Pini Gershon: The EUROHOLD Balkan League is developing into a great competition

One of Europe′s best club coaches, and also most respected people in the world of basketball - Mr. Pini Gershon is official guest of the 2011 EUROHOLD Balkan League Final Four. He shared his opinion about the development of the tournament and some other things as well.


Q: You became a regular guest of the EUROHOLD Balkan League, how will you rate the competition′s progress?
 
Every year the league gets better, and the Final Four is an example for that. The EUROHOLD Balkan League is a really good league, that is developing and is right after Europe′s major competitions such as Euroleague and  Eurocup. I believe that many new teams will want to play next season, as well as new sponsors.


Q: What are your expectations for the final game on Sunday? The atmosphere in the semifinals was really great.
 
The most important thing is that we saw two great games yesterday,  everything came down to the last seconds in both games. The gym was full, and also a lot of people saw it on TV. The basketball tomorrow night will be at least as good as yesterday.


Q: Can you point out any of the players in the Final Four who managed to impress you?
 
I saw many good players, and also young talents. The players of Mornar Bar will be playing in Euroleague teams in a couple of years. Ivan Lilov also shows great development, and Feni has good playes as well. About  the young players I don′t really know if it′s good to mention names, because it can be both positive or negative for the players′ development and future.
 
Q: Mornar are showing that relying on young and talented players can give results, would you encourage more
teams towards this strategy?
 
If the BIBL can show that  young players can play at this level, then it would be a target for every team to join the league, play here and develop their youngsters.
And it′s important not only for players, but for coaches as well.

Q: And last, your prediction for the final tomorrow?
 
I hope the level of the game will be good, especially when the players realize that they are under pressure and I hope the best team will win. Feni got a little advantage, because of the hometown fans, but Rilski already showed that they have no trouble with beating better teams.
 
An interview by Alexander Sotirov