Yes but here it is. The current reality of Elan is subject to constraints, to financial austerity, which are completely out of step with the sporting reality and the needs of the field which prompted Eric Bartecheky to let go of this cry from the heart on Saturday in the bowels of Ekinox : “This team must have two outside players more than tonight if we want to compete and exist in the championship. We need reinforcements, it’s mandatory, and quickly, “urged the coach who allowed himself this outing since the club management, not deaf to the technician’s concerns, had managed to scratch the bottoms of the drawers to grant him a” small” envelope.
DR
“Transparency with the League”
This Monday, change of tone, turnaround. Cold shower for the coach who learns that the recruitment of Marcus Lewis has been postponed. Not by the management of Elan but by the National Basketball League (LNB) via its Superior Management Council which sets the rules of the game for each of the eighteen protagonists when it comes to contracts and payroll.
That of Elan, down almost 600,000 euros this summer with the takeover of the club and its debt by the company Eat4Good chaired by Sébastien Ménard, has thus fallen from 1.81 million euros last season to 1 .29 M euros this year (15e of the championship). Which does not allow any madness. Only the clubs committed “without reservation” benefit from an authorization to exceed a maximum amount of 150,000 euros. The Elan Béarnais obviously does not fit into this box.
President of the club since August, Sébastien Ménard, who chose “to play total transparency with the LNB”, sent the League on September 15 a “corrected copy” of the budget presented to the same body at the end of July. A second version certainly less optimistic than the first which prompted the financial policeman of the LNB to refuse the Pau club the possibility of hiring a tenth professional player.
This possibility will return to topicality under extremely precise conditions. it starts by respecting the budget presented to the penny, in terms of expenditure and income. It is only if new partners, sensitive to the survival of the club, make additional contributions, that the possibility of considering recruitment will arise. In this specific case alone, the Bearn leaders will be able to request a derogation from the LNB in order to hire this tenth pro player claimed by Eric Bartecheky.
Sim did not resume
In the meantime, to darken the picture a little more, Eric Bartecheky still does not know whether or not he can count on the return of Garrett Sim this week. The back, who has not touched a ball since the victory against Limoges on Sunday October 2, is still in trouble with his back and is undergoing treatment to make the pain go away.
Its recovery, scheduled and hoped for Thursday, is far from certain. In the best case, Sim will only have two days to get back into “competitor” mode. In the opposite option, it is the same workforce as that which exploded very early on Saturday in Bourg-en-Bresse which will take the road to Lorraine on Saturday evening.
With all the risks and upheavals that entails: a Michael Stockton, the only experienced playmaker who becomes an ideal prey for the opposing defence; fault management which can quickly become problematic; an undeserving Fabio Milanese (7 points, 4 assists), but overexposed (17 minutes at Bourg); a Gérald Ayayi forced to infuse 35 minutes of play, as much as Giovan Oniangue; and a Markeith Cummings (5 points to 2 out of 9) who navigates between the wing and the inside to try to balance a wobbly set.
In this hardly encouraging table, the Elan had the merit of winning two matches very early on, which allowed them to get ahead of seven teams, including their next three opponents (Nancy, Paris Basket, Portel) which they will therefore have to challenge without the reinforcement hoped. Autumn is already harsh.
