“Fontecchio is an NBA player! Gallinari? Unique

Let’s start with Sky Sport. Also this time Sky will be the home of Azzurro basketball: you will follow all the matches of Italy in the group and then the entire final phase of EuroBasket in Berlin. After many years ago commentator, is the emotion always the same or is it a bit waned?

“Twenty years is twenty years, so many things change. Probably the emotions have changed in some ways, however, if a match like Italy-France in 2003 were to happen, the tones would be the same. Today I no longer make it a question of the flag or of Italy, as maybe I did 20 years ago, even if I clearly do not deny what I did twenty years ago. Today I would probably live in the same tones as a Serbia-Greece twenty years ago ”.

The first question we ask you about Italy is about Danilo. Now we know that he won’t be in the European Championship and that Amedeo Tessitori has been called up instead of him, not exactly the same thing. What must Italy do to make up for the absence of the Gallo?

“What I think we need to do is tell that player or those players who will take the place of Danilo Gallinari not to do as Danilo Gallinari would do. Because Danilo Gallinari is only Danilo Gallinari. No Italian player can do what Gallo did in Brescia against Georgia in the third quarter. He took the whole team on his shoulders and practically directed the Azzurro attack by himself. But we don’t even have to stop at the fact that a team is made up of a player, otherwise we would have enormous problems “,

“If Steph Curry didn’t play the playoffs with Golden State, the Warriors wouldn’t be an NBA title team. But if Payton hadn’t been in these Finals, the Californians wouldn’t have put the ring on their finger, just to be clear. Last year in Belgrade we won without Gallinari but with enormous ones Polonara and Pajola. If in these 10 days in Milan and Berlin the two aforementioned players will be able to repeat the Serbian experience, then the Gallinari problem will be a little less of a problem ”.

We will play the first phase at home at the Mediolanum Forum in Assago. It is a beautiful group because there are Greece of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Croatia of Bodgan Bodganovic and Ukraine, which presents itself to the European Championship after more than 6 months of war. In what position will Italy close, considering Danilo’s forfeit?

“Honestly, the location doesn’t matter, on a practical level, what makes the difference in terms of pairings is to avoid Serbia in the Round of 16. If this means finishing first, second, third or fourth I don’t know. I think this is the only “calculation” to do. The group of Italy is not easy because even against Great Britain and Estonia – the two least popular – you can play at 30% and win. And no one can afford it, perhaps not even the Greece of the Antetokounmpo. You have to be good at winning games, wasting as little energy as possible. However, only mature teams can do this and have many players who can contribute, see for example Serbia“.

What do Flavio Tranquillo think of Pozzecco CT, having seen it closely in recent months?

“I find it really difficult to comment on the work of a person or a staff of people who for 95% or more work in a closet, in the dark, behind the scenes. Especially if we are talking about a coach who is in his first experience as a technical commissioner and who has been leading the team for more or less 3 months. With Messina, for example, I could express a slightly more consistent judgment because I have a lot more material to evaluate him, as head coach but also as technical commissioner. With Pozzecco I don’t have enough background to judge him, besides the fact that I don’t like to evaluate the individual but what a team, therefore the head coach and the assistant coaches, produce, or how the team plays on the court ”.

He is certainly a character and is giving great media hype to our national team. Could this be important for the basketball movement in our country?

“We assume that I don’t represent anyone, I hardly represent myself. I work for Sky Sport and part of my job is to give interviews on the basketball world, so my answer is mine, it’s the opinion of Flavio Tranquillo. Honestly, I do not think that a “magata” to Pozzecco can allow basketball to climb “positions” within the Italian sports scene. Having visibility for a few days on the front pages of the newspapers does not allow you to become the reference sport of the country or one of the reference sports. I can’t even call them marketing strategies because marketing is a science that deserves all the respect in the world. Then, far be it from me to criticize or say that certain decisions are right or wrong, it’s not my job and it’s not my role ”.

“My opinion is that Italian basketball will not rise again with a“ magata ”but there are a thousand other ways to allow basketball to regain vigor. And don’t even think medals are the solution. Italbasket has won many medals, many golds, over the years. Like him he also took sensational musings in the face. But it was not those awards that caused basketball to rise or fall in these hypothetical and somewhat provincial hierarchies. Surely I can say that it is a widespread opinion that a “flick” is enough to restore interest to our sport, then maybe it is the right choice and, if this should be the case, I will be the first to compliment those in charge “.

Often there has been talk of the “strongest national team of all time”. How can we catalog this? After all, she managed to do what “the strongest national team of all time” had failed in Turin, that is to reach the Olympics.

“The strongest national team ever was seen only for maybe a couple of days in Bormio when Gallinari, Belinelli and Bargnani were at the beginning of their NBA adventure, I’m talking about the summer of 2011, I think. Then unfortunately Danilo’s injuries started and there was never any way to see if the national team could really become the strongest ever. If you ask those who have won an Olympic silver, they probably don’t tell you that they were the strongest national team ever, but it is certainly the one that obtained the most important honor. But it was a matter of possessions being shot in a certain way. This national team has the “luck” that no one expects anything, a bit like last year in Belgrade. It was unthinkable to beat Serbia without Belinelli, Datome and Gallinari, yet it happened“.

You will also follow all the final stages, regardless of Italy’s journey. Do you think the podium is a 4-way race between France, Serbia, Slovenia and Greece? Lithuania, however, made 9/9 in this August and Spain is still Spain, despite the age and absences, but 3 years ago he became world champion.

“I honestly don’t like predictions but I understand that they are interesting because they create hype in approaching an event. There are many strong teams, I don’t see a favorite team over the others. There is no Yugoslavia of the 1980s and Spain of the 2000s. Serbia, Greece and Slovenia have many excellent players, with some tips that are superior to the others, namely Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Doncic. France has a widespread presence of NBA players or basketball players who are in the EuroLeague but who may have an NBA contract, like Poirier. Having tips is better than not having them, but they are dry matches. It is enough that a top player plays the 3-4 minutes that decide a match below their level and the top player of the opponents, the Simone Fontecchio of the situation, plays above their standards for an underdog to be able to eliminate the favorite Serbia.“.

Simone Fontecchio is the man of the moment for Italian basketball and this year we will be able to follow him on Sky Sport in the NBA. What role will Flavio Tranquillo play overseas?

“Right now it’s really hard for me to imagine what Fontecchio’s role at the Jazz could be because we have two options: Utah with Donovan Mitchell and Utah without Donova Mitchell. With Spida, however, they will be a team that will try to reach the playoffs and therefore Simone could have a harder time finding space, especially at the beginning. Without Mitchell, on the other hand, the Salt Lake City franchise would be in complete rebuilding and therefore could have more space, but even here everything depends on the players they will receive in the trade for Mitchell. If they were to get a player or more players who play in the same position as Fontecchio, then they could have a lower chance of seeing the parquet for many minutes ”.

“What I can say is that today Simone Fontecchio, for what he has shown in the last year, is an NBA player. He has to improve on two aspects: he has to be a more consistent defender and for many more minutes – because it has the potential to be – and must produce more points for the teammates. Today he scores 20 points per game and generates 20. Now he must learn to generate more, perhaps even at the expense of his personal figures. The NBA phenomena – I am referring to Giannis and Jokic – score 20 points and generate 40. They too have experienced moments where they made 20 and 20, then they reached 20 and 40. It is a process ”.

Last question. The captain, Gigi Datome. In Belgrade and Tokyo it wasn’t there. Could he be the extra man – as he often has been – for this team?

“I think that, especially due to the situation that has arisen, namely Gallinari’s injury, what he and Melli give will be particularly important. If by extra man we mean that instead of making 10 points he must make 20 points, then the answer is no. Maybe in a match he can also do them because he knows how to do them and he did them, especially in an important match. The role is particular, specific, which has certain specific, technical and human characteristics. Gigi and Melli are not players who must be evaluated for points but for the balance they give to the team“.

We thank Flavio Tranquillo and Sky Sport for their availability. We remind you that you can follow Italy at EuroBasket live on Sky Sport.

Read also: Italbasket, Gallinari’s “substitute” at EuroBasket will be Pippo Ricci

Flavio Tranquillo

Born in 1996. Collaborator for BasketUniverso since March 31, 2014. Graduated in Humanities for Communication at the State University of Milan. In love with sport and his stories, with a predilection for basketball and football.