Nizhny Novgorod earned a spot in the Eurocup Top 16, achieving one of the team’s biggest preseason goals. December is a good time to look back at the season’s progress, and head coach Arturs Stalbergs decided to answer questions from the fans about the team.
– Arturs, the first stage of the Eurocup is coming to a close. You’ve also played against the VTB United League leaders. How would you evaluate the past two and a half months?
– The results we showed at the start are not okay with us, given that we compete to win in every game. Nonetheless, I see individual progress from the players. They are starting to understand what the coaching staff wants, which is most important right now. If you recall our first game of the season and the last 2-3 games, I think everyone would agree that the whole team is moving in the right direction. Creating a competitive team is a long, difficult process. There are no miracles. Just constant, painstaking work. The losses have an impact on our psychology, but they also brought the team together. I see how the players rely on each other and experience the tough times together.
– Do you think the team plays a little too slow?
– I think the process is proceeding at a regular tempo, as planned. The most important thing is for the players to not lose faith in what we’re doing, in themselves, and the coaching staff.
– How tough was the November road trip?
– Obviously, the losses, especially five in a row, weren’t easy to swallow. The busy calendar, oddly enough, helped deal with the situation. There wasn’t time to worry about it. After a loss, we had to get ready for the next game. During those short breaks, we constantly had to be creative, make changes, analyze our own mistakes. You might say we’ve found our strategy in the last few games and realized that it works.
– Generally speaking, what did you have to change?
– Not so much change, as wait for Petr Gubanov and Maxim Grigoryev to get healthy and expand the rotation. During all our losses, DeAndre Kane, Ivan Strebkov, Siim-Sander Vene had to play almost without substitutions. But against Lietkabelis, we all had a little more breathing room. The leaders played more like 30 minutes instead of 38, and showed better quality as a result.
– Nizhny had to play against the strongest teams in the Eurocup and VTB United League in November. What challenges did you give the players?
– There’s always one goal: winning. That’s the only way I function. I don’t see any point in telling the guys before a game that they should have pride and play well. Even against CSKA, I focused the team on winning. Maybe I should have given the leaders some rest against CSKA and played at half strength, but I don’t play those types of games! Every time you take the court, you need to battle for a win from the first to the final minute. That’s the only goal.
– You’ve noted before that Nizhny Novgorod’s approach will be built on defense. Nonetheless, the team continues to give up around 100 points. How do you explain it?
– You know, maybe our issue isn’t defense, but offense? If the opponent is scoring 100, should we score 105-110? I’m joking, of course. The problem is that we struggle with one component or another in every game. One game, we give up 35 points in transition, in the next we lose one-on-one battles. In the second game against Lietkabelis, for example, we defended well, but they grabbed 17 offensive rebounds. If there was one issue, it would be easy to fix. But in our case, the players’ lack of experience has an effect and results in a lack of concentration on the court at times. Only time and hard work can help us. I think with the appearance of our new player, Tomislav Zubcic, our offense will become even quicker and more dangerous, which will help us focus on our work on defense.
– By the way, when did you realize that you wanted Zubcic on the team?
– I paid attention to him during our game against Avtodor. I really liked him. Saratov signed him for a month and we were already prepared to make him an offer. But then Avtodor unexpectedly announced it was extending his contract and we had to forget about him for a month. That’s when Kervin Bristol showed up on our team. At the present time, there aren’t many big guys on the market with his quality and level of play, which is why we signed Tomislav immediately when Saratov released him.
– In your opinion, why didn’t Bristol stick with the team?
– We were searching for a center who could improve our defense. Kervin played well in his first game against Kalev, but we still gave up 80 points. In later games, I didn’t sense that our defense had become noticeably better with his arrival. On offense, he’s perfect in pick-and-rolls, but our guards couldn’t find him under the basket, so we decided not to extend his contract. I really hope he can find a good fit at a different club.
– Ivan Strebkov was named Eurocup Round 8 MVP. Did you expect he would have such a breakout season?
– To be honest, yes. I had a serious conversation with him before the season. We had just signed Kane, Ingus, and Boynton and I saw that Vanya was worried about the role he would play. I immediately explained that he would be my primary point guard and that the way he played in the preseason proved that he was a natural leader. Vanya knows how to lead the team. When he plays well, the whole team plays well. He got in shape during the offseason and lost some weight, but most importantly he was able to recognize it was time to reach the next level. When people ask me about Strebkov, I always say that he’s a very tricky player, both on defense and offense. Even in practice, the team he’s on usually wins. Vanya just understands basketball really well.
– A lot of people wonder why Andrei Kirdyachkin, Ivan Viktorov, and Nikita Zverev occasionally join the youth team. How often do you plan to use them in games with the senior team?
– Viktorov, Marikhin, Zverev, Zhbanov, Kirdyachkin are competing for two spots on the roster and I can’t put all of them on the game day roster. Given the circumstances, it’s better for them to get experience on the youth team rather than have minimal playing time during practice with the senior team. At that age, you need to play, not sit on the bench. Plus, I trust our youth team coach, Alexander Chadov. Nikita Zverev looks very good in individual workouts, playing one-on-one, two-on-two in practice, but when he’s on the court, he’s not mentally strong enough. He gets nervous and doesn’t play as well. Sometimes, nerves can wear you out twice as fast as you would normally. That problem will pass with time and experience and I’m confident there will be games when I can give him 15-20 minutes. Sergei Marikhin started the season on the youth team, but at a certain point I decided to have him trade spots with Viktorov, because Sergei’s progress was going much quicker. Vanya has a terrific approach to his work. He shows up first, leaves last, but so far he hasn’t been able to play his best in practice or games.
– Let’s talk about the foreign players. There were high hopes for Kenny Boynton at the start of the season, but he’s been pretty quiet in recent games…
– During the preseason and start of the season, Kenny looked amazing, but Vanya Strebkov was able to pass him eventually. At a certain point, I decided to move him from point guard to shooting guard, which meant he had the ball less. He missed his shots in a few games and really did go quiet for a while. If a shooter isn’t hitting open shots, that says something about his physical condition or mental status. In Kenny’s case, it’s probably the latter. Right now I’m trying to put play him at point guard more often and give him a chance to run the offense so he feels more confident. Kenny is a terrific player and a coach’s dream. I think he’ll get back to the level was at in the preseason after the New Year.
– What is Ingus Jakovics’s role on the team?
– There are a lot of questions for him right now. He’s only played one good game on offense against Cedevita. In the rest, I didn’t see what I’d hoped to see. At the same time, give him credit. He plays well on defense. A lot of people ask whether there’s value in a foreign player who can’t score. Ingus needs to do his job and he’s still got time to prove himself.
– You probably have the fewest problems with Kanes play, except free-throw shooting, perhaps?
– He’s always had trouble with free throws. If he had a reliable 3-point shot and free-throw percentage, he’d be playing in the Euroleague right now. I’m not saying that Kane can’t play there. With his personality and approach to work, we’ll probably see him at a big European club in a few years. When I scouted him for Nizhny Novgorod, I knew about that problem and understood we’d need to work on his shooting percentage. At the same time, Kane has a lot of qualities that make him a very good player. He’s great rebounding the ball, on defense, driving to the basket, and gives the team a big emotional boost.
As for Siim, I’m happy that’s finally reaching his potential after several years on the bench at Zalgiris. I don’t have any problems with his offense. His next goal is to get better on defense. That’s his weak spot right now. He often loses one-on-one battles and gives up easy points on the perimeter. He doesn’t always snatch rebounds, either.
– Why isn’t Maxim Grigoryev playing much yet? Is he still dealing with his injury?
– Max is great. He played against Skopje after 2-3 practices with the team and a year off the court and scored 13 points. Earlier, our doctor had let us know Max was only ready to play 10-12 minutes. But he looked good in that game and we didn’t even notice he had exceeded his limit. The next day, his knee bothered him again and we lost him for another week. He also got a cold. After all that, he’s healthy again. Yes, he has some limits on playing time, which we try to observe, but he should gradually return to the form he was in prior to his terrible injury. With his approach to work and desire to help the team, Max can move mountains!
– One of the team’s goals is developing young Russian talent. Prior to the start of the season, you said that you would enjoy working on that. Has your opinion changed?
– No, it’s still really interesting. When you see a player you’ve worked with reach new heights, it’s a rush! You can’t image how proud I am that Strebkov is playing now like never before. I can say the same about Petr Gubanov, who’s improving every game. If not for his injury, he’d have broken out even earlier. Ilya Popov looks completely different. Even though he still gets in foul trouble, the game against Zenit showed what he’s capable of. I’m really sad that Sasha Gudumak suffered an injury and has to spend several weeks making a full recovery. Unfortunately, the injury turned out to be more serious than we first thought. He has everything necessary to keep getting better. Sasha doesn’t understand yet which position is better for him: power forward or center. For a power forward, his shot isn’t reliable enough and he’s not tall enough for a center. Playing time will help him decide, but I see him as a power forward. To do that, he needs to work hard on his speed and accuracy. We’ll get him in shape after his injury. Dima Uzinsky looks great in practice. He just needs to get on the court more. Unfortunately, if we’re battling for a win, you can’t put several young guys on the floor at once. When Popov and Gudumak are on the court, for example, Uzinksy doesn’t have a spot. But he’s doing a good job and his time will come!
– Nizhny has advanced to the next stage of the Eurocup, but things are worse in the VTB United League. Can Nizhny Novgorod reach the playoffs?
– Of the eight games we’ve played, we needed to beat Avtodor and Enisey, but there are 15 games remaining after the New Year. Yes, we only have one win right now, but we can fix everything in the second half. We accomplished half of our goals for the season, advancing from our Eurocup group. Our next goal is to reach the quarterfinals. It doesn’t matter which place we’re in. There won’t be any easy teams in the Top 16, but we’ll try to finish 2nd. Given we have the opportunity, we need to take advantage.
I don’t feel any sense of panic, because I believe in this team. I see the players every day, sometimes more than my own family, and I know what they’re capable of. We aren’t even close to our maximum yet. We’re going to make some noise!
Source: Nizhny Novgorod website
