PISTOIA. It seems like an era ago. On May 17th, Estra Pistoia ended its season in game three of the quarter-final playoffs against Germani Brescia, in a building dripping with affection and – a decidedly more important aspect – renewed enthusiasm. Almost a month later, however, there are many more unknowns for the red and whites than those granitic certainties unexpectedly conquered on the parquet by the team led by the now former Nicola Brienza: because the red and white leader left his crew “consensually”; his assistant, that Luca Angella with his 18 years in via Fermi, is already on the rocks of Livorno ready for his first experience as head coach at Us Livorno in C, while sporting director Sambugaro, a friend of the Canturino coach, spoke at the press conference of the new ownership even presented remotely, and certainly not, it seemed to us, with one of his best smiles.
To make the panorama even more nebulous, Ron Rowan’s declaration also spoke of an “operational presidency”: a phrase which, with the red and white head coach still missing, and with a signing campaign which began with departures important (Carl Wheatle, Charlie Moore and Payton Willis ready on the doorstep) opens up hypotheses that are less and less unusual with each passing day. Not that the Marine is going to sit in Brienza’s place next year, mind you. However, it wouldn’t be too out of place to see that stars and stripes seat no longer behind the basket, rather a little closer to the technical area. The name that is insistently circulating to replace the former red and white coach (skip for Brienza Scafati and Brescia, now there is the Cantù hypothesis) is that of David Bobalik, a coach who does not have a great curriculum behind him (among the most the leadership of the Thai women’s national team is significant), who can however boast a good friendship with the US presidency.
Luca Brajkovic, Micheal Anumba, Michael Forest and Karlis Silis are also interesting prospects (we ask ourselves: possibly wanted by the future coach himself or perhaps only by Rowan with sporting director Sambugaro a mere executor? ), certainly something more certain than a bet, compared perhaps to the almost departed Willis and Moore, when they arrived last year. However, for a team that has the declared objective of moving to 6+6 and perennially pitching its tents in the playoffs as early as next year, it is reasonable to expect at least some impact on the market.
For now the rumors instead speak of the probable arrival of Rowan’s son, Maverick, in the city of the two bears. Furthermore, the 1997 born player comes from a not exactly unforgettable period between the G-League and Canada, before his last season in the Czech Republic. You speak of the Tuscan nursery, in the interview given by the Pompano beach bomber shortly after his arrival , for now there is little trace: Lorenzo Saccaggi and captain Della Rosa were already here when the Americans landed on April 4th, while for the Pietrasantino Angelo Del Chiaro, the youngest of the three, Pistoia Basket did not exercise the renewal option. A coach like Bobalik, Rowan jr perhaps in the first team and the Tuscan-Italic colony on which to base the project, for now rather absent. Three clues which, if added to the vague discussions about a hypothetical expansion of the PalaCarrara and if confirmed before August, seem to lead to proof: is Pistoia investing in basketball or is Pistoia Basket only used to invest?
