Samson Ruzhentsev is one of the most promising Russian basketball players at the moment. At the age of 22, he managed to play in the NCAA, Serbia and CSKA, with whom he became the champion of the VTB United League in 2024. This summer he extended his contract with the military team, but decided to go on loan to Parma to gain more playing experience. Ruzhentsev gave an interview to the Championship, in which he spoke about the details of the transition.
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— How did you spend your holidays, what did you do? — The vacation was rather short. We finished last season later than the others, after winning the final we rested for a couple of days and then flew to Norilsk. I felt that the season was continuing and after returning I rested for a week and started training. I wanted to go abroad, I needed to resolve the issue of my international passport, I thought I would have time and could fly later. In the end, things did not go as planned. My girlfriend and I flew to Sochi and rested there for about 10 days. At the same time I was training and preparing for the new season.
— How did you end up in Parma? Was it CSKA’s decision or yours? — I had several options this summer. We discussed the upcoming season with CSKA and came to the conclusion that it would be better for me to go on loan for a year. There were several options: Avtodor, Samara and Parma. They are all one-year rentals. I spoke to all the teams and coaches. I made the decision myself, but of course I consulted with CSKA and my agent and they decided that Parma would be the best option for me.
—How would you rate Parma last season? CSKA lost twice, both times in Perm. — I was a supporter of Parma even before I joined the team. I watched a lot of their matches last season. We watched them separately after the defeats. A very interesting team, great foreign players. BJ Johnson himself moved to Lokomotiv, someone ended up in China. Everything was revealed to them last season. The team surprised everyone, including me, by moving up to fifth place. Few people expected this at the beginning.
Samson Ruzhentsev
Photo by: RFB
— How was your first communication with coach Evgeny Pashutin? — We had a good conversation, he congratulated me for choosing Parma and said he was looking forward to working with me. It was such a short conversation.
—Have you spoken to the coach about your role at Parma? Will it be more important than at CSKA? – Yes, of course. This influenced my decision when choosing a team. We discussed the role, Evgeniy Yuryevich wants me to have a serious role, to take on more, play more with the ball, open up in a new way in this team and be able to take a step forward compared to previous seasons.
—Has management announced any objectives for the upcoming season? — There hasn’t been such a conversation yet, but Evgeniy Yuryevich said that the task is to at least repeat last season’s result.
— What personal goals do you have for yourself at Parma? – Actually, the same as the coach: to show what I am really capable of, that I can be trusted with an important role as a player at any level, in any team.
— How are you preparing for the season? Is there anything new about Pashutin that you haven’t seen before? — It’s not exactly new, but the intensity is of course very high. We train a lot, almost every day two training sessions. I’ve already encountered this, but compared to CSKA we can say that it’s new. In Parma the workload is much higher.
— What are your new colleagues like? Who do you communicate with the most, perhaps who do you spend time with? — We communicate well with everyone, I like the team, all the guys are good. I didn’t really know anyone well before coming here, but I fit in well with the team.
— Parma has three foreign players. The club president Sergei Boguslavsky said that the team would start the season with them. Do you think that three foreign players are enough to go straight to the playoffs without any problems? – I think so. We have a good Russian team, with many strong and promising youngsters. Parma had four foreign players last season, but CJ Brice was injured for a good part of the season. This did not prevent the team from finishing fifth.
Samson Ruzhentsev
Photo by: RFB
— The format of the regular VTB United League championship has changed. The league abandoned the six-eight division after the first two rounds and decided to hold only four rounds. Thus, the number of matches increased. What do you think about this decision? “I think it’s great, because in the last two seasons there were times like this during the regular season with three-week breaks. It’s not easy, it disrupts the rhythm of the game, you have to start all over again. This seemed strange to me. Now, as far as I understand, this will be compensated by an increase in the number of games, so I’m happy about that.
— Let’s talk about CSKA now. How would you rate your second season with the Moscow team overall? – Maybe not in the way I expected, but overall… I became a champion, something I couldn’t do in my first year. I learned a lot this season, I learned lessons, I analyzed the mistakes I made during the championship so that in a similar situation this wouldn’t happen again. Overall it was a good experience for me.
— After the departure of Shved and Milutinov, it seemed that you should have more time to play, perhaps even a more impressive role. Did you think so too? – Most likely yes. I had a pretty successful first season, especially the end, the playoffs. They trusted me, I played well. And I kind of expected that in the second season they would trust me even more, I would play even more. It turned out the way it turned out. At the beginning of the second season, for example, I had a pretty big role. Maybe for the first month and a half I played decently and then somehow my role and time began to decrease.
– What do you connect this with? – It’s hard to say, really. I don’t remember this ever changing suddenly. It’s just that the coach started to trust other, more experienced players more, and that became a trend.
— CSKA started the season well, winning nine games in a row, but then Casper Ware got injured and not everything went as planned. Was it just the American’s injury or was there something else that hindered the team? — Of course, Casper’s injury had a big impact. After all, he is one of the leaders of the team, he brought great benefits before the injury. Obviously, it was necessary to close this hole, maybe somewhere we did not succeed. Perhaps, after several defeats, the atmosphere in the team worsened a bit: it seems that we try, we do everything as planned, but it still does not work out. Of course, it is depressing.
— In the end, it all ended with Emil Raikovich’s resignation. What was it like working with him? “I actually had a pretty good time working with him; I remember him for trusting me. Even in my first year, he did what he wasn’t supposed to do: a young player among already experienced basketball players who have been playing in the United League for many years, on this team. But he still gave me opportunities quite consistently, I thank him for that.
— Changing coaches a week before the start of the playoffs is a rather unusual decision. How did the players react? — The players reacted quite positively, because we went through a difficult period, there were many defeats. We lost twice to Yenisei in the second phase and finished with them in the first round of the playoffs. The decision to change the coach a week before the start of the playoffs, of course, was surprising, but it was strong and brave. Almost no one does this, but to some extent the players were glad that an attempt was made to change the situation. And, indeed, it worked.
Samson Ruzhentsev
Photo by: VTB United League
— Did the team understand that this could happen? Or was there shock at that moment? – On the one hand, we thought that maybe this would happen, because there were some rumours within the team. But on the other hand, you understand that the next step is the playoffs and it seems impossible for the coach to change right now.
— When did the team realize that CSKA was very close to winning the championship? — I think that even after the first match against Yenisei, when we won a lot. It was a kind of statement. Of course, there were no direct thoughts about the championship then, but they were emerging, you know? I mean, it was like they breathed life back into the team, so much freshness appeared. And mutual faith, faith that CSKA is still the same and that we can do what we gathered for at the beginning of the season – achieve our goal. And when we really thought that we had to win the championship, it was probably when we beat Zenit and reached the final. There was already great confidence then.
— What emotions did you experience when you became a champion, and at a fairly young age? “I was really happy to finally achieve it, because it didn’t work out the first year, but I really wanted to do it. And yet, when this happened in the second year, of course, I was really happy to have done it at such a young age. And that they can’t take away from me the fact that I am the champion of the United League.
— CSKA, like Parma, has strengthened ahead of the new season. How would you rate the new players in the army? The same Alex Avramovic, who won bronze with the Serbian national team at the Olympic Games. — I think CSKA has become even stronger. They practically kept the same composition as last year. I think Avramovic will complement the team very well. I don’t know him personally, but I played against him in Mega. He is a strong player on both ends of the court. I think this is useful for absolutely any team, when a player brings value both in defense and attack.
— When CSKA announced your transfer to Parma, the message read: “We are waiting for Samson in a new role under the CSKA banner.” In what status and as a player do you want to return to the army club? — I would like to return as an accomplished player. That is, not in the status of a youngster who comes to the senior team, where he might get a chance, or maybe not, but in the status of a player who is hired for a certain role, to play, so that the CSKA management already knows what to expect from me and knew what they wanted from me when I returned.
Samson Ruzhentsev
Photo by: BC UNICS
—You’re not even 23 yet. What kind of basketball player do you see yourself being in five to seven years? – This is a super philosophical question. The more I play basketball, the more difficult it is for me to answer such questions. It’s very unpredictable: you don’t know how your career will turn out. Maybe in five years I’ll also play in the United League, maybe in CSKA, maybe in some other club, maybe I’ll play in Europe…
— You mentioned Europe. Do you have any ambitions to test yourself in the NBA? – Yes, of course, there are those ambitions. As you said, I will be 23 in October, I am not at that age to close my eyes and forget about my dream or the goal I set for myself at the beginning of my career. Of course, the NBA is a dream, the best league in the world.
—Do you have any plans to achieve this goal? – It happens in different ways. Maybe you just play well where you play and thanks to this you get closer to your goal. Maybe you don’t get into the NBA right away, but end up in a stronger team after a stronger championship that follows. You show a certain result there and thus attract attention. How did Micic get to the NBA? He played in the Euroleague at MVP level. Maybe he was offered it before, he refused, but at some point he decided that he wanted to go to the NBA and he did it.
— You received an offensive injury in the Friendship Cup. How do you feel, how did you react to this? — I feel fine now, my leg is almost painless. I will soon be discharged from the hospital and begin my recovery. It is unlikely that this injury could have been avoided. There was no contact, I made a normal basketball move that I do a million times and a fracture occurred. The foot was simply overloaded in this place. From now on, you just have to make sure that this does not happen again. This is the work situation.
I was told that recovery would take five to six weeks. Of course, it will depend on how everything heals. It is a shame that this happened because I got into really good shape during the training camp we had. I actually started playing and it immediately happened. But on the positive side I can say that it is good that this happened now and not in December-January, because it would have been much sadder. Now there is still almost a month until the start of the season and my recovery will take about a month and a half. I will not miss practically any of the season and I will be able to quickly return to my duties and join the team again. I remain positive and am willing to do everything I can to get back faster.
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