«Injuries and mistakes, but the team has a soul» – Corriere.it

Melli, but which team is the captain of?
Of Olimpia, why?.

Yes, but which Olympia? Of the one who wins eight out of nine games in the Euroleague? Or the one that loses by twenty the two challenges that could sensationally bring you back to the playoffs?
Nicol Melli stops for a moment. He studies the situation, takes up a position in the middle of the area and then speaks. From captainor:

Of both. Then only one. Because if you look at the last week, and the defeats against Brescia, Efes, Maccabi and Venice, then it hasn’t been a very happy week. But we were coming off a series of victories in Europe that allowed us to play two games that counted against Efes and Maccabi. Without that series, they would have been little more than friendlies. So not everything to throw away.

And how do you explain it, this Olympia on the roller coaster?
Break. Melli weighs the words: There are so many factors to explain it. We are still the same team, but the many injuries have always created different balances. And I am convinced that if we are not the ones with eight almost straight victories in Europe, we are not even the ones with nine straight defeats.

And who are you then?
We are a good group, both from a technical and human point of view. I am sure.

A good group that has so far missed the Super Cup, the Italian Cup and the Euroleague playoffs. That is everything.
It is clear that there are also our responsibilities.

You blew up in the games that mattered…
Attention, I don’t want to be a trade unionist or a team defender, but it’s not that we haven’t qualified for the Euroleague playoffs due to the last two games we lost. We’ve discounted previous mistakes, silly defeats.

When you seem to rise, you suddenly drop again. Don’t you lack a little meanness?
Not a matter of malice, let’s say we lack anchors….

Do you lack team identity?
No! This is not the concept. that not having found continuity in the quintets has taken away the fixed points that help in complicated moments.

For example?
For example those two-three games you cling to when you don’t score. And you only find those when you have the same interpreters.

Are you missing a Chacho?

Who wouldn’t miss Rodriguez? one of the greatest European players. But I’m not saying this to belittle those who came before him, or those who arrived after him. Chacho would be missed by any team he leaves. And then I would like to remind you that the Chacho in Milan has been put in a position to be the Chacho. This year I don’t know if we could have done it.

Really? Why?
Because we have had more players in the infirmary than on the pitch. We had no continuity of play, of schemes. And therefore of yield.

You also had to switch roles from four to five.
I do what I’m asked to do to make the team win. I’m interested in winning, not playing in one role rather than another. And then with Voigtmann we alternate a lot. Clearly however, with the dominant centers the physical limits come out.

Now comes the championship playoffs. Everyone expects a Milan-Bologna final.
Really? But if I’ve read about “failing season” and “shameful performance”, why then does everyone consider us favourites?.

Maybe because you are? Maybe for your budget?
Alt. I believe that saying that Milan and Bologna are already in the final is a lack of respect for the other six who will qualify for the playoffs and who rightly nurture dreams of glory. We’ll start thinking about the opponents in the quarterfinals and then, but only then, the semifinal and the final.

How will you get to the playoffs?
We must not reset but work on the good things we have done in Europe in the last period. We have three goals: one, to arrive as fresh as possible, physically and mentally; two, arrive healthy; three, find continuity in our things, and training fully will help.

By the way, with an expanded squad due to many injuries, many people will have to watch the playoffs from the stands…
It is obviously up to the coach to manage the group. I know how difficult it is to train and never play, I tried it in the NBA, but the important thing is that there is positivity in training. This will allow those who later play to play better. And if in the end we win something, the credit will also go to those who damned themselves in training despite knowing they will never play.