CREMONA – The road that led to the national Guglielmo Caruso was fascinating but decidedly tortuous.; Vanoli has thus turned to the Serbian player with an Italian background Stefan Nikolic and the roster has been completed for the Italian basketball players section. And the definitive closing of the team is almost here. Progress has also been made for Ferraroni JuVi who has defined the package of tall players with the hiring of Simone Stringwhile the signature of the playmaker arrived this week Gianmarco Bertetti. And at least two more deals are said to be in the process of being closed.
SERIE A: VANOLI
The aim of the summer market each year is to first of all close the circle relating to the group of Italian players around which then add, pawn by pawn, the companions arriving from overseas. This time too the plan was followed to perfection: the gm Andrea Conti e coach Demis Cavina they moved without stirring up too much the transfer waters, striking the blow with skill and ability, evaluating not only the technical aspect of the candidates but also and above all the character aspect. In short, a team like Vanoli needs to bring to the PalaRadi (‘See you at home’ is the slogan of the upcoming season ticket campaign) highly motivated people, who want – as happened in previous years – to give everything for the project and the white and blue jersey, making themselves available to the collective.
Paul Eboua by now we know him, in two years he has made giant steps and now he is ready for the big launch. Then a player arrived, Luca Contifamiliar with Serie A thanks to his long experience in Trento, but eager for redemption after the last two seasons where he played more on the bench than on the parquet. Motivation is the watchword that unites Federico Poser e Federico Zampiniboth coming from the A2 series and eager to experience the emotions and passions of the major championship for the first time.
To complete the Italian ‘quintet’, having abandoned the too complicated path to get to Guglielmo Caruso (it is useless, rightly, to waste time and energy), Vanoli has targeted the Serbian but Italian basketball player Stefan Nikolic, fresh from three seasons played in Cantù (1,405 points scored in 126 games at an average of 11.15), and with pasts in Capo d’Orlando, Naples, Montegranaro, Udine (coached by Demis Cavina) and Virtus Bologna – from 2019 to 2021 – where he won the tricolor championship. The latest arrival has a lot in common with his famous fellow countryman Novak Djokovic: they were both born in Belgrade, they have a strong bond with Italybut above all they are two indomitable fighters who never give up against any opponent.
Features that will appeal to the Vanilla people, ready to turn on the new darlings. As it will be for the patrol of foreign players that already includes guard Tajion Jones, a great scorer first in the NCAA with the Unc Asheville Bulldogs and then in the experience in Holland last season. And to trigger Jones’ scoring qualities will be Corey Davis in the control room, a player who has definitely convinced in the 8 games played at the end of last season in white and blue and whose confirmation should arrive in a few days.
Just as, for the third year in a row, Trevor Lacey will once again be the trait d’union of the group, leader on the parquet and in the locker room, coach Demis Cavina’s on-field coach.; for him too the official announcement is now just a step away. In the meantime, the race to hire Matthew Smallthe now ex-white-blue who left an indelible mark in Cremona and who yesterday signed for Cantù in A2. Another ex-Vanoli, Philip Gallo has reached an agreement until 2028 with Reggio Emilia.
SERIE A2: JUVI FERRARONI
The JuVi Ferraroni roster has been enriched in recent days with the signings of the ‘tall’ (211 centimetres tall) Simone Barbante and the ‘short’ (180 cm) Gianmarco BertettiJokes aside (otherwise who are we going to identify as the ‘big slob’?), the orange and black club chaired by Enrico Ferraroni has put a firm foot in the section of athletes who move close to the basket, with the signature of the 24-year-old center born in Macerata; Barbante is a tall player with coordinated movements and a wide arm span, who combines a trained hand even from a distance with notable tactical intelligence.
Last season he wore the Treviglio jersey, the previous one instead he was at Fortitudo Bologna. Considering that last year JuVi suffered perhaps more than expected under the scoreboards, this year coach Luca Bechi he wanted to guarantee the club a respectable and heterogeneous package of long players with the presence of the new arrivals Alessandro Morgillo (204 centimeters) and Yannick Giombini (201 cm), in addition to the confirmed Lorenzo Tortù (202 cm). This will allow JuVi Ferraroni to focus on two important foreign players, presumably in the roles of guard and forward, both with a good potential of points in their hands and who (possibly but not necessarily) already know European basketball, willing to work hard and devoted to team play.
While Marco Abbiati and Luca Bechi continue to view players made in the USA (the coach will be in the United States soon to attend some summer training camps in person), the current goal is to complete the roster as regards the package of Italian players. And in this sense, as mentioned, Gianmarco Bertetti, born in 2001, 180 cm tall, a native of Biella, has been signed as the playmaker. He is a player who comes from the last season played in Vigevano where he averaged 9.6 points and 3.7 assists per game; previously he played in Biella, Ferrara and Udine. A player whose qualities Bechi underlines: «A sunny, spontaneous, generous boy, with a great desire to win and always the first to join the group. Technically he has the ability to score by getting out of the game, but he has also improved his playmaking a lot. He has a great character and a lot of determination, he perfectly embodies the JuVi spirit. I am sure that in our context he will make a leap in quality and will surprise us».
Bertetti will be called to ‘form a department’ with Federico Massone, a 191 cm play-guard from Aosta, born in 1998, who spent his last season at Tezenis Verona in A2 and who has an important background having also played in Biella, Jesi, Piacenza and Trapani, silver at the 2017 World Cup in Egypt with the Under 19 National Team. According to the club’s intentions, Massone – whose signature is expected in the next few hours – should start in the starting five, with Bertetti ready to give the right change of pace to his teammates.. With the closing of Massone’s contract, a couple of important players will be missing (the probable changes of the two Americans) and some young players to complete the roster in view of a competitive season that promises to be of a decidedly superior technical level to the previous ones.
