Dimitris Itoudis:
Playing small ball is a necessity

VTB United League’s reigning champions CSKA always set maximum goals and are getting ready to defend their title in 2015/16. Head coach Dimitris Itoudis spoke with VTB-league.com about last season’s most memorable moments, evaluated his new-comers, told us about how difficult it was to find Sasha Kaun’s replacement and that playing small ball is not a trend but rather a necessity.

Coach, last season was the first one for you in the VTB League. What’s your main memory about it?
There are many memories, of course, but the sweetest is that we ended the VTB United League, which is among the best leagues in Europe, with a dominant performance in the playoffs. But before that we made it to the postseason through a tough competition for the first spot, which we managed to secure two games before the end of the regular season and which allowed us to have a home-court advantage, not losing a game, which was pretty fascinating for my team. 

Despite the upset in the Final Four prior to that, we managed to be focused, to fight for the title and to show desire. We were also shorthanded by the injuries to Sonny Weems, who did not play in the finals and Andrey Kirilenko, who missed the series against Astana, but proved the theory of team basketball which is what CSKA organization is all about. We played against a great team in the final and the trophy of VTB Champions and Russian Championship winners is of great value for us.
 
Right now there’s a tendency to go small in basketball. What do you think - is this the future?
I could rephrase this - it’s not a tendency, it’s the circumstances that make you play small ball many times. If we look into this issue very deep, we will see that a lot of quality big guys left for the United States and it’s not that easy to find the right big men with a combination of skills that would allow them to be a great center in Europe. 

The priority of the club was to replace Sasha Kaun. What kind of player were you looking for?
I partially answered that question before. There are not so many of those around, especially those that could come to CSKA. We picked Joel Freeland knowing that he has a lot of skills as a big man playing either with his face to the basket or his back to the basket, being very mobile defensively and offensively. Unfortunately Joel got injured and we could not really evaluate his help to the team. Sasha Kaun can not be replaced by a clone of Sasha Kaun and same goes for Sonny Weems, so we tried to create the team that has the logic, the rotation within the players to replace each other, to be humble, to be aggressive, who know and value the CSKA uniform, so we are pretty much happy with the players we have. However, the fact that Joel and Victor and D-Nichols got injured and we were also  missing some players because of the EuroBasket, we do not have a full picture, which actually, doesn’t bother me. 

What can you say about the team’s newcomers?
First of all we got players that wanted to come to CSKA and play for CSKA knowing that competition in such a club is extremely high and healthy which helps them and the team play better basketball. Every signing that we made has a logical approach. We talk a lot about Sasha’s replacement, but you should know we never wanted him to leave the team on the first hand and that’s a fact. But that’s a decision Sasha made himself and we respect it and wish him luck. Joel is a different player but because of his injury now we have to wait and I have to ask the fans to be patient and hopefully in about three months he can be healthy and in shape to help the team. 
Nikita is one more player over here who had a great season with Loko.  And with Kirilenko making the decision to go for the presidential seat in RBF maybe CSKA and the entire Russian basketball lost one of the greatest players ever, but the Federation gained a great mind and a great ambassador. So Nikita can for sure replace a lot of things that Kirya was giving us - the size on the 3-spot, the hustling on the boards, the defensive accuracy and aggressiveness. Kulagin brothers, especially Dima, had a big desire to come to CSKA and fight for a position for a spot on a team with such great guards and forwards that we have. Cory Higgins showed also when he played for Triumph and Gaziantep that he can be a different kind of guard playing aggressive defense, drive the ball well and create plays and shots for himself and the others. He has a special kind of motivation to prove to himself and to the team that he belongs in the elite basketball. 

How hard is it to combine tough defense and spectacular offensive play?
It is very difficult, but I think that the fans love the game of basketball because of both defense and offence, but they obviously prefer spectacular plays and we respect that and we have the talent to demonstrate just that. 

Did you have a chance to talk to your colleague  Georgios Bartzokas  from Lokomotiv?
Last time we talked was before the Final Four, but now I am sure we’ll be in touch a lot more often. 

Can you evaluate the level of competition you are going to have this year in the League?
VTB League is one of the best leagues because of the quality of the teams and the quality of the system. Like last year, this year we expect to have a high level of competition. I invite our fans to come and support the team, to help the players demonstrate better basketball.