Brandon Taylor: "Defense is the key to winning with Virtus"

The impression is that in the individual session on Thursday - yesterday he trained with his teammates - Brandon Taylor had some sort of prompter. Or at least someone who reminded him how Dusko Ivanovic start from defense. Brandon must have learned his lesson by heart, because between one smile and another, the word defense is a concept repeated several times.

"I'm here to do my best," Brandon said. "I have to do something to help my new teammates."

Ivanovic instructed him well. But Brandon must not have had too much trouble digesting it all. "What did Dusko ask me? To think about defense, because everything starts from there."

And here's the quote that would send any coach with a little ambition into raptures.

"It's with defense that you win games. It's with defense that you maybe win the title."

With only a few games left, Brandon knows he has to give it his all and immediately. "I honestly didn't expect the call from Virtus. But when it arrived I certainly couldn't say no. If one loves the basketball must know the history of Virtus. Because Virtus is one of the most important clubs. In Italy and in Europe".

After the caress to Ivanovic, the words to excite the audience. "I know Italy because I played there. It's a fantastic country, fun. Two of my children were born right here. One in Bergamo and the other in Reggio Emilia".

Yes, Reggio. It's not that far away. And even though it was the Covid period, he took a few (legitimate) trips to Bologna. "Tortellini - he says laughing, using Italian -. Then parmesan. Here there are some dishes, starting with the pasta, that are fantastic".

But he didn't come to Bologna to eat. Brandon is a man on a mission and he knows what he has to do. "First of all I have to find the feeling, the chemistry with my teammates. Then I know very well what the goals and ambitions of a club like this are. We're talking about the Scudetto, the best there is in Italy. A goal like that doesn't scare me. But I also know that we can't achieve it with just one game. We start with Venice. And that will already be a good test. One game at a time. We know how to do it".

A graft to give a hand to Pajola and Hackett. But also to Virtus. Here is Brandon Taylor who will wear the number 11 jersey.