A year ago, after the matches with Iran, you said that you saw a team that was ready to reach the World Cup playoffs. What did you see now in the Friendship Cup?
Andrey Kirilenko: This time the task was to look at the guys with a five-year perspective in advance. Who is our next generation, our closest reserve. These are guys aged 16-19, their names are not very well known: some even play in farm teams in their clubs. But we understand that in a few years these players will be able to take a step forward in their potential. And now it was important to see how they act under pressure, in the national team jersey, and how they understand the coach’s system. And I think the task has been accomplished. Let’s take the same matches from last year with Iran. Due to the fact that the opponent was at the level of the World Championship, it was still necessary to use the core and there were not many opportunities to experiment. Now there were.
The national team’s coach Zoran Lukic said that under the current conditions, the optimal schedule is to hold six matches a year. Is this really possible?
Andrey Kirilenko: Realistic, but very difficult. I recently watched an interview with the coach of the football team Valery Karpin, in which he rightly noted: Do you really think that we do not want to play with Italy, Holland, etc.? We have the same situation. And now the task facing the RBF and which I will follow to the end is to look for opportunities for sparring with foreign teams. Let them be of different levels. From the strongest available in the current conditions to the weakest teams. But in the matches with the latter we will be able to test the youngest. A great example from the Friendship Cup: the Parma youth team played against Venezuela. You saw the level of tension and intensity. When will you find another opportunity to test the guys in such conditions? Previously we did it through international tournaments of the corresponding age group, but now this window is closed.
When will Serbia, for example, come to us? Is it all about timing and logistics?
Andrey Kirilenko: We invited Serbia, but it was busy at the time. Everyone has their own plans. Why was it easier before? Everyone had the same schedule. Everyone is conditionally preparing for the European Championships or for qualification for the World Championships. And finding training partners is easy. Now our schedules are different. The Olympic Games have just ended. A large number of teams were preparing for Olympic qualification, for the Olympic tournament, and the participants in these tournaments were mainly facing each other. The Olympic Games are over, many have disbanded their teams. And we have to find opponents on a residual basis. Plus there is tension. Many national federations do not want to be understood in two ways, they do not want to risk and enter into some kind of confrontation with the IOC. I am surprised that people from outside treat these circumstances with a certain frivolity.
After the situation in the Friendship Cup with the unexpected weakness of the Colombian team, will you now approach the search and selection of rivals in a different way?
Andrey Kirilenko: In this regard, I will raise the issue with the FIBA Head Office (International Basketball Federation – RG note). The current communication system is flawed and allows this to happen. Perhaps an intermediary is needed to connect the national federations. Today there is dry contact information on the FIBA website and everyone has used it. And nobody thought that something like this was possible. This is a precedent. And yet, from the current situation we received such a media effect that we could only dream of. From a sporting point of view, yes, it was a disappointment, from a media point of view – everyone was talking about the Friendship Cup. In addition, it was a great experience. We have been working under stress for four years, but here everything happened in four days. And we managed to change the format, adapt to the situation, and that is great.
Zoran Lukic remained as coach of the national team. Did you quickly come to an agreement with him?
Andrey Kirilenko: I will say this: it was not difficult. Zoran and I understood from the very beginning what we wanted from the national team. And when everything changed in the midst of the 2023 World Cup qualification, which the team successfully completed, we suddenly found ourselves in a vacuum. And this was one of the main points of the conversation with Zoran. Is he ready for the situation that he himself sees? An ambitious coach wants to compete in major tournaments. From this point of view, we did not create any obstacles for Zoran. But it’s great, he said that he was interested in working with the Russian team, Russian guys. The only point: if suddenly an offer comes from the Serbian national team, he would like to try with it. This is understandable. Another point is the possibility of combining work in the Club and in the national team. He was told that there was no problem. But, by the way, now he will have more time to follow the second or third teams of the clubs, to see who is more suitable for this or that position, who needs to be “dragged” now to the national team, and who later.
The task that the RBF now faces, and which I will follow to the end, is to find sparring matches with foreign teams for the national team.
The Russian players I spoke to say that psychology prevents Russians from taking the leading roles. The American comes with the confidence that if he fails, he will succeed next time. The Russian charges, feels the pressure of the crowd… How to break with this psychology?
Andrey Kirilenko: Just because of the number of matches. If you play a little, you won’t break it. When you rarely go out, you always think: I was given this minute, I have to prove it! In this regard, we return to the Parma youth match against Venezuela in the Friendship Cup. In the first minutes, the youngsters had no chance. But the match heated up a bit, the guys started to hold on and went all the way. It’s a matter of flying hours and having a full hand. I remember my youth: in that context I was very lucky, because from the age of 13 we constantly played in international tournaments. And when I approached 18, despite the fact that I made my debut at 15, I was already used to playing at this level. I recently spoke with Darius Miles (former American basketball player who played nine seasons in the NBA – RG note). And he told how in 1998 he came to us for the Youth Games. But I also played there, we just didn’t remember each other. There were guys who went on to the NBA. You’ve played with guys like that since you were 17 and you’re not ashamed of them anymore when they become high-calibre players. And if you saw LeBron James for the first time at 25, of course your knees will go weak. So the sooner guys get into international play, the more psychologically stable they will be and the more chances they have of becoming leaders of their teams.
In the summer, changes were made to the sports law, which allowed professional leagues to withdraw from the auspices of national and international federations. Did this have any effect on the relationship between the RBF and the United League?
Andrey Kirilenko: We have an excellent relationship with the League. Of course, there are controversial moments, but in general we work very closely. As for future prospects, basketball is a very representative sport in geographical terms. The influence of the International Federation on the life of basketball is great. So why should the League or the RBF break away from FIBA? We want to be part of the international movement, the international process. To do this, we need to maintain our relationship with the United League.
The United League off-season turned out to be eventful for the Russians. Some, such as Samson Ruzhentsev and Zakhar Vedishchev, fell, others, for example, Alexander Shcherbenev, rose. How do you rate these transfers?
Andrey Kirilenko: We have to wait for the start of the season. It seems that Samson Ruzhentsev, who left CSKA for Parma, or Zakhar Vedischev, who left Lokomotiv-Kuban for Yenisei, have made a good move. It seems that they did seek relegation, but with the expectation of getting more playing time. It is not a fact that this will happen, but the logic is clear. As for Misha Belenitsky from UNICS or Shcherbenev from Zenit, I don’t know what kind of relationship they have with the new coaches, what they are counting on. But I want these guys to play and become main players. Based on their level, they are ready to be leaders in their team.
