Baskonia has moved on from Dusko Ivanovic by surprisingly hiring Pablo Laso, who was coaching Bayern Munich the past season. The Basques’ forward Tadas Sedekerskis spoke about the team’s upcoming season and the expectations that come with playing under Laso.
“Every player would like to be coached by Pablo because of all the trophies he has won and everything he has achieved with Real Madrid,” the Lithuanian noted, per Noticias de Alava (h/t Eurohoops).
“I was very surprised by Laso’s signing. I was in Puerto Rico, and when I woke up, there was a big time difference. My father told me to read the news. It was like a shock; I wasn’t expecting it. There were a lot of names and rumors, but I never imagined it would be him.”
Sedekerskis is coming off a breakout year with Baskonia, but the team failed to achieve its goals as the Basques missed the ACB playoffs for the first time since 1994. Baskonia was able to make the EuroLeague playoffs for the first time in many years, but they got swept by Real Madrid.
Sedekerskis believes that the team will be better this season, basing his faith in the superstar duo of Markus Howard and Chima Moneke.
“I see young people eager to work and a lot of people who want to prove themselves. We are a young team with many familiar faces from last year. The continuity of our most important players, Markus and Chima, is going to help us a lot in this regard.
They are going to be even better than last year. Then, our new coach, Pablo Laso, knows the ACB, the EuroLeague, the city, and what the people want very well, so we are all very excited.”
