Ettore Messina reacts to Milan's positive trend, shares biggest regret of the season / News - Basketnews.com

In an interview with Il Corriere della Sera, Italian head coach Ettore Messina reacted to the positive moment that his team is living, admitting that he might have put too much pressure on the players at the beginning of the season.

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Italian powerhouse Emporio Armani Milan has been in great form recently. They've won their last six games in the EuroLeague and remain in the mix for a chance to get a playoff spot.

Since the arrival of Shabazz Napier, Milan has yet to lose a game between EuroLeague and the Italian league.

The addition of the former Zenit player has produced positive effects for the Italian club, but it's also important to remind that the team has now recovered two key players, Kevin Pangos and Shavon Shields, who had both been out for an extended period of time with injuries.

Despite the positive momentum, Ettore Messina, the head coach of Milan, tried to maintain a rational approach, as he revealed in an interview with Il Corriere della Sera.

"What does this positive momentum mean? It means that, most likely, we weren't as bad as we looked in the first part of the season, and we're not as good as we have been in the past few weeks," the Italian head coach said. "We'll lose other games, and we'll win some other ones. Let's just hope that we'll be able to win the most important ones."

The Italian head coach explained that one of the main differences in his team now is that there's more stability in the backcourt, with more options available.

"Napier had a good impact on the team, mostly because with his presence, everyone else was able to return to play in their normal roles," Messina stated. "Pangos came back from the injury with a different mentality than the one he had in the first part of the season."

Some complained that Milan waited too long before signing a new point guard when Pangos was out. Messina explained the reasons behind that decision.

"In hindsight, we could have acted earlier, yes," the Italian head coach admitted. "After Christmas, Napier let us know that he was available. But we thought we could have Pangos back by the end of January. Then, unfortunately, we realized that he was going to be out for more time. In addition to that, we wanted to give Mitrou-Long more time to grow into the system."

When asked about regrets regarding this season, Olimpia Milan's head coach revealed his biggest one, which dates back to the beginning of the season.

"We have a lot of regrets, sometimes things just don't go the way you planned them. At the beginning of the season, I was the first one to say that this group was worthy of the Final Four. Maybe I've put too much pressure on the players."

"There were extremely difficult moments during the season," Messina continued. "The players were suffering because we couldn't understand why we were going through so much difficulty. I was suffering too because I knew that, when all players would have been available, this group could have been much better than it looked like."

Before joining Olimpia Milan in 2019, Ettore Messina was considered a legend in Bologna. As the head coach of Virtus, in two different stints, he had won three domestic league titles, three domestic cups, one Saporta Cup, and two EuroLeague titles.

But after he decided to join Bologna's rivals, the reputation of Messina in the city of Bologna severely worsened.

Many Virtus Bologna fans now consider Messina their No. 1 enemy. This situation has definitely had an impact on the head coach's feelings.

"I suffer a lot from this situation, but there's really nothing I can do about it," Messina explained. "I didn't betray Virtus Bologna, they never called me when I was in the States, Milan did."

"And if the fans get mad for a small tattoo that I made as a joke with my son, that's not my fault (after Olimpia Milan won the domestic league last season, Messina made a small tattoo to celebrate the event). They have the wrong mentality, and that makes me very sad," Messina concluded.

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