Was Bartzokas the Khimki’s problem?
Recently, Khimki parted ways with the head coach Georgios Bartzokas, replacing him with Rimas Kurtinaitis. Both of them are great coaches, but I am wondering if somebody can do miracles with the Russian club in these circumstances. Of course, Khimki will have now 3 easier rounds, against Bayern, Zalgiris and Buducnost, but do they have a chance for the Euroleague playoffs? When many stronger clubs like PAO, MAccabi are fighting for the last spot?
So, coming back to my question: was Bartzokas the problem? What could he or other coach do better with this roster, in the long absence of Alexey Shved, Euroleague main scorer and index rate performer? And without Anthony Gill, injured as well like Shved for a couple of weeks? Bartzokas won the Euroleague with a good roster, he took Lokomotiv Kuban to the Final4, winning the 3rd place, but again with a good roster.
Let’s take a look at the last game at Olympiacos. All the Russian players of Khimki scored together 2 points, Stefan Markovic 2, Dee Bost 3, Garlon Green – 0. What do you expect as the manager of the club? To win the Euroleague with a mediocre roster? Just because you have spent a lot of money on those players? Do you dream of beating Anadolu or Olympiacos away from home? When these clubs are hard to beat even for the good teams. Why don’t you hire Zeljko Obradovic to see if he can enter the Final4 with this roster? Or even the playoffs.
Gratian Cormos, info@brainbasketball.net
