Basketball player Olivier Hanlan should be a quality reinforcement for CSKA but fans should not see him as a player who will solve all problems, the president of the Moscow club told . Andrei Vatutin .
On Friday, CSKA announced the signing of a contract with 31-year-old Canadian defender Olivier Hanlan. The basketball player’s last club was the Italian Varese.
— In what way do you consider the signing of Olivier Hanlan as a qualitative reinforcement?
— Since the summer, coaches and management have studied and examined more than a hundred candidates, selected those they preferred, but all of them, with more or less success, continued to wait for a chance to enter into the NBA since the G-League. . In general, after some changes in the status of the G-League, an increase in the level of salaries and other changes, the process of inviting players to Europe has become noticeably more complicated. Of course, that’s a topic for another discussion, but I can’t help but note that the NBA has taken some pretty effective steps to protect its “second” tournament.
Somehow it didn’t work out with Barton, we kept working and Hanlan seems to be the best possible solution today. At the same time, I ask the fans not to see the Messiah in the newcomer – at this stage of the season and with the current financial capabilities of the club, inviting a player who will “close” all problems is simply impossible. It was important for us to have a quality basketball player who would add depth to the rotation and help us score points. We hope that the offensive rhythm that Hanlan adopted in the Italian championship will be maintained in Russia. This is a big challenge for him, because before CSKA Olivier never played in teams competing for serious tasks, did not play under strong pressure, which he will inevitably face with us, but we believe that he will take advantage of this opportunity, that we were not wrong in our choice. I hope Hanlan will not need much time to adapt,” Vatoutine said in an interview with .
This season, Hanlan is the top scorer in the Italian league, averaging 18.7 points per game. He made 49.0% of his two-point attempts, 39.4% of his three-point attempts and 83.2% of his free throws in 20 games this season.
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Source : MatchTV
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