellence. And too soft to be worth playoffs in Europe. As if that were not enough, I start reading about market rumors and suitcases already ready for some players. As if there is still no Scudetto to be won.”
“I believe up to a certain point in the possibility of tactical changes by coach Poeta – adds the basketball legend -: everyone will have his ideas on the blackboard but in the end basketball is a ball, five men on the court and seven on the bench. Impossible to think of too much alchemy. But if this is the air, if leadership is not seen on the floor or within the group, I think it’s time for ownership to step in. I’m thinking of President Dell’Orco.”
The words of Gamba come in the aftermath of the last Euroleague home game, in which Olimpia succumbed to Bayern Munich 94-84, even touching -26 during the third period. An evening that had already prompted Coach Poeta to harsh words: “I apologize to the fans and ownership,” the white-and-red coach had said at the end of the match, adding that “so far in the Euroleague we had fought in every single game, tonight it did not happen.” For the fourth consecutive season, therefore, Olimpia missed the European playoffs, with the last participation in the post season dating back to the 2021-2022 season.
The European destiny of the biancorossi had been effectively sealed already a week earlier, with the 102-96 defeat on the court of Valencia. Even on that occasion Poeta did not hide, pinpointing precisely his team’s Achilles’ heel: “We completely lack the cynical part of the game. We have lost an important lead because we have not been able to finish the games we also play well.” A script repeated too many times during the European season.
The market rumors Gamba refers to find confirmation in the rumors circulated in recent weeks. The red-and-white roster is destined for a real revolution: Nebo, whose contract is expiring, and young Ellis seem ready to say goodbye to Milan, with the latter reportedly already having a major deal to return to the NCAA. Mannion, too, is expected to change jersey, while the situation related to the renewal of Armoni Brooks, a key man for Poeta, on whom Partizan Belgrade would have insistently come forward, is holding court. Also to be defined are the fates of Tonut and Flaccadori, both valuable for the Italian quota. Also a thorny knot is the one concerning Guduric, disappointing in his first season in the red and white but still under contract with EA7.
