Ronen Ginzburg:
VTB United League Has Helped Both Nymburk and Team Czech Republic

Czech National team with Ronen Ginzburg at the helm became a revelation during EuroBasket 2015 as they advanced to the tournament’s quarterfinals. The Israeli coach will now try to carry the momentum over to his new club side - Nymburk as the Czech power house will try to defend their domestic league title.

In an interview with VTB-league.com Ronen Ginzburg shared some secrets of the EuroBasket 2015 success, gave his outlook on what makes basketball a popular sport in a country as well as about his return to Nymburk

Congratulations on an excellent performance at EuroBasket 2015! What was the main reason of Czech Republic national team's success?

We were able to establish great team chemistry, which helped us focus on some key elements of the game as, unlike club sides, we did not have the luxury of having the entire season to perfect out set plays. And this strategy really paid off. In addition to that Jan Vesely and Tomas Satoranski had a fantastic tournament at a very high level. Everybody on the team knew they would be the leaders and they felt no pressure during crucial moments.

How did Nymburk's players do on the national team?

Not too bad. They did a lot of things that could have gone unnoticed, but we would not be able to accomplish what we did without our captain Jiri Welsch and players alike. Vojtech Hruban is a talented young player, who should get to a new level during the upcoming VTB United League season. He did have his ups and downs in 2014/15, but he managed to pull himself together prior to EuroBasket 2015 and did really well during the event. Same goes for Pavel Houska. Petr Benda is one of our key players who leaves it all on the court both for the national team and for Nymburk

Did the experience Nymburk players got playing in the VTB United League help them?

No doubt about that. Prior to the start of EuroBasket 2015 I mentioned we would be trying to make it to FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, but nobody took it seriously. Then I said: “Wait a minute, we have to Euroleague level players in Vesely and Satoransky and most of the rest represent Nymburk, which is the participant of VTB United League - second best European club’s competition”. Our results just prove the League helps players get better.

You can be called one of the top specialists in Czech basketball as some players of the national team became stars: Jan Vesely and Tomas Satoransky. Can we expect further breakthrough?

When I arrived to Czech Republic nine years ago I set a goal of brining basketball to a completely new level in the country. There are a lot of talented young players and Jan and Tomas prove just that. The problem was (and it’s much better now) that there were very few basketball teams. In the beginning everybody joked around saying “we have no idea what basketball is” and my reply to them was “and I have no idea, what ice hockey is”.

It is highly important that the local federation uses the national team’s results as a motivation to keep moving forward.

What will help with the further development of Czech basketball?

It would be great if a second Czech team could join the VTB Untied League. What the League does for Nymburk and the Czech basketball is priceless and having another team in there would be much better.

If you were to choose a single player from the national team for Nymburk, who would it be?

That’s a tough one. Obviously, if Satoransky and Vesely could both join Nymburk, it would be fantastic. Both of them would make us a team to beat for any other league member, including CSKA Moscow and we would be a legitimate contender for a set of medals.

What was the main factor of your return to Nymburk after a two-year break?

I’d spent seven years of my life with the club and feel like it’s part of my family. I know the team inside out, know most players. I didn’t spend much time contemplating when I got the offer as coaching a team, which participates in a high-level competition is my priority. And VTB United League is exactly that.

How are you planning to change the way the team plays?

We decided to change not only the way the team plays but also the direction the organisation is moving. We’ll start focusing on young and talented domestic players, will give them more playing time and will limit our veterans’ minutes.

Tell us, please, about Nymburk’s newcomers. Who could have an immediate impact?

I wish I knew. We signed young players who are quite unpredictable and yet, very talented. Chasson Randle just graduated from Stanford University and will give us some boost at one or two. We also signed an extremely talented Cuban player Howard Sent-Ross and hope that he can become one of the League’s biggest surprises. Julian Vaughn is an agile and well-coordinated centre. And, of course. Maxime De Zeeuw - Belgium’s leader who we played against at EuroBasket 2015, is worth mentioning.

Maxime De Zeeuw’s game resembles Radoslav Rancik, who was the leader of Nymburk for many years and who also came from a little known basketball country - Slovak Republic.

I am happy I had an opportunity to work with a guy like Rado. He is an all-around, strong and very intelligent player. I hope Maxime can become a similar type of leader for us.

Jiri Welsch is a real symbol of Czech basketball. How do you see his role on the team?

Jiri can no longer lead the team on the court as he is 35 years old and he can not last 30 - 40 minutes per game. He is, however, a true leader both when whe plays and when he's a substitute and, being a coach, you can be confident that whatever goes wrong, Jiri will be able to help handle that.