From Poeta to the playoffs, via the market: Dan Peterson exposes himself on'Olimpia Milano
As one of the special guests at the “Il Foglio a San Siro” event, held on Thursday in the setting of the “Meazza,” Dan Peterson had his say on Olimpia Milano, a club with which he won everything in the 1980s, rising himself to a popularity capable of transcending the boundaries of the basketball world. Between present goals and future prospects, the Coach par excellence, 90 years old on January 9, did not mince words, strong in his experience.
“After the last day of the Euroleague, Olimpia will finally be able to concentrate only on the championship – he began -. It has already won the Supercup and the Italian Cup, but what really matters is the Scudetto. If it doesn’t come, no one will remember the other trophies. At this moment, realistically, they can aim for third place in the regular season: it means that in the playoffs, having passed the quarters, they would face Brescia or Virtus in the semifinals, which in any case has some little problems, without having the court factor at their disposal.”
“The change of coach in the middle of the season is always a trauma – he then added talking about the change in the running last fall, with Ettore Messina’s step back -. Poeta was thrown into the fray without warming up, with a team that he did not build. We’ll see what he can do. I say this openly: I am a big fan of Poeta. He is a modern coach, a sunny person, he conveys confidence and positivity. And that is needed. But it’s the players who really have to react.”
On the future, Peterson is clear: better not to think about it today. “I don’t like it when we already talk about next year, about Thompson coming to Olimpia. Let’s play this championship, then about the Olimpia of the future we will talk at the end of the season. When I was coaching, I always said the same thing: this is our team, we’ll see the rest later. It’s not Olimpia’s fault if news is circulating, today there are no more secrets. But now we have to think about the playoffs.”
For the Evanston coach, however, making the market is not easy to compete internationally: “Barcelona, Real Madrid, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, then there are the two Turkish ones, Efes and Fenerbahce. They are all top-level clubs that can bet on no small budget. Clearly, Olimpia has very demanding fans, who want clear choices: they will need a real point guard, with a capital P. Not a combo guard, not a player who focuses more on other aspects.”
Dan Peterson, finally, preferred not to get out of line in terms of predictions, recalling a funny anecdote: “You say I always get them right? I don’t! The Gazzetta has been asking me for playoff predictions since 1991, more than 30 years: in all that time I think I got two Italian champions right. Once I vented to Franco Arturi, I asked him, ‘But why do you always ask me for them? There are so many other experienced editors’. He listened to me patiently and then said, ‘Do you really want to know why we ask you for them? Why are you the only one stupid enough to agree to do them!'” concluded the coach, making the whole audience smile.
