Txus Vidorreta: “Casademont Zaragoza has put together a very good team”

First of all, Txus Vidorreta stated in the Martín Carpena press room that the team “only had one practice yesterday, and we have two more practices left before Sunday’s game. The team worked well yesterday, and naturally, the focus was on introducing Kevin Knox to some of the key concepts. The team stayed focused on the approach we’ve been taking all along, and we had a good practice. And Kevin, for his first practice, made a good impression. I think it was good for him to see the team play two games already, to be just another member of the locker room during our preparation for the Pallacanestro Reggiana game, so he could pay close attention to all the tactical instructions and our style of play.”

 

Regarding the newcomer, Kevin Knox, he emphasized that “the first impression is that he’s a player with great individual skill who understands the team game, which is very important. Yesterday he moved the ball very well, shared the ball when he needed to, took a few shots, but kept a low profile—which is what you have to do in the early days to show that you’re here to adapt to the system. And everyone’s impressions were positive—both of him and of the players welcoming him—because they see that he’s a player who, in addition to the talent we all know he has, is eager to help the team win and adapt as quickly as possible. So, it was a very good first session, both for him and for his teammates. Today we’ll start—in addition to continuing to integrate Kevin—preparing for the Zaragoza game by focusing on the aspects we think are important for our defense.”

 

As for the opponent, Casademont Zaragoza, the Unicaja coach warned that “I’m seeing them play very well; I think they’ve put together a very good team—even though in their last game against Barcelona they were without Caleb Homsley, who is a tremendous player who needs no introduction. They’re playing very well—they’re organized, but at the same time, they know how to capitalize when they have the advantage. They’re very confident from three-point range; they have the second-best three-point percentage in the league.”

 

“Jaworski is a threat right from the start of games, continuing in the same vein as he did in Bilbao—and he’s even taken it up a notch. Then Bell-Haynes and Vives are in top form; both are shooting at a high percentage and hitting a lot of three-pointers, which makes them very dangerous from the three-point line alongside the point guards. Miguel González is a player who brings cohesion to the team and is also making his open shots; Brussino is a great scorer; and then in the paint, Bloombergs is playing the power forward position and adapting very well to the league; and Olaseni and Birutis are key players in the paint. They have a short rotation—8 plus 2 at the moment—because Sergi García and Jaime Fernández are playing fewer minutes, although they provide interesting short rotations for the team and play very well,” Vidorreta emphasized.

 

He also had words of praise for Gonzalo García de Vitoria, the head coach of Casademont Zaragoza: “I’m really happy for Gonzalo, because he was my assistant, and thanks to his hard work, he’s managed to break that losing streak that was preventing him from making his debut and establishing himself in the Endesa League—even though he’d achieved many promotions. So I’m really happy for Gonzalo, and I understand they’ll be highly motivated against us—especially since they have the whole week to prepare for the game and they’ll prepare thoroughly—but so will we. I think in our away games, especially the last one against Río Breogán, we played a great game, and we have to do it again if we want to have a chance at winning.”