United League runners-up Kazan UNICS recently completed their pre-season training. spoke to Kazan club president Evgeny Bogachev about how the team is preparing for the championship.
From the interview you will learn:
Our conversation with Evgeniy Borisovich took place three days after his birthday. Bogachev is 83 years old, but he is still cheerful, energetic and works almost around the clock.
— Evgeny Borisovich, how did you celebrate your birthday? Did you receive many congratulations?
— Yes, and it surprises me, because it would seem that over the years there should be a decrease in interest, but there are still many guests (laughs). And many came to UNICS to congratulate. I received many telegrams, including from the government. My friends do not forget me and actively cooperate with me, and I feel young. It is very nice. It is tiring, of course, but it is normal.
— How do you stay so energetic?
“I just don’t notice age: work, work and more work! I already have 60 years of professional experience, I’m on my 61st. When you work, time flies by and you don’t notice it. You need to look in the mirror less and everything will be fine (laughs). I agree with the saying that if you don’t think about age, then it doesn’t exist at all.”
I have a normal lifestyle: I don’t follow a diet or a daily routine, I sleep little, I don’t chase fashion, I just work. But discipline has always been a priority for me.
“Kulagin became captain because Russian players listen to him and foreigners treat him with respect”
— Let’s talk about UNICS. Unlike a number of United League clubs, you abandoned the pre-season training camps in Turkey and stayed to train at home. Why?
— To some extent, this represents a cost saving. The second point is that we are not ready to go, since our players have only slowly gathered and passed a medical examination. Three out of six foreigners have now participated in friendly matches. In other words, at this stage of the pre-season, we are not yet ready to play with strong Turkish clubs and the costs will be high.
In addition, in early September in St. Petersburg we will participate in the Kondrashin and Belov Cup. This is also a very good preparation. And then the VTB United League Super Cup will take place in Moscow: in addition to our leading teams, Serbian Crvena Zvezda and Turkish Besiktas will play there. In general, we went this way: cheap and nice.
— Recently, Dmitry Kulagin was appointed captain of UNICS. Will he make a good captain?
— Recently our captain was Vyacheslav Zaitsev, who left the club in the off-season.
Among Russians, I think Dmitry Kulagin is a leader. I wanted to see a Russian player as a captain. The captain must be both patriotic and able to raise the morale of the team. And Kulagin is a very experienced player, plus he has charisma and character. The players of the Russian team listen to him, and foreigners treat him with great respect. Needless to say, Dmitry’s school is good: he played at CSKA, Lokomotiv and Zenit. He is the most prepared player. But Jalen Reynolds seems eager to become co-captain.
– That’s to say?
— Let’s make him a lieutenant for foreign players. I’m joking. They just told me that today at nine in the morning he came to train alone, individually. Such zeal can only please. And it is clear that the team occupies a very important place for him.
What will happen will be clear, but it depends a lot on the mood in the locker room. This is the precise role of the captain. It is very important to prepare for victory. And we need a victory.
“Our team is not worse than last season. Somehow even better”
— And the goal of the season is to win the United League?
– Yes, of course. Such a task is obviously worth it. As they say, man proposes, but God disposes…
I must say that among the championship rivals, CSKA has strengthened very well. Zenit has also strengthened. Of course, victories in the coming season will not be easy. But it will be very interesting for the audience. And overall, I think the season promises to be interesting and intense. There will be more matches in this championship, and with this we will compensate for the fact that we are not currently participating in the Euroleague.
— UNICS has completed the recruitment of its team for the season. How satisfied are you?
— Of course, we miss Dimitrievich, who left for Milan. But we took Akun-Purcell from Lokomotiv. I think he is a strong enough player. And we kept the core of foreigners. Judging by the friendly matches, Bako is very good. Louis Laberie will soon be back in action. He underwent a minor operation in the summer. He is already there and is about to start working.
In general, our lineup from last season is 90% the same. And besides, we reinforced it with very good Russian players. In addition, Belenitsky stayed with us. Stulenkov is getting back in shape. Komolov received a lot of treatment last year, but now he looks very fit. Our team is not worse than last year. Somewhere even better. As long as there are no injuries.
— One of the biggest news of the offseason was the self-appointment of Lokomotiv-Kuban president Andrei Vedishchev as the team’s head coach. Did this surprise you much?
— I think Vedischev can afford it. At one time he was a very prominent basketball player, a top player. In addition, he knows his team very well and trains Russian players. He also trained his two sons. He is very experienced in these matters.
By the way, this is not the first such case in our basketball. The late Vladimir Rodionov from Avtodor also repeatedly appointed himself as the team’s head coach.
In general, it certainly won’t make things worse for Lokomotiv. Vedischev is a very experienced manager and, I repeat, he was a good player. If I were younger, perhaps in a difficult situation, I would also experiment (laughs). Although I am not a basketball player, over all these years many subtleties have been revealed to me. Sometimes I don’t exactly give advice, but when analyzing certain moments I can also give some recommendations to the coach.
In addition, Vedischev has many advantages over many coaches who come from somewhere in Europe: the coach needs more time to study the team, but Vedischev knows the soul of the player, knows how each of his basketball players lives and can organize in the right way. He knows all this well. So it will be an interesting experience.
— If you were younger, could you really take charge of the team in a difficult situation?
— Before, when our match was not going well, I would go down (today they are not allowed to be near the coaches, it had to be indicated in the application, but before it was possible) and I would give myself some advice. And most of the time, we won.
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Source : MatchTV

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