Main Blogs

Catching up before the Top 16

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:32:19 GMT

I'm coming back at you from Rome after a long blog break, a long regular season where a lot of things happened. We finished up with three overtime games in a row, and lost two of them, which might explain why I took off my headband at halftime of the last game. I had a headache! We're in the Top 16 now, though, and that's what it's all about. I came to Lottomatica Roma a year ago before the Top 16, and I didn't think we could have a tougher group than that one - with three teams from the previous Final Four in it - but this year we had another tough draw with Unicaja, Panathinaikos and Partizan. This time, however, I really do think we have a great opportunity to fight for position to make it to the playoffs. First, I think we have some very experienced players now, and second, I think we have become a lot better as a team than we were this time last year. I don't know how much my experience from arriving and playing through the Top 16 last year counts, but I know that I have surely learned a lot in the last year, so I am readier now.

What we've done so far shows me that our team has good potential. We had to really grow up fast in the regular season. This is our first year together for most of the guys on the team, unlike teams like CSKA or Panathinaikos, which pretty much have the same core players every year. When you are not that type of team, you have to learn to gain chemistry and experience in faster ways. We have done a lot of that in the last month, but we have keep focusing on it and get it together now. To make that happen, first you need everybody to buy into the system and be on the same page. It's like in politics, when one person is corrupt, it can make the whole system fall. But once you have everyone buying into the system, its just a matter of practice and support and faith in each other. Everyone has to believe that we're going to win every game. Whether we're going into Athens to play Panathinaikos or into Belgrade to play Partizan, you have to believe you'll be the victor, otherwise you won't be.

Of course, we've been through some changes since the last time I blogged, with our coach Jasmin Repesa, and my friend, Allan Ray, leaving the team. I, myself, believed in Jasmin as a coach. I thought his philosophy was great. What's cool, even after he left, is that we're playing under the same philosophy, because Nando Gentile also believes in that philosophy. What we heard earlier in the season was that we have a lot of talent, and we had to play together, everyone getting 18 to 22 minutes, and you might be playing with guys you might not have played next to in practice. Since Jasmin resigned, it's true that some of those things changed, but I think the main thing since then is that the team has sacrificed more. For me, having guy like Allan - who I was close with - released because of our results, or seeing Coach Repesa - who was the reason I came back to Rome this season - go as well, were signs that we needed to buckle down and get things together. That made us stronger. There's more talking now, more leading within the team. Everybody gave a little more just because we realized it was time for that.

I appreciate all my teammates, all the way down the roster. I have a good relationship with everybody, just like I had with Allan and Jasmin before they left. I want to mention Sani Becirovic because I think he helped us a lot early in the...

Learning the best way, from experience

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:23:45 GMT

"To open this blog about the Euroleague regular season, maybe I should recount where I am coming from in this competition, and even before that. I had quite a bittersweet introduction to the Euroleague last year after Roma signed me for the Top 16. I stepped off a plane in Rome on a Monday morning and we left for Moscow on Tuesday to play CSKA. That was my first Euroleague game, on the road against the team that was champions, runner-up and was going to be champion again. I play 35 minutes that game - we had Alan Ray injured and another guy hurt - and we almost beat them. I played pretty well, too, but I missed the opportunity to win it. I was shooting two free throws with a few seconds left. The first one I made put us up by two points. But I missed the second, someone slapped the rebound out deep and next thing I knew, Trajan Langdon was making a open three-pointer to win the game. So, like I said, bittersweet. I was glad I had the opportunity to play against the top team in Europe, played them two pretty good games, in fact, but we lost both. It just left me wanting to taste more wins in the Euroleague this year!

"Now, I'm back in Rome, in part because I really like the coach here, Jasmin Repesa. He reminds me a lot of my college coach, Fran Dunphy, in terms of what they teach. I think he's a little crazier, maybe, but I really got comfortable with him as my coach last year. As a player, I like being on teams where I have a good relationship with the coach. That way you play more relaxed. Besides, I didn't want to readjust again after coming here in the middle of last season. I also thought we had great possibilities here after going to the Italian League finals last year and playing tough against Siena, even though they beat us in five games. I think that if anyone has a chance to compete with them this season, it's us.

"One of the cool things about being in the Euroleague is meeting up with former teammates, in my case from my old school, University of Pennsylvania. I kind of measure myself against players who were close to me, and there was a history in our basketball program of a lot of guys going overseas for pro careers. So I started to prepare myself for that, talking to guys who had been over here, like former Penn players Mike Jordan and Jerome Allen and Tim Begley and Jeff Schiffner, who gave me a little insight into what to expect being overseas. At the same time, you don't really learn fully until you get over here. They can tell you it's going to be an adjustment, but you are the one who is going to make the adjustments and try to get comfortable in your own way. They can tell you things to watch out for as a rookie, things that young players go through, what to ask for in your contract, like first-class plane tickets from the States. If your college guys don't tell you that, maybe nobody will!

"I even found a former teammate last week in the Euroleague opener in Berlin. One of Alba's big men, Adam Chubb, was a senior at Penn when I arrived there as a freshman. Adam was telling me before the game that Koko Archibong from Penn is also playing in the Euroleague, with Asseco Prokom. Unfortunately, we lost to Alba in a game we could have won, because we were ahead a lot. But we never really pulled away. We got it to 9 points at one time, and then missed opportunities to make it to 12 or 13 points. We didn't capitalize and, like...