"Melo is my mom's favorite player, he's not for sale"

Basketball CSKA was able to defend the title of VTB United League champion, defeating Zenit in six matches (4-2) in a stubborn confrontation. According to Andrey Vatutin, president of the Army, it was the most competitive series in the history of the tournament. In an interview with Izvestia and Sport-Express, we discussed the game of the 2024 Olympic medalist Alexa Avramovich, Andreas Pistiolis' first full season as a mentor, and the future of the team, which could change dramatically in the summer.

The role of Pistiolis is very important and significant

— Before the start of the season and before the start of the final series, you said that Zenit was the favorite. How did we manage to beat the blue-white-blues in six finals matches?

— First of all, the character helped us. Despite the loss of one of the leaders (Nikita Kurbanov broke his arm in the semifinal series with UNICS), the guys showed outstanding fighting qualities. This was especially noticeable in the previous game in St. Petersburg. When we were down by 13 points with seven minutes to go and made an incredible comeback. It was a key moment in the series. We already won the sixth game without question. Congratulations to our fans and I want to thank them for their incredible support. Not only in the sixth match and the final series as a whole, but throughout the season. You've always been there for the team.

Let me also remind you that this is the second cup for us this season. We took the Super Bowl earlier.

— No one has ever done such a winning double before.

— Yes, there was a belief that the team that wins the Super Bowl loses the championship. We reset it (laughs).

— Is Andreas Pistiolis the central figure of this victory?

— I think it's very important and significant. I'm happy for Andreas. This is his first full-fledged season at CSKA and immediately so successful. There are so many central figures here that it can take a very long time to list. Therefore, I will say that the most important thing is that we had a real team. Everyone has contributed to this championship. Some are bigger, some are smaller. Thanks to everyone — doctors, massage therapists, coaching staff, office. Well done, everyone.

— In the final episode, there is always a character from the role-playing players who becomes a hero. Was it Livio Jean-Charles this time?

— Livio played an outstanding second half of the fifth match, which, as I said above, was decisive. He's a great guy. But we can also talk about other guys. How Ivan Ukhov came out to play in the first match after only a few training sessions with the team (the defender spent about two weeks in the hospital with a serious illness. — Ed.). How Anton Astapkovich held back Bacon the whole series. How Casper Ware and Melo Trimble kept us in the game all the time with their accurate hits. What a great game Amat Mbye and Tony Jackiri played on both ends of the court. We had our heroes in every match.

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CSKA has never been a one-player team

— Was the decision to keep the champion's backbone last summer difficult?

— Why change something if everything is working fine? Considering that we defended the championship, it means that everything was done correctly. The result is the main thing. Unfortunately, it won't be possible to do this this offseason for various reasons that I don't want to mention yet.

— So the fans will have a serious restructuring of the squad in the summer?

— I'm not ready to talk about it yet. Let's at least enjoy the championship a little bit.

— How did the information from the European media about the departure of Alexa Avramovich to Dubai, Amat Mbaya to Paris, and the alleged negotiations between CSKA and Nenad Dimitrievich affect the team?

— We work in an environment that is full of rumors. Of various kinds. There is no need to react to them. I am very glad that the team managed to get away from the news and stay focused on basketball.

— Before the start of the season, you told our publication about Avramovich: "With all due respect to his talent, he is a piece of the puzzle that should help create an overall picture of the team. There is no need for over-expectations and excitement from signing Alexa." Are you happy with him?

— This is the championship season. Like everyone else, he had good games, but they weren't very good. The most important thing is that Alexa gave herself 100% to her work. There was never a moment when he didn't give his best in games or in training. On the contrary, maybe he was trying too hard to prove himself. It's hard to come to a club of this level and spend the whole season straight away. So I want to say a big thank you to him for his contribution.

— The Serb leaves CSKA on a positive note...

— The two titles speak for themselves. If he didn't score 30 points, let others score them. The main thing is that our club wins. I would like to emphasize that CSKA has never been a one-player team. Even when we had stars like Shishkauskas, Teodosic, De Colo, and Rodriguez... And we want it to always be like this.

— Melo Trimble went down in the history of the VTB League as the man who won the Playoff MVP award twice in a row (the second after Milos Teodosic, who took this prize twice). He has a contract for next year, but won't he be bought out after such performances?

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— I have had and still have many offers from Euroleague clubs regarding Melo. But because he's my mom's favorite player, he's not for sale.

— Is this victory emotionally equivalent to success in the Euroleague?

— Yes, because we've been going to see her for a whole year. We weren't favorites for the final episode, so my answer is yes.

And here I would like to express my great respect to my rivals. In my opinion, it was the most competitive playoff in the history of the VTB League. Especially the ending. Zenit deserved the final victory as much as we did. But we were stronger in some specific games. I repeat, they have an incredibly strong team, which won the regular season without any questions, took three of our four matches in the championship. Therefore, I really hope that the fundamental rivalry between CSKA and Zenit will continue.