By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In a recent interview, American combo guard Taylor Rochestie discussed what went wrong last season with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the sequence of failures in Euroleague and Eurocup. He also talked about the reasons he didn’t choose to continue with Olympiacos and his signing with Lokomotiv Kuban.
“It’s hard to point fingers on somewhere specific but last season with Maccabi was a catastrophe.”, he said to Israeli website one.co.il. “There was distress in the locker rooms. We went through three different coaches. Many players came and left. We began with some specific players but suddenly half of them lost their place in the rotation or departed mid-season. We suffered a lot of injuries, but that’s not an excuse. In the end, we had to win games. Period. Playing with Maccabi was a dream, I am sorry it’s over.”
“Failing in Euroleague felt like a bomb falling on us,” added the 31-year old player. “Everyone comes to Maccabi in order to play with the club in Euroleague.”And this is a club with a glorious history in the competition. But we failed in Euroleague and we went on to Eurocup. There were difficult moments in the locker room but we believed we could sweeten the pill if we went all the way in Eurocup. But we didn’t. It hurt more than anything.”
Rochestie was linked with Olympiacos during the summer. “Olympiacos has Spanoulis as its leader and is a team packed with other guards. It wouldn’t be an ideal situation for me.” Now, he is going to continue his career in Russia playing for Lokomotiv Kuban. “I’m happy that I moved to Lokomotiv Kuban. And I feel that this is the right situaton for me. We are talking about a team that aims to winning the Eurocup and had an excellent last season in Euroleague.”