The Italian coach spoke to the media at the club’s training complex
Ettore Messina excited about Milan’s signings: ‘We have a group who can deliver’
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6 Lesezeit
Entering his seventh season in charge of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, head coach Ettore Messina is delighted with the summer business he and general manager Christos Stavropoulos achieved.
Milan enters the 2025-26 with six new faces on the roster, having brought in Marko Guduric, Lorenzo Brown, Devin Booker, Bryant Dunston and a pair of players who will make their EuroLeague debuts next season in Vlatko Cancar and Quinn Ellis.
“We identified areas where we needed to improve,” Messina told the assembled media at Milan’s training complex. “These days, everyone hopes to have a team that wants to pass the ball and defend, and above all, that shows mental toughness. We often had this quality, but we didn't always have it last year. Now we think we have a group of people who can deliver these qualities.”
One player who has really caught the eye so far in training camp is Brown, who arrives with six seasons of EuroLeague experience and a EuroBasket gold medal to his name. Overall, Coach Messina is more than happy with the guard options he has at his disposal.
“Lorenzo Brown is a player who has always given us a lot of trouble,” Messina said. “He has always put himself forward by playing very well against us, so we are happy to have him here. And a player like Quinn Ellis has a great future ahead of him. Nico Mannion had a good summer and got off to a good start, and I'm happy to have [Diego] Flaccadori.
“With this abundance of options, we can think about playing Brown two out of three games, for example, considering the schedule, knowing that given his experience and charisma in the EuroLeague, he will be our starting point guard. But both Ellis and Mannion can play with him because he has the stature to do so.
“Nowadays, the point guard is not the one who carries the ball forward and calls the plays; he also has to play without the ball in his hands. The key is not to get stuck on a label. So far, Ellis has done well. We are convinced that he can have an immediate impact in the EuroLeague, and we are trying to help him succeed.”
Fresh off winning the EuroLeague championship with Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul last season, Milan’s move for Guduric certainly caught many by surprise, yet Messina is eager to stress the importance of rotation in order to ensure that elder statesmen on the team’s roster are primed for a strong end to the season.
“Zach LeDay, for example, had a great season last year but suffered a physical decline after February,” he explained. “We also want to protect Marko Guduric and [Josh] Nebo. It's impossible to expect a small number of players to keep going for so many games without injuries. We'll try to have a team that can be as efficient as possible.”
Speaking of Nebo, Milan will be hoping that he can put the injury struggles he had last season behind him and join forces with new signing Booker to form one of the most dominant center rotations in the EuroLeague. Behind them will be another new addition in Dunston, who at 39 and with two EuroLeague championships in his back pocket will be there to impart his wisdom on the team
“Josh Nebo is an added value for us, in the sense that he will be as soon as he is back to 100 percent because right now we are managing him gradually,” Messina said. “The hope is that he won't have all the injuries and problems he had last year. But having a player like Booker behind him and also Dunston, who still has a lot of basketball to give, as well as incredible leadership in the locker room, makes us think we have our backs covered.”
One player who has caused plenty of intrigue is Cancar, having been with the Denver Nuggets for the last five years but been limited to just 148 games in that time due to injuries – an average of just under 30 games per season, well below the 82 NBA teams have to play in the regular season. But given his undoubted talent, Coach Messina felt confident to take a risk on the 28-year-old Slovenian forward.
“When I was in Treviso, Maurizio Gherardini adopted the philosophy of finding players to regenerate so that they could play at a high level for a few years,” he stated. “Cancar has enormous potential and proved it before he got injured. It seems to us that he is recovering well, and we think he can return to being the player he was. He is still young, and we want to help him because he would then be a very important player.”
Messina was also asked about his future as his contract comes to an end at the end of the 2025-26 campaign, but that is a topic he wants to put on the back burner this season.
“Right now, what my future holds, where I'll be, isn't important in the sense that I don't want it to become a distraction for the team, so it's a topic we'll come back to at the end of the season,” he said. “As a group, we weren't geniuses after winning three championships in a row, and it wasn't all bad after a season in which we fell short of the goals we had set for ourselves.
“We know we need to regain confidence and earn the support of the fans, and we will try to do that step by step. This is the toughest season for any EuroLeague team because it will be a season with so many double rounds. The clubs that have the most cohesion and manage to be united not only in good times but also in bad times will have a better chance of getting where they want to be.”