Brose Bamberg loses to newly-promoted Vechta and parts ways with Bagatskis

This defeat was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Brose Bamberg went down to newly-promoted RASTA Vechta by 67:85 at home in the Brose Arena on Saturday evening after a display where it lacked a concept in offense and was extremely prone to mistakes in defense. The Supervisory Board with the new Managing Director Arne Dirks drew the appropriate conclusion on Sunday evening and decided that the club would part ways with Head Coach Ainars Bagatskis and his assistant Marcello Nicola. The previous Assistant Coach Federico Perego is taking over as Head Coach.

The encounter against league newcomers RASTA Vechta is a perfect illustration of what has gone wrong in Bamberg’s team under Bagatskis. “We analyzed Vechta’s aggressive style of play in training,” stated Bagatskis after the game. Yet all the same, the experienced Bamberg team failed to come up with a concept to counter the visitors’ tough defending. Vechta also forced the home side to concede 21 turnovers with its permanent aggressive defending with two men covering the Bamberg player with the ball. And anyone expecting Head Coach Bagatskis to adapt his team to this defense in the course of the game and dictating different offensive systems in his timeouts was to be disappointed. With a few exceptions, such as in the win over Champions League title holders AEK Athens just five days previously, Bamberg’s defense under Bagatskis has been treading water since the start off the season. Vechta repeatedly scored easy points – all too often, the visitors were able to stroll through the opposing side’s defense and add lay-ups. The prime example of the defense under Bagatskis is the 3-point field goal percentage of its opponents: Vechta also drained a hefty 13 buckets from outside, a shooting percentage of 47 that even surpassed its own much lower average for the season (29.8%). The story of the game is quickly told: Bamberg trailed 2:10 after just three minutes and 24:48 at half-time. Vechta was able to open up a 55:81 gap with five minutes remaining, before Bamberg was able to put a better complexion on the final score. The top scorer despite a desolate display in defense was Stevan Jelovac (20 points), while Augustine Rubit notched up 16 and Tyrese Rice 12.

Brose Bamberg then parted ways with Head Coach Bagatskis and his assistant Nicola on Sunday evening. Managing Director Arne Dirks commented: “The Supervisory Board and management are not happy at how the team has performed over the past weeks. The game against Vechta showed clearly that we not only need an offense that scores points, but also an effective defense once more and above all a clear system.” Former Assistant Coach Federico Perego will now take over as Head Coach, while Dominik Günthner, who hails from Bamberg, will remain Assistant Coach, but with a larger sphere of responsibility. Stefan Weissenböck (Head of Player Development) and Sandro Bencardino (Athletic Coach) will remain in the coaching team, but from now on will be more involved in daily training work and its composition. Dirks added: “Federico Perego and Dominik Günthner are very experienced despite their young age and over the past years both have acquired an intimate knowledge of the DNA that make our club so special.” Federico Perego now has a major goal in his first post as a Head Coach: “My team and I will do all we can to get Brose back to where it should be. We want to return to the style of Bamberg basketball that inspires our fans and partners.”