Olimpia changes skin. Poet, call of “home“

The Scudetto has returned to Juventus after the seasons of Milanese domination, but there is already a great desire to sew it back on the chest next season. In reality, Olimpia's market continues under the radar with moves yet to be announced, interesting leads to follow, contracts to be resolved and rules to be respected. The bombshell of the last few days is the one regarding the bench, given that the rumour that sees a return home for Pepe Poet (already assistant in Olimpia from 2022 to 2024) who surprised everyone in his rookie season in Brescia for results, but also empathy and cohesion with the group. The most reliable voices say that the proposal would be for a season as assistant becoming the designated "dolphin" of Ettore Messina who from 2026 would only dedicate himself to managerial tasks. The plots of this situation could be clearer next week, it is not completely excluded that the handover from Head Coach could even happen this summer. In the meantime, Olimpia has also said goodbye to coach Stefano Bizzozero after 19 seasons, one of the collaborators of the first team and recent Under 15 Italian champion. Next season he will go to be the assistant at Urania Milano in A2. Francesco Cuzzolin, the head of the athletic performance team for the last 4 seasons, is also leaving, who will probably be replaced by the Greek Kostas Chatzichristos, arriving from Fenerbahce. In the players department there is the certainty of the arrival of Marko Guduric, the Serbian winger who, after winning the Euroleague, is playing the final in Türkiye and can only be announced after the end of the competition.

Then Quinn Ellis who will arrive from Trento to bring verve to the control room with the great plus of counting, despite his English nationality, as an Italian by training given that he arrived very young in Capo d'Orlando at just 16 years old. Another playmaker could also arrive from Turkey who would return to give personality to the role after the difficulties of this season, Darius Thompson, this year one of the leaders of Efes, among other things an Italian passport by marriage and deployable as an Italian if called up to the national team for the European Championships. The 1995 playmaker this year has traveled at 9.5 points and 4.5 assists and has played for two seasons in Italy in Brindisi. It would be a great coup for coach Messina's control who will terminate the contract in place with Nenad Dimitirjevic and must always keep in mind that 6 good quality Italians are needed to deploy in the national championship (the 2007 Garavaglia seems headed to Reggio Emilia). Just yesterday the 20 teams that will participate in the Euroleague with 38 regular season games to play were made official. There will be 10 double midweek rounds that will make the competition increasingly complex, it will start on September 30, before the Serie A championship which is scheduled to start on the weekend of October 4-5, while the trophy will be lifted by the European champions on May 24 in a city yet to be defined. And the final for 3rd place has been abolished, which made Olimpia smile bitterly in 2021 when it won against CSKA.