A.Agishev: We analysed our mistakes
The president of Ural Great basketball club Andrey Agishev gave his interview to Izvestia newspaper:
Question: What will be the new season? Did you manage to cope with the financial and sports problems of the previous season?
Answer: We hope all troubles will remain in the past. Last season indeed was difficult from its very beginning. The preseason camp started very late and so we had to find our game in the run of the season. We analyzed our mistakes and this year had a different approach to the most crucial matters. First, I believe we reached an agreement with our main partner regional administration. Second, we settled question of our clubs sponsorship on the level of the regional legislative assembly.
As soon as we clarified financial matters we had the opportunity to get on with the team. Me and the clubs general manager Sergey Belov had the same views on the subject. We had to start the team finding a good coach. We knew the coach had to be of a high professional level, ambitious and famous in the basketball world. We had five candidates. Belov rejected any personalities of the age of Ivkovic and insisted that we had to hire a younger coach. So that is how we found Anzulovic. Together with Belov we went to Croatia, met Drazen and established common grounds with him.
Q: The team roster was renewed almost completely this year.
A: Actually I expected even less players from the previous season to stay in the team. We have Bashminov, Zozulin, Belov, Rindin and Surovtsev. Local Perm players Ionov and Chernov are practicing with the main team. It took us time to make up our minds about Makshantsev. On one hand Stanislav is a Russian player having good statistics, on the other hand he is quite a specific character. He did not come on time to the preseason camp and Anzulovic decided to dismiss him.
Q: Do you plan same changes in the clubs office?
A: We have some open questions. I do not exclude the possibility of hiring new people.
Q: What are the teams goals for the season?
A: We did not discuss this question as we did not see the team in action. Drazen has his plans, vision of the game as it has to be, his own selection approach. For example when I told him there was an opportunity to prolong the contract with Zelko Zagorac (Ural Great forward of the 2006-2007 season) he answered that he knows this player and likes him but is going to sign a stronger player to this position. You need to understand that Drazen saw the Russian players of Ural Great only on his arrival to Perm. More detailed choice he will do next summer after he gets to know Russian Superleague closer.
Q: Sergey Belov said in one of his interviews after Kurtinaitis left Ural Great that the foreign coaches cannot find approach to Russian players.
A: Belov insisted on the foreign coach as he believed we cannot find a proper professional in Russia. I remember the players did not like when Kurtinaitis yelled at them when he wanted them do something. They believed it was disrespectful attitude. Drazen is different in his relations to the players, though he can be strict and tough enough. He controls players lives. You may call Anzulovic a dictator but he sets his own rules and if the players are professionals they have to follow these rules.
Q: What role will Alexey Pegushin play in the team?
A: He is responsible for the team on— and outside the court. He is the teams leader appointed by us. With all their questions the players may go to Alexey. He will settle everything including their household problems. He is responsible for discipline in the team. There is one more important aspect. Perm has its basketball symbol in the person of Sergey Belov. But we need new faces. Pegushin has always been remarkable on the court, true leader of his team. Young players should realize looking at Ionov, Chernov and Pegushin: everybody has the chance to play in Ural Great and stay in the club after they finish their sports career.
