Sometimes it’s not easy to put the last piece in place. More patience is needed to avoid damaging what has already been put together, more attention is needed in choosing how to act. However, a clear idea of what you would like can play in your favor. Because only time can give its judgement. There Dinamo Sassari is faced with this situation. The remaining blocks, the most important ones, should be two. The conditional always remains a must when it comes to the transfer market, but at the moment the guard spot and the change of starting center are the missing parts of a picture that Banco wanted to start drawing soon.
Advance
The absence of the playoffs was on the one hand a disadvantage, on the other it turned out to be a point in favor at the moment. After a year in which mental, rather than physical, energies had reached the end of the line, stopping helped regenerate the beliefs of those who had to build that team, namely coach Nenad Markovic and GM Federico Pasquini. The decision was to start early and from that playmaker-pivot axis on which a good part of the project can be based, for a Dinamo that after a few years will find the game back to the basket with more continuity given the presence of Halilovic, without however dispersing what has been built and seen over the years on the pick and roll. TO Bibbins and the Bosnian, already teammates at the time of Nanterre, have joined Udom and last but one Sokolowskian important coup given the Pole’s year with Napoli and his plausible importance in the blue and white balance (here to read). To close, on the evening of Monday 3 June, the first more prospective shot, that of Giovanni Veronesi (here to read). Elements that have been added to the only two fixed points, Bendzius And Cappelletti, both expected from different responsibilities. Now, however, awaiting confirmation on the names of the Italian players who will complete the package – with Vincini and Tambone among the closest players – Sassari is only missing two of the most important signatures. Those of the starting guard and of those who will give minutes coming off the bench in place of Halilovic.
Choices
Dinamo will be a very European team. Three fifths of the starting five will come from the eastern area of the Old Continent (Sokolowski, Bendzius and Halilovic), while Bibbins has been based away from the USA for years now. And although he cannot be considered a European player, he now has the right knowledge to interpret the game. Although the need for time to adapt to the physicality of the Italian championship will be understandable, but not to the aggressiveness, an aspect that the Californian native has already shown he possesses in France. Physicality which will be the characteristic that Sassari will look to for its own guard, together with the ability to create off the dribble for himself and his teammates, in all situations. Including those a broken game, an aspect in which Sassari had a few too many difficulties in the last year before Jefferson’s arrival, with only Tyree often leading with single initiatives. A factor not to be underestimated even when considering the battery of shooters that Sassari will have, with Sokolowski and Bendzius who with a centralizer of attention will be able to have more space on the perimeter. The impression is that the player sought will be along the lines of those who have already signed the project. An element that is done and finished from a character point of view, whether it comes from the Italian championship or not, and which thus offers certainties from the point of view of continuity, also from a mental point of view, which in the last year Dinamo has not could have. Aspect that is not secondary is that of five coming off the bench. A big man who will be different from Halilovic, probably with more dynamism and explosiveness, but in any case capable of having his say on the rebound. In recent days the name of had been circulating Jordan Bayehe, a player who has made important steps forward in the last year and on whom Virtus Bologna seemed to have set their sights. However, the rumor has dissipated in the face of the promises of Trento, which should be the next team of the Italian-trained Cameroonian centre, as reported by Superbasketball. However, the big man’s identity card could be similar from the point of view of his characteristics on the pitch, more similar to those of an Ousmane Diop who after wearing the Dinamo shirt seems destined to wear the Olimpia Milano one.
Matteo Cardia
