2022-2023 season: moment of truth for the Roca Team

De gauche à droite : Adrien Moerman et Yakuba Ouattara, joueurs de l’AS Monaco Basket, Patrice Cellario, Conseiller de Gouvernement-Ministre de l’Intérieur, Oleksiy Yefimov, Directeur Général de l’AS Monaco Basket, Sasa Obradovic, entraîneur de l’AS Monaco Basket et Jordan Loyd, joueur de l’AS Monaco Basket. © Direction de la Communication – Manuel Vitali

On Tuesday, the directors, players, and staff of A.S. Monaco Basket faced the media at the pre-season press conference.  The event was organised two days before the Roca Team was due to head off to Bormio (Italy) for its traditional early season training camp.

The Minister of Interior, Patrice Cellario was in attendance, alongside Oleksiy Yefimov, General Manager of AS Monaco Basket, Sasa Obradovic, Head Coach of the Roca Team, new signings Adrien Moerman and Jordan Loyd, and Yakuba Ouattara, in his 7^th season in the Red & White jersey. The Minister declared: “Sport is an important part of the Principality’s DNA, and when, in a sporting discipline, you have players who have shone like the Roca Team has for several years, it becomes almost easy to provide them with all the support they deserve to shine even brighter at the very top level of European basketball. The team’s success raises the Principality’s profile on the European sports scene”.

On the court, the forthcoming 2022-2023 season promises to be a crucial one for the Roca Team in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague – Europe’s top basketball championship - after a remarkable 2021-2022 campaign that saw them reach match 5 in the playoffs against Olympiacos. In the domestic Betclic ELITE championship, the Monegasque club will be aiming to win the title for the first time in its history.

“It’s a great pleasure to be participating in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague for the second consecutive year and taking on the biggest sides in Europe. I hope the fans will be as excited as I am to see this new-look team.  I am convinced this team will be stronger than last season’s. It certainly looks that way on paper, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on the coach. He’s a strong personality who loves a challenge, and I am sure he will be up to the task. I would like to thank the Prince’s Government for all the efforts made to renovate the Salle Gaston Médecin and increase the capacity”, said Oleksiy Yefimov, General Manager of AS Monaco Basket.

Questions for Sasa Obradovic, Roca Team Head Coach

How are you approaching this new season in the Principality?

With plenty of ambition, high expectations, and a formidable new team, we believe we can take another step forward in creating a team story. I think we have a better team than last year, and the task now is to find the right chemistry to win matches. Promoting young players where possible, getting the maximum out of each individual, and making our fans happy throughout the season.

You have managed to hold on to several key players from last season, whilst adding some big name recruits. How would you describe your squad?

I think we have a good mixture of experience and youth, French and overseas players, guys who are ready to play together and make sacrifices for each other. It was important to keep the core of the team which did an excellent job last year. Continuity is one of the main requirements if we are going to improve our game.

What will be the Roca Team’s objective for its second season in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague?

Next year, the Euroligue will be very strong and competitive, and there will be quite a few teams with a chance of qualifying for the play-offs. We should have plenty of room for improvement at the start, and we will need to keep setting ourselves little goals every day, so that we are better at the end of the regular season, and then the big results will come naturally. So we want to qualify for the play-offs again, to stay on track with the project and keep dreaming even bigger.

In the Betclic ELITE, is the aim to finally win that elusive title of French champions?

One of the priorities is to win the championship this year. I think we have a lot of talent and experience to do that, and hopefully we will can avoid picking up injuries all year, and especially late in the season when everything counts double. If we can, we have a big chance.