The winning basket against Obradoiro, eighteen points and victory over Valencia… is he in the best moment of the season?
Yes, for sure, it is my best moment, but I would also say it is because it is the moment when I was able to chain more games, have more continuity, after so many injuries and setbacks. Between the finger, the nose, weird bumps I’ve had… now I’m happy.
If with so many setbacks it’s brilliant, imagine a little more continuity…
I only think about playing, I don’t give it any more spins. When I’m on the court I want to enjoy basketball, it’s what I live for, what feeds me. And I like it a lot. I’m happy because now I have six games in a row, the longest streak of the whole season. I’m enjoying it after chaining together so many misfortunes. In the summer, with the national team, I had a hamstring injury with a six-centimeter tear that puts me in the pre-season with a disadvantage. Then I had the fissure in my finger, I had to go through the operating room, and I was already told that the recovery would be long, about two months. And once operated they saw that it was worse than they expected. While I was recovering I suffered an abductor injury, and when I was able to return, in the match against Baskonia in Fontajau, I got hit in the nose and fractured it. And on Palencia day, in the second half, I noticed a stretch in the abductor, the same one that had already injured me.
Last Sunday Katsikaris explained that she had to be off but asked to be able to play undercover.
It was an unlucky action in Saturday’s training. Eric tripped and fell on my foot. But I’m fine
Is the basket against Obradoiro one of the most decisive of his career?
Surely, because it was a very important victory that allowed us to escape a bit from the bottom zone. It is one of the most important baskets, for sure. The move, however, no one expected, it was not supposed to turn out like this. But after two slips I stand alone under the basket, fake the first defender that comes my way, and then I say ‘up and pray’.
Now that he has made his debut in the ACB, who is his next challenge?
I’ve always had two or three goals. When I arrived in Europe via Barça to play for LEB Plata, I decided to go to Or, and from there, to ACB. I have been burning stages little by little, gaining minutes and responsibility. I wanted to play in the ACB, with the Argentine national team, and now I’m thinking of doing it in the Euroleague. So far so good, I’ve already got two out of three.
Vosté is in Girona on loan from Barça and there is already talk of whether they want him back for next year. Can you see it, from Blaugrana?
Right now I’m focused on Girona. There are nine days left and we must be focused on the work, on achieving salvation first and then look up. We’ll see what happens in the summer, what Barça decides and what I decide. I really appreciate the people of Girona, who opened the doors of the ACB to me and gave me the opportunity. I am very comfortable here, I came to gain minutes and responsibility.
How has he experienced the change of coach?
In the first few days with Fotis it was perhaps a bit difficult for me to fit into the game. He has always given me maximum confidence, but maybe he was more used to the rhythm of Salva Camps. I am grateful to both coaches because they have both given me responsibility and trusted me to lead the team.
Was it difficult to decide to take the step of leaving Argentina to come to Europe?
I came in 2019, before the pandemic. I was alone in Barcelona because of the pandemic. I arrived in August 2019, after the U-19 World Cup that I had played with the national team. I had just turned 19, and I came alone. Until March 2020, good enough, despite being so far from home, a day’s journey away. I was ready for this, I wanted to dedicate myself to basketball and the doors opened for me through an entire Barça. It was difficult to leave my club there but I managed it. During the pandemic it was hard, I couldn’t socialize with anyone.
Had he faced Girona in the LEB Plata?
Yes, I played it. Here I had come to Palau, and in Fontajau I faced the LEB Or with Lleida. I played that semi-final of the promotion phase in which Girona reached the final by eliminating us and ended up going up against Estudiantes. A friendly had also been played in Platja d’Aro.
When did you realize you could be a professional basketball player?
I would say that at the age of 13. I was living in Misiones, which is near Brazil, and I started playing an international booster tournament for a team there. I saw that I was doing well and that if I worked hard I could dedicate myself to it. My start in professionalism was when I was 16 or 17, when I started playing in the Argentine national league. I left home at 15 to play basketball and my family has always supported me.
You are from Rosario. The city of Messi. There, football must be a religion.
I was born in Rosario but I only lived there for six years. And yes, there football is a religion, but you know what happens, that mine is a totally basketball family. My parents, coaches, and my sisters have also played or coached. I started playing when I was two and a half years old with a ball that I took everywhere. Leaving Rosario I lived in many other places, always to accompany my father, who was a coach in the second division of Argentina.
Does he give you advice?
Not so much now. He sees the matches, he came here to Girona to see the Baskonia one… now he is the national coordinator of the Argentine national teams. He is very happy. With me now he only fulfills the role of father, not so much that of coach, as he used to do as a child.
Going to the national team and matching Campazzo and Laprovittola is a master’s degree?
Of course. In the last window we played against Chile I had Campazzo up front in any training session and all I wanted to do was absorb as much as I could from him, learn from him. If he is not the best point guard in Europe, he is certainly in the top 3.
Does it help to have an Argentinian teammate here in Girona, Maxi Fjellerup?
Yes, he plays the big brother role. We get along very well. We spend a lot of time together and when we’re not together, we talk on the phone (laughs). When I arrived in Girona I didn’t even know him, only from the national team, once we met, but we weren’t friends or anything. Here we have become brothers.
What needs to be improved?
In the defensive aspect, although there has been a change from the beginning of the season until now, I have to improve. I need to improve my physical appearance to be able to withstand contact better. I have also been correcting reading and decision-making. I used to take more risks. I have to learn to keep the confidence, sometimes I make a mistake and I sink.
Is the team looking up or still down?
Let’s look at us. Yes, it is true that now things are seen in a different way. The seven defeats in a row were tough and the mood is different now. Getting to the play-off seems complicated but it is not impossible. We must always look up and a win against Manresa would be very positive in this sense.
2024-03-22 06:39:18
#Juani #Marcos #Girona #opened #doors #ACB
