By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Andrea Trinchieri officially took over the Zalgiris bench from Kazys Maksvytis and, in the press conference held upon his arrival in Kaunas, opened up about the challenges ahead of him, but firstly praised the Lithuanian coach he succeeded.
“I believe that he gave a lot to this organization. I believe that he gave value to this team, and I can feel it from the outside and from the practice. I am sure that he’s going to have a great stint with the national team. I wish him all the best,” Trinchieri said.
The former Partizan and Bayern Munich coach then spoke about his goals for this season.
“I am here with one goal: to help this team play better. I am highly motivated because I am the coach of a team in a country where basketball is a religion. One day, I want to say to my kids that I was the coach of Partizan and Zalgiris.”
Trinchieri believes the situation in the EuroLeague is tough, as Zalgiris is third from the bottom with five wins after 17 rounds.
“The 10th place is not on Mars. It is on Saturn. My job is to support and help my players. We are going to play 17 leagues of 1 game. We’ll act like a submarine; hopefully, we’ll hit something.”
Rumors about him taking over from Maksvytis circulated even a few weeks before the official announcement, but at the time, Zalgiris showed support to the Lithuanian tactician.
“How do you say bulls*** in Lithuanian? This is pure baloney. And trust me, this is made up. It is really fake news.”
Before his arrival, Zalgiris extended Austin Hollins’ contract for two more weeks.
“Austin Hollins is a good player. I am very happy that they found a deal with a very good person like Austin, who was very cooperative. I want to see him in person,” Andrea Trinchieri said, adding it’s too early to talk about possible changes in the team’s roster. “I would be a very bad coach.”
Photo: Screenshot – Youtube.com