The Lokomotiv Kuban captain spoke straightly about the inconsistency of his results, the search for team chemistry, the responsibility of a captain, and his belief that Loko is capable of turning the situation around.
- The team is having a tough season. Loko lost almost all games to the Top 4 teams except the one with Zenit when they had a lot of injuries. Loko struggles with underdogs. What can you say about this as a team captain?
- We had a lot of changes, new guys came, the coach got fired, people's roles changed… These ain't no excuses but it's just like we are still trying to figure out what team we're gonna be. We don't have any consistency so the things we're trying to work on and focus on with the new coach being here… We're trying to focus on defense because we cannot rebound every game so I think that's a big part of it. It starts with that. This season, we always had effort. I feel like we had effort in a lot of games other than we lost to CSKA by 40 points, and the last one with Zenit. Just by being consistent, it's a struggle. That's a long basketball season. It just takes one game at a time. Then we get some consistency going and then we could turn it around. That's all it takes.
- This season Loko won only one clutch game, against Nizhny. Why?
- You said only one clutch win? Wow. Chemistry, you know. Focus, attention to detail. Last year everybody knew what they had to do, who were the guys to win the games for the team. There were a lot of games we won last year like this. So I feel like it'll happen eventually. We have 21 games in or something like that, the season is not over, and it could turn around so fast. We can get a win streak going and we won't be talking about this any more. We can start just showing some consistency.
- What can you say about the mood in the team? Are there any conflicts?
- Everyone is okay with each other. The chemistry I feel off the court has always been better than we show on the court. All the guys get along, everybody's happy… Well, not happy that we're losing, but you know there’s no negativity and no bad body language around. So I just feel like we got to transit that to the court. The mood is serious since we got to win games. Tomorrow is a big game and then we have another big one at home, so I feel like if we could win these two games we could turn the season around.
- Do you feel like Loko doesn't have enough team playing and sometimes you guys play too selfishly?
- Maybe I just think it's our sets, you know, maybe it's our play calls. It may look like we play individually and selfishly, but I don't think anybody on this team is selfish. Everybody's just trying to figure out how they can help the team and maybe sometimes that looks like everybody is looking for themselves. I just think everybody wants to win and we just have to figure out how we can all come together. Maybe different lineups, different players playing with different other players.
- In the first month of championship you made it in the Team of the Week three times, but not even once after that. Why?
- Like I said, roles change. We got six foreigners now, and I was told my job is not to score, so I'm trying to pass, to get the team involved. I know my game is scoring and passing, but I was told I don't need to focus on scoring, so I know I ain't making no shots right now, and the little shots that I am taking, I feel like earlier I was more dependent on to make shots. If I miss some, the team will come back to me to pick the team up. So now I don't have that road, I feel like. And so I'm trying to find myself now and figure out how I can help the team. So I'm gonna continue to get people involved, try to have my energy, especially on the defensive end. But I feel like I do need to be more involved in the scoring aspect of our team. So I feel like if I score and we win, that's how I feel. And so I'm trying to figure it out myself. I know a lot of people saying that and I feel that way too. But I'm trying to figure it out. So hopefully I can figure it out and change some things and I can get back going and then we can get some wins.
- How can you compare yourself now and yourself from the previous playoffs?
- Two different players. I had the swagger last year. I had that swagger coming into the season. I started it like you said with 3 Team of the Week. Maybe my role is not to be on the Team of the Week no more, but I feel like I need to be for us to have some success. Other people don't see it that way so I think I just got to play my game, go through what I'm going and try to fight my way out of it. So hopefully tomorrow I’ll play good. I want to show that I'm still who I was last year because I know I'm still the same player ain't nothing changed. I just got to show it and hopefully the team wants me to show it.
- What's your first impression of the new coach and of what he brings to the game?
- Teaching I think we needed this. It's like preseason for us, he brings teaching, discipline, and control. He’s got a passion about it, he wants us to execute, play hard, play physically. I love that and I think it's helping the team. I know it didn't show the last game, but we’re still working. That was his first game coaching us, so now we just got to build off what he wants us to do, and believe in it. I love what he brings to the team, and we just gotta show it. Like I said, hopefully I could get back to my game and then help the team win and make him happy.
- In case Loko loses tomorrow, they will fall in the middle of the table. What can you say to fans about that?
- I don't plan on losing tomorrow. But like you said, luck hasn't been on our side so far this season. So if we lose tomorrow we got to shake it off because then we got Sunday. The season is still early, we are supposed to go through some lumps. I think we're gonna be a team that peaks at the end of the season. What matters the most is the playoffs. Everybody's panicking now, but it wouldn’t matter if we show a different team when the playoffs come. So we want to fight, we want to win for the fans of course, because they support us and just keep believing. Like we don't give up I hope they don't give up.
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