Michal Ignerski:
Victory over Zalgiris proved our high potential

Several clubs of VTB United League finished January series of matches without defeats. But none of the players spent this month as stable as 31-year-old forward of Nizhniy Novgorod and the Polish national team. In three victorious matches Michal Ignerski gained19 (against Kalev), 21 (against VEF) and 27 (against Zalgiris) points respectively, scored 10 of 13 three-pointers and made 18 rebounds. It helped the club of Nizhniy Novgorod to get in VTB United League playoffs zone. And Ignerski - finally took the role of team leader, as Ernest Bremer (Milan, Italy), another famous legionnaire recently left the team.

- Last season you played for Besiktas with Allen Iverson and now you are in Russia. you Do not regret about this decision, do you? - A question to Ignerski.
- No, I don’t regret. Nizhniy became one of the discoveries of the last Russian season (fifth place in the PBL championship). Zoran Lukic got the title of the best League coach. And the level of the championship of Russia is much higher than the Turkish. In general, I benefited in terms of professional point of view. And my friends from the Polish national team - Shimon Szewczyk and Maciej Lampe who played a year ago in Lokomotive-Kuban and UNICS, said that in terms of conditions there is nothing to fear too. I’m happy with everything. The club has excellent infrastructure, professional management. Everything is okey with habitation. If we played better we would have shown better results ... Unfortunately, we cannot play well in all competitions so far. But the load does not bother me. On the contrary, I like that I have to go on the court so often.

- In January match of VTB United League your team gained a victory over Zalgiris -the participant of the Euroleague Top 16...
- This victory once again proved our highest potential. But we want to show it not from time to time but regularly.

- What do you think about the transfer of Ernest Bremer to Milan?
- This news was shocking for me. And not just for me. Bremer was a leader not only on the court but also outside the court. He is a very good man. However, we do not despair. The transfer of Bremer should mobilize other guards, because there are a lot of talented players among them.

- For a long time you had been playing in the strongest European national championship - the Spanish ASB League. But Besiktas where played Allen Iverson should be noted particularly in your career. What can you say about the NBA superstar?
- In Besiktas Fedor Liholitov also played with me. We became friends and call each other regularly. As for Iverson, he came to Istanbul not in a very good shape. There was a lot of noise around his contract, but Allen did not show anything worthwhile. We did not succeed in any of the tournaments. As soon as Iverson began to take the shape, he injured his calf muscle. Nobody saw him in Besiktas Since January,. He flew to the U.S for operation and did not come back.  But I cannot say anything bad about him as a person. He is outstanding guard. I’m happy that I had a chance to train and play with such a master. he was flat out on the trainings. But I think you will never succeed in putting anything over the nature. The best years of Iverson were left far behind.

- And what about your future? Do you believe, that this season Nizhniy will be able to play as brightly as in the end of the previous one?
- We are talented, - said the winner of January Michal Ignerski. - We have a great coach Zoran Lukic, who, like most of the players is still young and has everything ahead of him. He always tells us that we are able to defeat any opponent. We just have to stop obsessing about our past failures and have to move forward. Personally, I am not obsessed with it. And move on. Here, for example, I received the title of MVP of January. It’s great. And what results my team and I will have at the end of the season - we'll see.