Adam Hanga (Budapest, 1989) is living at 36 years old in Badalona. The one who was a baskonia player between 2013 and 2017 and one of the heroes of the Final Four From the Euroleague reached by the club in 2016, he closed his career in the maximum European competition with the Red Star and returned to the ACB by the hand of the Badalona Joventut, where he has an important role again. The experienced forward, always outstanding in defensive tasks, averages 7.1 points, 4 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 23 minutes with the Catalan painting and will be this Saturday one of his references in the clash against his exequipo, vital in the fight for being in the play off.
How is his new stage in the Joventut?
Very good. Obviously, I am very happy to play ACB again, I missed it last year with the red star, although I also enjoyed my family in Belgrade. However, going back to Barcelona for us is like returning home. We live here four years and my daughters are again in the same school as during my time in Barça, so we are very happy and accustomed to life here.
And sports?
As a team I think that in ACB we have made a quite solid season. We qualified for the King Cup, which was one of our main objectives, and now we are fighting for the play off. Of course, in the Eurocup we had a little bad taste. It is evident that we did not get our goals and it was a disappointment to stay out of the qualifiers, although we have already passed the page and now things are going well. Personally, I also feel in good shape. when I am physically healthy, the sensations are unbeatable.
Do you take things more calmly now without the madness of the Euroleague calendar?
Yes, although now, for example, it becomes a bit weird. I have been playing games for so many years and just training that now since we were left out of Eurocup, the day to day is strange to me. Only one game a week becomes a little bored with so many workouts. It is true that you can take advantage of things with the team that normally when you play many games you don’t have time to prepare, but I am not used to it. In the last 10 years for me, everything was games, as we saw a video and prepare the next match.
“The Baskonia is a different club in the Euroleague, to nameless players and then sells; thus it is not easy to maintain that chemistry that Laso needs”
In the Joventut he has similar cases like those of Tomic and Pau Ribas, who arrived after a long time in the Euroleague and continue to compete at 38. Do you see your career as much as they?
Well, we’ll see it. Each situation is different. I hope I can lengthen it and continue playing at this level. It is true that I feel good, but I am going to year. Anyway, not only does it depend on me, the club also has to decide whether it wants to keep telling me or not. At the moment I have a contract for next year, so at least one more season I will continue here. Beyond, time will say. Me while I can continue helping the team in anything I would be delighted to continue in the Joventut.
Have you had to change your mentality and your way of working over the years? He has always been a very physical and aggressive player and it is not easy to maintain the level with 36 years.
At this point I know my body well. When I am well physically it shows. At the beginning of the season I had some problems with the ankle and suffered a lot. Obviously, my performance fell. When I am in a way I have always managed to handle and find the best way to help my team. I really don’t feel worse than four or five years ago. For example, in the Baskonia years, although I was younger, I felt much worse than now because I had a broken knee. Now I handle it better, I know my body well and I know what I have to do to maintain my physical tone and my muscles. That is something that also gives you the experience.
The philosophy of the Joventut squad is opposed to that of Baskonia, with veteran players of more than 30 accompanying young people of 20. How do they handle that mixture?
I think that is the team’s mentality. The Joventut has been gathering experienced players with the formation of young talent, which is the way of being of the Joventut. We want young people to grow here, to improve and we, as veterans, have the work of guiding and helping these boys outside and on the track, with words, but above all with our attitude. We have to be an example every day. They are going to look at how we work and how we have maintained this high sporting level for so many years. For me all this is a new experience because until now I have always been in teams in which the most important thing is your individual performance and win and now there are more things that we have to contribute.
“At my departure, Baskonia did the job I had to do with the Tanteo and my agents of yours, they are business and you have to understand it”
Turning to Saturday, there is only one victory between the Joventut and the Baskonia in that fight for the play off. Is it the most important encounter of what is going on?
I don’t know if the most important, but surely one of the three most important. We have been talking about it all week, we know that there is much at stake and that if we win, although not mathematically, we will be practically classified for the play offwhich has been our only goal from the Copa del Rey. Obviously, we are going to treat the game in the same way as the rest, but being aware of everything at stake.
What expected from Baskonia?
-Well, I know your situation quite well. It is not easy to play two competitions as demanding as Euroleague and ACB and Baskonia has had problems and has lost many games during the year that had to have won. Now, however, they just have to focus on ACB. The chip is changed and I think since they stayed out of the Euroleague they are competing better and winning many more matches in the ACB. It is a Euroleague team that we are going to respect a lot, but I think that this year we have played good games against the greats such as Madrid, Barcelona and Baskonia, so we trust our options at home. I await a very, very hard and physical game. This year we have always suffered when the other team plays physical, so surely the Baskonia will try to raise the physical tone and take us to the limit.
In front he will have Pablo Laso, with whom he agreed at Real Madrid. What do you think of him?
I have very good memories, I will always be very grateful to him. I arrived in Madrid after my stage at Barça and the truth is I enjoyed a lot playing for him. We played all possible endings that year and won the ACB, so he is a coach who always has very close to my heart and to whom I always want the best, except this Saturday, of course (laughs).
Adam Hanga celebrates a triple during his stage with Baskonia. ACB Photo/V. Carretero
Did you expect more from him in Baskonia?
As I said, it is not easy playing two competitions and they have also had problems with injuries. In addition, Baskonia is a team that competes a bit different from the rest of the teams in Euroleague because it does not have the same budget as them. The club tries to sign players who have no name, say, and when they stand out try to sell. Therefore, every summer there is a change of players in the squad, chemistry is also different every year and Paul needs that good chemistry. In any case, I think they have competed well and punished the calendar and double -day weeks. Now that they just have to think about ACB, they are much more dangerous.
From his stage in Vitoria, there is only Sedekerskis in the template. What do you think about its evolution?
The level he has reached speaks of his dedication, his way of working and him as a person. Tadas has worked a lot and always had that patience even when I was not playing. He knew that with the work his moment was going to arrive and in recent decades there are not many young people who have had so much patience waiting for their time to demonstrate, so I am very proud of him. I was very young when I was in Vitoria, but it was already noted that I had a lot of talent and that with his way of working he was going to go far. Now he is the Captain of Baskonia and perfectly represents that character and the values of the club, so he is the ideal captain.
Is it still a special match for you to measure Baskonia?
Well, when they throw the ball in the air I don’t care who we are playing, I try to face all the games in the same way, but I have a lot of love for Baskonia and Vitoria. For example, I spent the last new year in Vitoria. I had three days off and we took the opportunity to visit our friends, we practically have a family there. My two daughters were born in Vitoria, so I’m always going to have a special affection for the city and for everything I lived there. I arrived from Manresa and it was in Baskonia where I transformed my game. They were four incredible years, we reached a Final Four And I really have very good memories there, so outside the track I always think of Vitoria with love. Another thing is when the game begins, there the only thing that matters is to win.
“I feel better physically than when I was in Vitoria, that I had a shattered knee; I have learned to handle my body”
What team had that season of the Final Four: Mike James, Darius Adams, Causeur, Davis Bertans, Shengelia, Bourousis …
It imposes, of course, but now it is easy to say it. When we started that season, nobody thought we were going to get there, it was said that one had no experience in the Euroleague, that the other had no level … then the chemistry we had and the way we played was fantastic, it is undoubtedly one of the years in which I have enjoyed the most and reach the Final Four It was amazing. It was a shame not to win any title, but I still remember many of the great games that we played that campaign.
His only stain was perhaps his departure and the criticisms and whistles he received later. Did you understand them?
Well, this is part of our work, in the end, I don’t know if it is me or they who have to understand what happened to me. I think until recently nobody knew what happened exactly. It is past, obviously, and I also had other goals. I wanted to go to the NBA and did not come out, then it is all business, that that no longer has to do with me. Baskonia did his job and what he had to do to earn money at that time and my representatives also made his to get the best possible contract. In the end this is the ugly part of our work, there are things that I cannot control and fans have the right to give their opinion, I have nothing against that. I did what I thought was better for me and my family and nothing else. I have no less affection or I think worse of Baskonia’s fans for it, my opinion is always going to be the same whether there are whistles as if not and if there are five or one hundred people who did not like my decision. There will always be people who like your decisions and people who are not.
Does it have a good relationship with the club despite the pull and loosen of that tante?
Yes, whenever I see one of the workers who agreed with me, I always give them a hug. As I said, I have nothing to reproach, they had their option to fight the tanteo and you have to understand it, they are things that happen. But no, I have all the love for the people there. Baskonia gave me the opportunity to compete in the ACB and in the Euroleague and I will always be grateful for it.
