FOLGARIA (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - Ettore Messina has switched gears. For most of the year an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, one of the top teams in the NBA, Messina has returned home to Italy to coach the national side in one of the most important summers in its history.

In just under a month, Messina will lead the Azzurri at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin and attempt to steer the team to victory and a berth in the Rio de Janeiro Games. He is right now putting the players through their paces in Folgaria.

Not that long ago, Messina had visions of being on the Spurs bench in the NBA Finals but that hope was dashed in a 4-2 defeat to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

"I'm sorry not to be in the United States in the NBA Finals with San Antonio," he said this week at the start of Italy's training camp, "but I'm happy to work here with all the players and put them in as soon as possible at the same level of preparation."

So instead of rubbing shoulders on a daily basis with Spurs icons Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan, Messina is with Italy stars Marco Belinelli, Gigi Datome, Danilo Gallinari and Andrea Bargnani.

Messina needs to get his team on the same page tactically, but what he doesn't have to do is worry about his players' mentality. Each is focused on doing what needs to be done to win the OQT and take Italy to an Olympic Games for the first time since 2004, when the the team claimed a silver medal.

"The team already has its own identity," Messina said. "We will make it. We will be ready."

At times last year, Italy had the look of a team that would qualify for Rio at EuroBasket. They were one of just two teams to beat eventual champions Spain, doing so in the Group Phase.

Italy blew out Israel in the Round of 16 and had to beat Lithuania to reach the Semi-Finals. Against the Baltic side, they played with courage, determination, grit and panache. It wasn't enough, though, to topple a country that is an international powerhouse in basketball. The Lithuanians made just enough plays to force overtime and then won the game, 95-85.

Italy, who where coached by Simone Pianigiani, regrouped and beat the Czech Republic in their next game to claim a spot in the OQT field.

Can Italy finally start to win those close games that have slipped away from them in recent years? Messina thinks they can.

"The difference between winning and losing is subtle and for nothing, you risk to throw away games," Messina said. "In recent years, there was a lack of coldness, by which I mean the ability to understand who has to have the ball in his hands at the right times and who on defense has to do things rather than others." 

Italy will take on Croatia and Tunisia in Group B of the OQT, which runs 4-9 July. If they finish in the top two, the Azzurri will face a team from Group A - Greece, Iran or Mexico - in a Semi-Final. The Semi-Final winners will face each other in the last game with the side that prevails booking a spot at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

FIBA