Messina on the new FIBA calendar: Unfortunately coaches and players are not in the decision rooms
Messina: For players is humiliation. You are playing for your country, you achieve a qualification and then 12 players better then you come in and play the main competition
Ettore Messina, after the loss to Lithuania, responded to a question about the new FIBA windows with National Teams during the season. In the qualifiers there won’t be NBA and EuroLeague players.
“I am not happy. I am enjoying my team. I am enjoying this group of people. According to the political situation, if you work in the NBA or in the EuroLeague you are out of the National Team competition. I read what coach Obradovic said, I read Jasikevicius, both coaches and players think the same thing but there are not coaches and players in the rooms where decisions are taken. I will support Italy watching the games on television. I would use harsher words on this but what do you want me to say? It is even more humiliating for these federations to be in the situation where they will ask a group of players that qualified and then they will tell them “thank you. Somebody else who is supposed to be better than you is going to be in the competition”. That’s a humiliation. For players is humiliation. You are playing for your country, you achieve a qualification and then 12 players better then you come in and play the main competition. It is a never-ending story. I am just curious to see what the next step will be. Of this brilliant brain contest we are watching in the last two years. I am curious to see who is going to be the brain contest winner.
To the FIBA man in the press conference asking more questions about the game: He is a FIBA guy, he doesn’t want me to talk about that (laughing). It was a great game. You know what, I am a pain in the ass. You would like to see more of these games. You would like to see more Valanciunas, Kuzminskas. You would like to see more Belinelli and Melli and Datome. You would like to see every time those National Team step on the court. This is what you want to see. You said this was an amazing basketball game. And you want to see that”.
(From minute 4.30 to 7.50)
“I am not happy. I am enjoying my team. I am enjoying this group of people. According to the political situation, if you work in the NBA or in the EuroLeague you are out of the National Team competition. I read what coach Obradovic said, I read Jasikevicius, both coaches and players think the same thing but there are not coaches and players in the rooms where decisions are taken. I will support Italy watching the games on television. I would use harsher words on this but what do you want me to say? It is even more humiliating for these federations to be in the situation where they will ask a group of players that qualified and then they will tell them “thank you. Somebody else who is supposed to be better than you is going to be in the competition”. That’s a humiliation. For players is humiliation. You are playing for your country, you achieve a qualification and then 12 players better then you come in and play the main competition. It is a never-ending story. I am just curious to see what the next step will be. Of this brilliant brain contest we are watching in the last two years. I am curious to see who is going to be the brain contest winner.
To the FIBA man in the press conference asking more questions about the game: He is a FIBA guy, he doesn’t want me to talk about that (laughing). It was a great game. You know what, I am a pain in the ass. You would like to see more of these games. You would like to see more Valanciunas, Kuzminskas. You would like to see more Belinelli and Melli and Datome. You would like to see every time those National Team step on the court. This is what you want to see. You said this was an amazing basketball game. And you want to see that”.
(From minute 4.30 to 7.50)
E. Carchia
@Sportando
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