Dispossessed by Real Madrid in the semi-final series of the playoffs of the Endesa League, with an expressive 3-0, Barça coach Roger Grimau came to the fore with his head bowed, very downcast. That’s why he couldn’t articulate a clear answer when they questioned him about his continuity. “It’s a bad time and I have to reflect, think; I need time to analyze everything more fully. But I’m not an idiot. The season has not been good. So as of now I don’t know,” he noted. He was aware that Barça had gone blank in the season, a record that had not happened for four seasons. Juan Carlos Navarro, manager of the basketball area, gave him the clue: “Now I can’t answer if it will continue or not. “Not everything has been the coach, but we will surely change something because this has not worked, because the objectives have not been reached.” Six days later the situation has become clearer: Grimau has been fired immediately, ignoring the year of his remaining contract.
Grimau was the bet of the sports area when last summer it was decided not to renew Jasikevicius, who asked for a very high contract for a club that was forced to reduce the salary mass of the locker room by 20%, burdened by debts and by the Fair playfinancial. The franchise player left along with the coach, a Mirotic who also did not pay attention to the economic situation of the entity. The board and even President Laporta are enthusiastic about getting another Guardiola -the bet on football that worked so well for him in his first term-, everyone agreed that Grimau would be the solution. But the budget cut and the poor judgment in the signing of the star player – Willy Hernangómez arrived and has not been able to steal the starting position from Vesely – has led to a very gray season, as the team finished third in the Regular League of the ACB, thrown out of the Super Cup and the Cup final by Madrid, also derailed from the Final Four of the Euroleague in the fifth game of the quarterfinals against Olympiacos, now beaten by Madrid in the playoffs. “The team has shown that we have played very good basketball at times. But we haven’t arrived. I am the coach and the person responsible,” Grimau accepted.
The coach, who was a Barça player for eight seasons (2003-2011), returned to Barça as a base coach until reaching the reserve team. Last year he made the step up to the first team. “I don’t want to be a coach, what I want is to be Barça coach,” he said when they offered him the position. But he didn’t last long. A course in which he has played 84 matches, empty of titles. “HeFC Barcelonawants to publicly express its gratitude to Roger Grimau for the professionalism, commitment and dedicationthat he has shown in front of the Barcelona bench. The Palau Blaugrana will always be his home,” read the official statement from the Barça team.
Movements are also expected in the locker room, since it is known that Kalinic and Jokubaitis will not continue, nor will Nnaji. Although, according to what they say from the halls of the sports city, there will be more changes. For now, in any case, the one that is urgent is the one on the bench. On pole is a problem. The same does not happen with Jaka Lakovic, also a former Barça player, who manages Gran Canaria and who has a clause of 300,000 euros. Another name that is heard is Dimitris Itoudis, a Greek coach who has coached, among others, CSKA Moscow. He will soon fill the void.
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