By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
When you have the opportunity to talk to Andrey Vatutin, of course you don’t miss it. CSKA Moscow’s boss talked to eurohoops.net about what he is afraid of, what he expects from the game against Panathinaikos, about how he will keep Andrei Kirilenko to Moscow and about the merge of VTB League with Russian PBL from next season.
– You managed to put together this year, a really great team and usually when you built something new, you don’t see the results right away. But, you did…
“It’s a matter of experience. As an organization, we know how to handle things like that. But the reality is we have a new team, a young team. And with hard work, after six months we are at Euroleague’s Final Four. Of course, this is a great result. We are among great organizations, great teams, with great coaches and players. Specially Panathinaikos has a lot of experience and one of the best coaches. We will see tomorrow what will happen. We hope for the best. And if I am afraid of anything, is the possibility we won’t play like CSKA”.
– You were the favorite for the crown… from the beginning of the season. How much pressure you allowed yourselves to feel?
“I honestly say I don’t have a lot of pressure. Actually, I don’t think that somebody from CSKA Moscow feels any pressure. We all feel very lucky to be here and ready to play till the end of this road. Listen, when you are with a team like CSKA Moscow, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos or Barcelona, when you win its… like nothing happened. Cause it’s the normal thing to happen. When you lose, everybody starts to push you to the edge. So, its one of the main elements to have players and coaches, who are able to work at their best, under pressure”.
– You had too many games all season, with VTB League (where you got the trophy), Euroleague and PBL (Russian League). How tough were things with consecutive games every week and great expectations from the fans?
“I think the number of the games helped us find our chemistry on the court, at the most appropriate time. My team is ready for the Final Four, we have no injuries, we have good mentality and a really ambition group of people, from Russia, Serbia, Lithuania. The atmosphere is great in the locker rooms, they enjoy playing together, working together for this team”.
– Andrei Kirilenko’s decision to stay with you, after the end of the lock out at the NBA, was also extremely helpful…
“Andrei is a great leader, but above this he is a very smart man. He has our respect. It was so important to play in Europe this season and we were lucky enough to have him. He has offer too many things to our organizations and I don’t mean only when he is on the court. Everywhere we play, the arenas are full with people, because of him”.
– So, which is the way to keep him at Moscow, cause he said he will play for CSKA or… for one of the 30 teams at the NBA?
“Sssss…. It’s a secret! I will tell you all about it, after the Final”!
– And how you will keep Alexey Shved to Moscow, cause he got the attention of many teams from the NBA?
“You know Alexey is from CSKA’s academy and this is very important for us. He is a very young and talented guy. We hope he will stay with us for a long time. And no, CSKA is not a prison! If Alexei wants to go now to the NBA, he can do this, but you have to ask him. From my part, I think its better for him to stay with us for 1-2 years and then he will be ready to go to the NBA”.
– Last, but not least can you tell us about the possible merge of VTB League and PBL. Is it true or not we are going to have one league, from next season?
“I admit this was a difficult story. I mean it wasn’t easy to become from an idea to the new reality. But it was something we had to do. Its difficult for the fans to understand we have to play one week against Khimki and… the next one again against Khimki. So, yes we will merge from 2012-2013 season”.