Italbasket: Gianni Petrucci reveals who will be the new Italian coach
There’s anticipation to know who will take Gianmarco Pozzecco’s place at the helm of the national basketball team. The new coach will be called upon to give continuity to the project but, above all, to try to make that’last step that continues to be an insurmountable problem for the Azzurri, as evidenced by the bitter elimination, by Slovenia, in the round of 16 of the European Championship.
Many names are in play although Gianni Petrucci, in a lengthy interview with Corriere della Sera, has, in fact, unveiled who will be, barring surprises, the heir to Gianmarco Pozzecco: “The road seems traced. All I can say is that he is an excellent coach, one of the best”, his words in reference to Luca Banchi.
The’former coach of, among others, Virtus Bologna and Efes, should therefore sit on the Azzurri bench in a tight schedule. Formerly an assistant coach of the Azzurri (2009/10), he was on the Latvian bench for four years (2021 to 2025). Now the big leap with the Azzurri bench.
Gianni Petrucci, however, explained that Luca Banchi could also coach a club as well as the national team: “I would prefer him full time but I understand that if a coach you like is busy, you can adopt a different solution”. I mean, in order to have him, FIP would also be willing to have him part time. There is a lack of officiality but by now the decision seems to be made.
