Ettore Messina on young players: 'If you need a diaper, you can't stay on the court' / News - Basketnews.com

Olimpia Milan's season is about to begin and coach Ettore Messina spoke to the reporters. He had some interesting words about his relationship with young players

Credit: ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix Credit ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix

Several EuroLeague teams are beginning their preparation work for the upcoming season. Italian powerhouse Olimpia Milan is among them and today Ettore Messina answered the questions of the reporters after a practice session.

During this round of questions, the Italian head coach, who's also the president of the basketball operations of the team, had some interesting words about his relationship with young players.

"Now I'm going to take a pebble out of my shoe, something that makes me smile a little bit, and a little bit makes me mad. There are a lot of people who say I don't play young people, but when I coached the national team I played Coldebella, Binelli, and Marconato. At Virtus I used Ginobili, Jaric, and Nesterovic a lot but also Smodis and Andersen. I gave minutes to Bargnani, I made Kurbanov play 20 minutes in the EuroLeague final", Messina explained.

"I use the young players, the good ones", the Italian head coach continued. "But it's not only a matter of talent. Maybe the young players that I have right now in Milan aren't as good as the other players I mentioned before but I have the feeling that they can stay on the court with a good personality".

"The real difference maker is the personality", Messina stated. "If you go on the court, you make two mistakes and then you start acting all scared just because the coach started to yell at you, it's not gonna be ok. If you need a diaper, you can't stay on the court".

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