Paul Matiasic collects another 'no'
The president of CSG, Paul Matiasic, does not give up and keeps moving to try to fulfill his much more entrepreneurial than poetic dream: he is now exploring several opportunities at the national level and, according to the latest rumors. his interest has focused on the newly promoted Scafati. However, the Campania-based club, led by the volcanic Nello Longobardi, rejected the proposal with a firm “no thanks.” However, the hypothesis remains open that this is a strategy to stall and aim for a more substantial economic offer, on the model of the investments already made in the Capital.
Scafati Basket, after all, also has other things to think about right now. After clinching promotion to Serie A at the end of a memorable ride, the Campania club has also found itself having to deal with the question of the bench: Frank Vitucci has exercised the exit clause from his contract, officially leaving the yellow-blue technical guide. The club has thus initiated contacts to identify his successor, with three main names on the notebook of the Scafatese management: Piero Bucchi, fresh from the end of his relationship with Brindisi and considered a guarantee of experience in the top league; Nicola Brienza, eager to relaunch himself after his exoneration in Cantù; and Demis Cavina, a solid and pragmatic profile appreciated for his ability to work with heterogeneous rosters. The final decision is expected soon, when the club will also define the new technical and managerial set-up.
Giving further strategic weight to the whole affair is the NBA Europe backdrop, the new competition expected to kick off in the 2027-28 season. FIP president Gianni Petrucci himself confirmed that the realities interested in the project in Italy are concrete: “On paper today there are two realities that are coming forward. And they are real realities, not chatter.” Rome and Milan remain the two Italian markets identified as strategic by the NBA in terms of catchment area, visibility and commercial potential, and whoever manages to present the most convincing project will be in a decisive advantageous position.
In the meantime, according to rumors reported by Superbasket, Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti has hinted that the Italian Basketball Federation could introduce a double waiver to facilitate the entry of two new entities in Rome: one would seem to have already been identified, linked to the Nelson cordate – former Dallas Mavericks general manager Don Nelson, with a group of investors among whom Luka Dončić is also mentioned – interested in the Vanoli Cremona sports title; the second could concern precisely the CSG-branded project. A scenario that, if confirmed, would explain Matiasic’s frantic activity on the Italian sports title market and his determination not to stop in the face of the first denials.
