Johannes Voigtmann opens up about his first season in Milan and Mirotic's addition / News - Basketnews.com

The German big man shared his thoughts about his first season in Milan, the arrival of Nikola Mirotic, and the next season's goals for the Italian powerhouse

Credit: Erikas Ovčarenko Credit Erikas Ovčarenko

Johannes Voigtmann's first season with Italian powerhouse EA7 Emporio Armani Milan wasn't easy. In the first part of the season, the German big struggled to perform at the level he was supposed to and often ended up out of Ettore Messina's rotations.

Johannes Voigtmann

Position:PFAge:30Height:211 cmWeight:114 kgBirth place:GermanyProfileNewsStatistics

However, in the second part of the season, especially after the arrival of Shabazz Napier, the German player found his form and regained an important role inside the team, forcing Brandon Davies out of the playoff rotations in the Italian league.

Voigtmann, now preparing for the World Cup with the German NT, gave an interview to basketball.de in which he talked about his first season in Milan and what the future looks like for him and the Italian side.

"For me, personally, it was particularly difficult at the beginning, right after EuroBasket," Voigtmann confessed. "I didn't play well at the beginning of the season, and then I got out of the rotations."

"Obviously, it was disappointing, but I fought to get out of that situation, and when I went back on the court, and everything started to work again, it was really satisfying," he added.

Voigtmann explained that Milan's season wasn't a good one overall, although winning the Italian league made it less disappointing in the end. But the German big man feels that the expectations weren't satisfied by the team.

"If you look only at the final part, it was good. Winning the Italian league was reassuring, but if you look at the entire season, it wasn't a positive one", Voigtmann explained. "In EuroLeague, we couldn't find lineups that really worked for us, and with losses piling up, we began to lose rhythm."

"Shots weren't falling, and that influenced the whole team; we got caught up in this vortex. When Napier joined the team, the situation improved considerably, but in the end, it wasn't enough to get to the playoffs," Voigtmann continued.

The big man also expressed his thoughts about the addition of Nikola Mirotic, who signed a three-year deal with Olimpia Milan, becoming one of the star additions of the summer transfer market.

"If we want to win the EuroLeague, we need good players. Having one of the best power forwards in Europe will definitely help," Voigtmann noted. "But obviously, it'll be interesting to see how things will develop, we have a lot of bigs in our roster, let's see how it's gonna work."

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