In the fall of 2023, Pasha Ismailov was preparing to move from youth basketball to the Super League, and after the New Year he became an important part of the VTB United League club rotation. Through hard work, he earned the opportunity to carve out a place in the MBA-MAI team and he did not waste it. The young basketball player gave a long interview to the Championship, in which he talked about his incredible journey, talked about comparisons with Nikita Kurbanov and admitted that he would like to try himself in the Euroleague and the NBA.
—There is very little information about you. Talk about yourself. — Born in Moscow, I grew up all my life in Krylatskoye, next to the Basket Hall. My parents wanted to send me to practice some kind of sport so that I wouldn’t be left doing nothing at home, and that’s how I ended up at the Dynamo sports school. Probably this was also due to the territorial location, it was convenient to travel. At first I worked with guys born in 2002, because there was no team for my 2003 year. Then, at the same time, I was involved in tennis, soccer and wrestling. As a result, the 2003 team appeared, I began to communicate more with the guys, I liked this kind of basketball party, so I stayed in basketball.
—Before you only talked about tennis. — Probably because I used to watch a lot of tennis, I followed all the tournaments, it was very interesting.
—What happens with your favorite tennis player? —When I watched actively, what impressed me the most was Stan Wawrinka. They were his best years and then he won two Slams. And if it’s one of the tops and the greats, I always liked Federer more than Nadal or Djokovic.
— Did you start having success in basketball right away or did you sometimes think about quitting? – It’s hard to say. I never thought about any professional career. I just played basketball, studied at school at the same time and prepared for exams. I entered university, at the same time I played in the Junior Youth League, and then in my first year things started to work out a little for me, I got stronger physically. And at that time, Alexey Alekseevich Savkov, with whom I studied, came up to me and said that they asked about me, found out if I wanted to continue playing basketball and I really started to think about whether I wanted to or not. and I decided I wanted to try it. After that I joined the MBA youth team.
—What positions did you play in? — I have never played the first number. I was second, third and in the last year in the youth league I sometimes went “four” on defense, because we didn’t have particularly big guys. Well, he always actively defended the ball.
— You did not play in national teams because of your age. – I never played. Once they called me up for the Sub 20, but I couldn’t go due to health problems.
—Didn’t you think about this? – Not exactly. They didn’t call me up for the U16, the U18, but then I didn’t show anything. Maybe there were thoughts: “Damn, it would be great to leave now, these are the guys I know, against whom I play, now at the European Championship.” But I never felt any injustice about this.
Pasha Ismailov
Photo: MBA-MAI
– Let’s go back to a year ago. What were your thoughts before the season? So there was no indication of a main team. —We formed a Super League team and were preparing for the season. I was determined to play my best. For me it was still a promotion, because before that I played in the youth team.
—So you were preparing for the Super League and that’s it? Or was there talk that they might join the main team? — I have never spoken to either Vasily Nikolaevich Karasev or Sergei Ivanovich Voznyuk about whether they will raise it or not. I understood that the basis was growth, but at that time I was preparing specifically for the Super League.
—How did you get involved? — I had a series of good games. We were in Vladivostok, our agricultural coach at that time was Mikhail Vladimirovich Karpenko, who is now at the headquarters of our base, he came up and said that after we arrive in Moscow, I, Danya Pevnev and Egor Pokinko will change clothes immediately after of the plane. and We are going to the main team training. This was the preparation for the Russian Cup match against Novosibirsk. I thought we were just going for the numbers, there were no expectations, maybe a little excitement. We trained, they immediately let me play 5 on 5 and after training they said I would be in the lineup for the Cup match.
I played well, I thought. The next day I came to train with the Super League team. And Mikhail Vladimirovich said that after the New Year weekend it is necessary to train with the main team again.
—What were your feelings during that period? Nerves? — It’s clear that it wasn’t exactly super comfortable, because I had never trained with a base before. Everyone played more or less well with each other, but I just tried to get in, I tried to play defense. And there was a time when I trained both with the base and with the Super League team. It was a little difficult then, but it was an interesting experience.
—What difference did you feel between the Super League and the VTB United League? — Of course, the difference is in the speed of decision-making, in the level of contact. Of course, it is more difficult to play both defense and attack. In the Super League I was also one of the youngest, but still the difference was not that big. And there are older people here, you communicate with them a little differently.
—Did anyone help with the central adaptation? — In this sense, there were no special problems, I knew someone: Danya Kasatkin, Gleb Sheiko, Makar Konovalov, Max Lichutin, Max Savchenko. But I still saw them as more experienced guys who, at least, already play more in the VTB league and show a much more stable and mature game. The elders (Zhenya Valiev, Zhenya Voronov, Vlad Trushkin and Zhenya Minchenko) were very loyal. If I made a mistake they could encourage me: “Control yourself,” but it was in a positive way. There was no such thing as being punished for making a mistake.
—How was your communication with Vasili Nikolaevich Karasev at first? “There were episodes when he came up to me during and after training and explained to me what was needed from me, what I had to do first, what attacks I could find on my own. And the entire coaching staff supported me morally. In the first Cup game they approached me and said: “Enjoy the game. Do your best, don’t worry, don’t worry at all.”
Pasha Ismailov
Photo: VTB United League
— After last season, we interviewed Vasily Karasev and asked him about you. He said you have the potential of Nikita Kurbanov. What do you think of this comparison? — Nikita Kurbanov is a player who went through all the national teams, played at all levels, against the best in the Euroleague and against players who were in the NBA. Of course, he is the best in Russian basketball, and this is a very good vector for which we should strive.
But in terms of playing style, I’m not quite Nikita. He’s bigger than me, he has more size on defense. I think I’m a little different offensively, or at least I’d like to play differently.
– How would you like it? — I would like to make more decisions with the ball, but everything will depend only on me, I need to work hard.
— In terms of play style, who would you like to emulate? —When I was a child I watched more NBA. I liked All-Star level players who had a lot of isolations. There are fewer such actors in Europe. Now, for example, Bacon plays in the VTB league, which also has many isolations. And above all I liked Kevin Durant.
— So, do you want to move in any direction in this direction? Become a Russian Kevin Durant? – Russian Kevin Durant sounds great, of course. But I’m still very far from that.
—What did you think after the last season, which changed a lot in your life? “It wasn’t like that when the season ended, I sat back and started thinking, ‘Everything turned out great.’ On the contrary, it gave me more motivation to work, because you begin to understand that something is working, it gives you energy and you want to continue working and progressing.
I didn’t rest much, I went to St. Petersburg for four days. I started training almost immediately. At the end of the season, my knee situation got a little worse, so June trained without any contact, and it wasn’t until July that I started doing more contact work.
—Was the preparation for this season, already with the base, anything different than a year ago with the Super League team? – Probably not. During the first season, I somehow established communication with everyone; I didn’t feel like part of another team. We just started training. Of course, in the main team the training is more intense, but in the six months we had in the first season I had already gotten used to it and understood the loads here, so in the preseason it was not a surprise for me. .
— In the preseason, MBA-MAI won five wins in a row, including over CSKA, and fought well against Zenit in the Kondrashin and Belov Cup. How would you rate the preparation for the season? —If the match with Paris NN is not taken into account, the preseason went very well. The games in China are difficult to evaluate because the team was still at a much lower level than we expected. The match against CSKA was intense. This gave us the understanding that we can play with the giants. Then, in the match against Zenit, we even took the lead four minutes before the end of the match. Therefore, after these games, of course, there is confidence that this season we will be able to show decent results.
Pasha Ismailov
Photo: MBA-MAI
— You mentioned a trip to China. How do you like her in general? —I had never been to China before. Of course, it was interesting and cool to come to a country I had never seen, to see how people live, what their mentality is, what their infrastructure is, how they communicate with each other and how they react to us.
— Many people complained about the food. – Food, yes. I didn’t understand their cooking at all. The first day for dinner I had some noodles with meat. I was very fat and then I felt bad. During the remaining days I was very careful with food, trying to eat as lean as possible so as not to suddenly get poisoned.
—How did the team face the start of the new season? “We were all charged and inspired. We want to show that we can do well against top 4 teams, because last year it didn’t work. We will fight, we will show that a team with our ideology, with Russian players, can compete.
—What didn’t work at the beginning and at the end? — Yes, the start of the season did not turn out as we expected. We lost against Zenit, then we lost disappointingly against Yenisei, against Samara at home and we played very badly against Parma. And after these bad matches we tried to somehow prepare for the away series, more or less we played against Astana, it’s good that we won. This gave us some confidence and then we won in Saratov. So I hope we improve game by game and win games.
— What do you think about the IBA’s position on foreign players? – Of course, for us, Russian players, this is a great opportunity to show ourselves, because such conditions do not exist anywhere. Therefore, I only have a positive attitude towards this.
—Wouldn’t you like to gain experience with a player from another school? The same bacon, for example.— Of course, training with top-level players is a great and irreplaceable experience. But on the one hand you gain experience, watch how they play, and on the other hand you can get more playing time and pick up some skills yourself. And it seems to me that the second option is more preferable, to develop yourself rather than watching others play.
— You said that the Euroleague playoffs are the best basketball. Because? — The value of each possession is much greater than, for example, in the NBA. Yes, in North America there are more attacks, they have more time, but the value of an individual defense is several times less. In the Euroleague there is different density, different decision making, different communication in defense and attack.
— If the Euroleague playoffs are the best basketball, what kind of basketball is the VTB league? – Number two, post it like this.
—Don’t you watch the NBA anymore? — Of course, I am interested in one way or another, I look at the results of the matches, the statistics, the highlights. But watching live broadcasts is difficult. You can watch an entire playoff game, for example.
-Who do you follow? – Behind Durant, of course. If we take teams, then it’s Dallas. New York is interesting right now. And so, of course, for those [командами]where Durant plays.
— Let’s imagine that you are now making great progress and you would like to play in the Euroleague more than in the NBA. – Probably yes.
—Maybe first in the Euroleague and then in the NBA? – Well, that would be the most ideal situation.
— Would you like to play for a specific Euroleague team? – It’s hard to say. If you go, it will most likely be 3&D. And a player like that can fit naturally into any team. Otherwise, I would play for a team in Türkiye.
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