Source: Messina sighted in Bologna; Sanikidze coming to Madrid?

April 13, 2010

Me? On Real Madrid? Really?

BallinEurope is the recipient of a nice bit of hot gossip this morning, for which we’d like to thank our anonymous-by-request source.

The source tipped BiE off to a sighting of Ettore Messina in Bologna. According to the source, Messina “wasn’t carrying any shopping bag … just a mobile phone.”

So perhaps Messina (last seen disconsolately shaking his head on the sidelines as FC Barcelona took apart his Real Madrid squad for the seventh time this season) hadn’t yet purchased anything at Bologna’s boutiques…

…or perhaps, suggests the source, the coach could have been there to discuss Georgian big man Viktor Sanikidze as a possible antidote to Pete Mickael and Barça’s inside game…?

BiE supposes we’ll have to wait and see whether Messina’s not-so-social visit bears any fruit on-court or whether the Whites have other options to explore.

Incidentally, whatever happened to that Qyntel Woods thing, anyway?

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This post was published on April 13, 2010
Lithuania victory at Eurobasket 2011 > 20th-century Russian geopoliticsMadrid signs Morris Almond through 2012, but is Red Claw enough?
Comments: 8
  1. Silver
    14 years ago

    Big Georgian center Viktor Sanikidze??? You have got something wrong. He is not a center and even not so big 🙂

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  2. radallo
    14 years ago

    203cm – 91kg… not the size of a big centre.. but enough to overcome Pete’s 1.97cm

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  3. 14 years ago

    Yeah, what Radallo said.

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  4. radallo
    14 years ago

    Is the Pete-Michael-Stopper-story coming to an end??

    According to the websites
    http://www.acb.com/redaccion.php?id=66478
    http://www.basketnet.it/news/125395/l_obiettivo_di_milano___kaukenas

    Morris Almond already signed for Real Madrid; Kaukenas (who in the last month has been benched to leave Travis Hansen on the court) should return to Italy to join AJ Milan for playoff

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  5. AM
    14 years ago

    I don’t want to discredit Messina as a coach, obviously he has shown that he’s one of the best in Europe. However, this season by Real Madrid doesn’t show a lot of consequence in terms of direction the team is heading. After pretty good start, I’d say, in a regular euroleague season, something stopped working in top 16 and later. Now a closer look at the additions: Messina’s favourite Marko Jaric has been far from stellar, at least in top16, though now he seems to be picking up his game, Tomic, however, has been pretty consistent, even more considering him more of a future prospect.
    Now if you look at players playing time – it’s been a rollercoaster, which might somewhat explain the other rollercoaster – in the Wins/Losses column. And lastly, latest Kaukenas roumors – obviously he is having a slump, if you look at his stats, it’s been lasting from the 25th Feb game against Montepaschi, so almost two months. But before that, he was one of the best players on the team. Is it reasonable to trade him for Morris Almond? Really, Morris Almond? Who is Morris Almond?
    A little weird if you ask me, but we’ll see how it ends…

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  6. radallo
    14 years ago

    I agree with AM that current season has shown inconsistence for Real Madrid… anyway Messina’s team always have “problem” in the first year to digest the new coaching methods..
    maybe results doesn’t show that clearly
    http://www.euroleague.net/competition/coaches/showcoach?pcode=WAF
    but if you consider player/rotation changes during the first year (and above that the beauty of the game on the field) with respect to the following one.. well the difference is obvuious.

    Massey discharged before the start, Hervelle and VdS are gone early..
    Reyes and Hansen are faraway from expectations&past season numbers..
    Kaukenas, still struggling with the bad injury in Siena last year, lost his touch..
    Jaric coming back mid season from a 2-year-NBA-bench
    Velickovic and Tomic big more-than-a-prospect, looking for an official role in the squad.

    It is clear that Messina in Madrid has still to find the squaring of the circle… and to compete with FCB this year is not the easiest task to face… but I’d give him credit within a three year project.

    Cheers

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  7. AM
    14 years ago

    I agree that the team is completely different from last season and needs time to start showing good results. Almost all players were brought at the beginning or during the season, and I actually thought that the team was performing unexpectedly well at the beginning of the season. The most important thing this team needs right now is simply time in my opinion, and for me the move of replacing Kaukenas with Almond is hardly necessary. But maybe he will show his worth.
    Cheers

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  8. Dzoni
    14 years ago

    messina is great coach,i just don’t understand why he benched velickovic at the half of the season,in first months velickovic was one of the best players,he was november mvp in acb league,he played great in euroleague,he was actualy in starting 5!!! so why he played just 4 out of 6 games in top 16,and that 4 that he played that was some small minutes,about 10,so i realy don’t understand why he replaced velickovic and reyes,beacuse obivusly velickovic is much better player,i hope he will get him mintes he deservs soon!!

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