Evgeny Bogachev: ‘Will UNICS be in Euroleague top 8?’ Club president as a journalist
Basketball players and staff of UNICS marked their return with a big basketball day. The club decided to spend almost one day to welcome the Euroleague representatives, talk to the Kazan mass media and shoot promo videos with a new marketing team. Realnoe Vremya tells what our correspondent managed to know during this hour.
Personnel metamorphosis. For better?
When UNICS returned to its birthplace, it did not hide at the base, it did not silently train but did its best to tell all basketball lovers in Kazan that 'the owner is at home'. Reforms in the green team have been prepared for many years. And stands of Basket Hall are the main criterion, of course. Whatever results Bogachev's team demonstrated, shows at home were dreams.
According to all symptoms, this season will be the year of changes. The unchangeable head of the press service of the club Vladimir Tambov has announced his voluntary resignation. The very press attaché who has spent at UNICS 19 years left a message on the page of the club. It was easy to understand the reason for his rejection.
'I made a decision to leave the club. I inform the readers of the page and representatives of press services of the VTB United League, Russian Basketball Federation and Russian basketball clubs I have business contacts with. In order to avoid different false interpretations, I state that this decision is strictly voluntary. I would like to thank, express my gratitude to all people who read my publications, who liked and criticised them. Thanks for the criticism, which was impartial and not much. Publications are just the top of the iceberg of the work that a head of the press service, press attaché has to do,' wrote Tambov in his latest post on the official page.
Personnel reshuffle did not keep its waiting. As soon as a group of journalists went up to the small hall, a new head of the Department of Marketing Sergey Indeikin, who will be an acting press attaché, started to explain 'new rules' of behaviour. It cannot be said the journalists were glad about such a new approach.
Too self-confident Pashutin
Then the Euroleague representatives talked to the players and staff of the Kazan team. This season will be so different from the previous years that a close work of the organisation with clubs will be an indispensable part of the basketball year in Europe. A new kit of the players is eye-catching. A white silhouette of the Kazan points of interests in one half of the T-shirt seemed to be a surprise even for the very president of the club Evgeny Bogachev who carefully observed the new kit and listened to the description by Indeikin. It seems that a redesign of the kit was one of his first ideas at his new work.
After a group photo for the new season in Euroleague, the journalists were allowed to approach the team and could pester their old and new acquaintances. After a long talk to Kaimakoglou in the centre of the court, finally, Evgeny Pashutin turned to tell what the 2016/2017 UNICS would look like. The correspondent of Realnoe Vremya managed to get the first part of Pashutin's speech as exclusive information.
'We have reached Euroleague. And it is a big responsibility to play in Euroleague in a format of 16 teams. We see that all teams became stronger. They all have ten top-class players. They became very strong. And it won't be easy. Our goal is to play on two fronts. The guys need do their best, understand all the responsibility and know that each game will be precious. In addition, there will be many flights. It is a completely different level of load.'
As for VTB, president of UNICS Evgeny Bogachev set a task – to be in the final and fight for the first prize. 'This is why I understand all the responsibility. We also understand how tough it will be. Btu we are all professionals – both players and coaches. We want UNICS, Kazan, Tatarstan to be deservedly represented on the basketball stage – both in the VTB League and Euroleague.'
Is it real to fight on two fronts at a high level with the current squad?
Sure. We have a very good and balanced squad. We left all the players who gave a result last year. We also became stronger in some positions. The third positions was strengthened – it is Clarke, Antipov Pavel moved to the position of the 4 th player. Karpukhin Aleksander, Evgeny Voronov are the Russians who can really give energy, give an opportunity to change the squad, so that Keith Langford, Kostas Kaimakoglou, Colom could have a rest during a match and be ready for the fourth quarter.
Coty Clarke – university hope
When one starts to talk about a new light forward Coty Clarke, the mentor let himself flatter the 24-year-old American, though he was not extremely good at shots. We hope he was not a 'partisan' at that moment.
'Coty is very strong and powerful player,' says Pashutin. 'He is universal. He can play on the third and fourth positions. He is very good in defence. He was at a university school that dominates in defence. He is agile, a team player. In other words, he will grow as a player. He always has had a double-double. He doesn't force his attacks, he understands his role in attack where there is Keith Langford, Kostas Kaimakoglou, Artyom Parakhovsky. I think he will add us energy, power and speed in transitions. I think it is a very good choice.'
The new purchase of UNICS, which, by the way, comes from the NBA system, played just two matches with Celtics. He scored 1,5 points and 0,5 rebounds per 2 minute on average. Clarke has played the most of his career at Boston's Maine Red Claws.
Half-match winners
The mentor said the preparation plan for such a busy season has to be seriously considered. Almost no team has played over 50 matches non-stop. And the club planned pre-seasonal sparring games in order to check the team's stamina not only on the court but also considering frequent flights. According to the results, fitness coaches omit something at the moment. The team maybe needs more time.
By the way, they lost against all sparring teams that the Greens will have to fight in Euroleague with, though they always took the lead at the beginning. The team can't withstand all 40 minutes of high speed. In a match with Pao, the Kazan players were ahead 33-24 by the big break, but 'gave' the end – 58:69. Apart from the Greeks, they also lost against CSKA, Efes and Darüşşafaka.
'Three key players – Williams, Kaimakoglou and Langford – did not play in these matches,' Pashutin replies to the loaded question. 'We gave all the guys an opportunity to play. I think when we have an optimal squad, we will have another picture. Naturally, the level of Euroleague teams is very high. When our new players appeared on the court, it was difficult to oppose such great teams. We need to count on all the players. This is why we let the players who will mainly sit on the bench in this season play. Now we are preparing combinations, so that every player will know his role in official matches.'
The club president Evgeny Bogachev asked a question.
Will UNICS be in Euroleague top 8?
Yes, though it will be hard. All the teams have serious squads. But we will show our traditional defence, control of the defence. We will be able to reach our goal if there is a smart game. Everyone must believe in it for this purpose. If there are mistakes, they need to handle and be psychologically ready to fight with their next rivals. I don't want to give baseless promises, but we will do our best,' Pashutin said without embarrassment.