GRE - Trinchieri stresses positives from EuroBasket experience

KAZAN (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Andrea Trinchieri has a lot on his mind as he tries to pull the right strings and lead Unics Kazan to another famous come-from-behind victory.

On Wednesday, his Unics side will attempt to overcome a 13-point first-leg deficit and beat Valencia in Kazan, Russia, in the Eurocup Finals.

Trinchieri's team lost at Red Star Belgrade in the first leg of the semifinals but rebounded back home with a 17-point triumph to advance to the title series with an aggregate win of six.

That success helped the Italian claim the honor of Eurocup Coach of the Year.

It also reconfirmed something that Greece's Basketball Federation knew when they appointed him as national team coach last year.

Trinchieri is a rising star in the profession, but unfortunately for him and Greece, things didn't go very well in the results department in 2013.

The Greeks progressed from the opening round of the EuroBasket but came up short of the quarterfinals.

Greece have received a wild card to participate in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, but Trinchieri doesn't expect to be at the helm when the team takes on Argentina, Croatia, Puerto Rico, Senegal and the Philippines in Group B.

"I really don't believe I'll coach Greece," he said to FIBA.com, "but I cannot say anything because to tell you the truth, maybe there is a problem with the satellite.

"We haven't had very good communication since the last day of the EuroBasket. I'm still waiting for communication."

The frontrunner for the Greek World Cup job is Fotis Katsikaris, the former Bilbao coach who served as a television commentator last summer for the national team's games.

Katsikaris was supposed to coach Russia's national team at EuroBasket 2013 but a shake-up in that country's hoops federation led to his departure from the role.

So why aren't Greece sticking with Trinchieri?

"We had very good a preparation and believe me, I believe that with most of the players, I had a very, very good and clear positive relationship and really it was a great experience," Trinchieri said.

"We were not lucky. We did make some mistakes, but who does not?

"France lost to Germany at the opening and now they have the gold medal. So, you also need some good things happening in the right moment. We did not have that."

If one looks back at Greece's campaign, the team's fortunes appeared to take a turn for the worse when Trinchieri lost his most important player, Vassilis Spanoulis, for Group D games against Turkey and Italy.

After playing the first two games and helping the Greeks look like a well-oiled machine, the Olympiacos star had to sit and watch.

The squad fell out of its rhythm.

Trinchieri's team ended up beating Turkey but losing to Italy and, despite Spanoulis' return, to Finland.

They won against Spain in the next round but fell to hosts Slovenia and Croatia.

"It was not meant to be," Trinchieri said.

So the response from Greece seems to be the silent treatment for the coach they believed in so much in last year.

Trinchieri is not bitter with how things have turned out.

He says the summer was an enriching one.

"I was glad [to take part]," he said, "It was a great experience. I learned a lot. I gave all of myself but it was not enough.

"When I look in the mirror at myself, I feel sad for the result but really, I know that we tried."

His time in charge, Trinchieri says, is only going to help him.

"It's a tournament where one possession changes the story, one call, one loose ball, one injury, it's so compressed, so many games in just a few days that really, you need first of all not to be favorite. As underdog, it's always better."

So, unless Greece have a change of heart and re-open the channels of communication, Trinchieri will not have the letters HELLAS on his shirt again.

He would certainly enjoy the opportunity to coach a national side again, though.

"Of course," he said.

"I like to coach a national team because you really can ask a little more. Because when you are in a club, your job is to blend all the ingredients that you have from the United States, from Greece, from Serbia, from Russia.

"There [with the national team], you start from a higher level looking to be united. And you play for something different because there is no money involved.

"You really play for the pleasure to stay together, you have to find the best chemistry possible without looking at names."

One of Trinchieri's strengths, or at least a quality that endears him to the media and the fans, is his sense of humor, something that was evident when he was asked about being named Eurocup Coach of the Year.

He laughed and said: "It's a curse because no Coach of the Year has won the competition. Can I get back to you? Or can I give it to you and you take it home?"

Is there a bonus coming his way from Unics after capturing the prestigious honor, curse or no curse?

"No [bonus], maybe a kick [laughs again]."

FIBA