After winning a championship in Mexico, the veteran forward wasted no time in signing with BAXI Manresa and returning to the BKT EuroCup for the first time since 2017
Pierre Oriola: 'All the factors were positive for my return to Manresa'
Interviews
11 Mins read
Pierre Oriola’s basketball journey has come full circle. Eight years after playing in the EuroCup Finals with Valencia Basket, the Spanish big man is back in the competition wearing the colors of BAXI Manresa, a club he knows well and calls home. His return comes after a whirlwind few months that saw him lift the Mexican League trophy with Fuerza Regia Monterrey before boarding a flight to Spain just two days later.
“It was from one day to the next,” Oriola told Javier Gancedo. “They told me what they wanted from me, what they expected I could contribute, and I didn’t think about it. Being close to my family, my wife and my son, being in a place that I consider like my home, where I started my sports career, and starting a third stint with the team… all the factors were positive for my return.”
Congratulations on the win. I suppose that after four consecutive losses, Manresa needed a win to get back on track and that's what you did. How important was that?
"Regardless of whether the opponent was in a bad or good situation, we wanted to win in front of our fans, get back to winning ways, regain the feeling of the game and we did it. I think we played a very serious game. The first quarter was even, but from there, I think we dominated in all aspects of the game and we were able to win, which brings us a little closer to the top six teams. We are now in fifth place, despite the fact that there are many teams tied, but we are within the [playoffs] cut and that's a bit what we want, we want to keep adding wins, especially when we play at home, and try to finish as high up as possible."
I guess you didn't need a lot of adaptation under a club you know, or a place you know, or two leagues you played in before. You arrived in good shape, too. How did it all help you play great right away?
"It was very easy, as you say, because I came from a three-month stint in Mexico, and in the end, it's not about being at home and training on your own, it's about the rhythm of the competition. I know the ACB very well, I also played the EuroCup with Valencia a few years ago, and also with Baloncesto Sevilla, so it was an extra motivation I had to be in Manresa, a club I know, a club I'm in for the third time. I was very excited to be able to play the double competition and play the EuroCup, because I hadn't played it for many years, and it is very competitive now."
How was it to play in Mexico and win the league?
"The experience was very good, on a life level and on a human level. I got to know a country I probably wouldn't have known. I would have rarely thought I would have ended up in Mexico, unless I had gone to Cancun or Los Cabos on vacation, but I wouldn't have imagined being able to live three months in Mexico. So, on a human level and on a life level, it was very good. On a basketball level, very different from what I'm used to, a very physical league, not on a physical level, but on a contact level. A much more American basketball, with eight Americans on the roster, where one-on-one is played a lot, so it's not my style of play, but I adapted very well and, in the end, we were rewarded by winning the league."
I suppose you have a bit of a grudge against the EuroCup after losing Game 3 of the 2017 EuroCup Finals against Unicaja. How excited are you to return to the EuroCup?
"It makes me very excited, because right now I think the EuroCup is at a very high level of teams and it's very, very competitive. Any of the 10 teams in the group we are in are strong. Hamburg is not doing well this year, but last year they were one of the teams that was fighting to qualify, too, and it was a solid team, so I think it is a very competitive league. And I do have that pending issue. I have it because I think we were the best long-term team during the whole competition [in 2017], but when the time came, we couldn't materialise it and Malaga was better, both in the second game and in the third."
And in the meantime, eight tears have passed and you've had a lot of success: Spanish League champion with two different teams, Spanish Copa del Rey champion, even World Cup champion with Spain and EuroLeague finalist with FC Barcelona. How does it feel to return to Manresa and the EuroCup with such incredible experiences in your basketball bag?
"A lot of good things have happened to me, I mean, it's been eight years, I have had a lot of experiences. I have also had an injury that kept me away from basketball for a few months and it was hard for me to get my level back and so on, but well, I think it's both experiences and learning that life gives you and, in this case, basketball. I would tell you that since I left, a lot of good things have happened, most of them good. As I said, it was a shame not to win the EuroCup and at the same time, on this path, I had the opportunity to play two EuroLeague Final Fours and lose a Championship Game, which I think is also one of those little thorns that I will have in my career. But also if I look back, years ago or when I started, I would have never imagined that everything I have done so far would have happened. And I think that's the important thing at the end."
Your new teammate Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu could easily be one of the most athletic players we have seen at any level. You have played with a lot of people, have you seen anything similar to Kao?
"No. He is one of the most spectacular players in terms of jump timing, explosiveness, highlight plays... one of the best I have seen, if not the best! It is spectacular how high he jumps and the timing he has. He still has to improve his decision-making, especially when he goes to the hoop, they throw the ball up, he wants to finish right away and many times it would be good for him to catch the ball and not to try to finish it right away because many times there is a previous contact and he gets out of balance, but the truth is that it's amazing to see him and every day he gives us a spectacular highlight, whether it's with a big block or a huge dunk. He is incredible."
What about Hugo Benitez? He has been incredibly consistent so far, but has been a bit unnoticed until now... For a pick-and-roll player like you, having Benitez in the team must be a blessing.
"I want to be honest. He is the one who has surprised me the most of all. He seems to me a player with huge talent who can play at the highest level. Added to the talent he has, his court vision when it comes to passing, when it comes to playing, and the character he shows when he plays is amazing. He is 24 years old, but he has been playing for five or six years in the EuroCup with Bourg and this year in Manresa, and you see him with personality, you see him with character, you see that his pulse does not tremble at any time when it comes to making decisions, when it comes to wanting the ball in important moments. It is my humble opinion, that of Pierre Oriola, it is a matter of time before EuroLeague team bets on him, and I think it will go very well, because he is a point guard for the present, which he already is, but also for the future."
Your next game is against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana. Its sports director, Chechu Mulero, signed you at Valencia and almost a decade later, here you go again, him in Ljubljana and you in Manresa. What will be the key to the game?
"First things first, I am very thankful to Chechu. Him and Pedro [Martinez] were the people who took me to Valencia, and they gave me that leap in my career. Without them, everything that followed would probably never happened, so I am very thankful. I was able to play with the national team, I was in Barca, so he is one of those people who gave me the opportunity, and obviously, I did the work, I took advantage of it, but I thank him a lot.
"About the game, I think we have to be solid. Cedevita is a team with a lot of experience, with a lot of talented players, a team that leads our group standings. We face a team designed to go through rounds and to be at the top of the EuroCup. Being us, especially at home, we have to play with our identity, run the break as many times as we can, try to dominate the rebounds, and above all, give a high pace to the game. I think that when we are able to dominate that high pace, to pass the ball from one side to the other, it is very difficult for the teams to play at the pace that we set in the game, and those are more options of victory for us."
It took you just a few hours to sign for Manresa after lifting the trophy in Mexico? Did everything click, or were you talking about it already?
"It was from one day to the next. I mean, this was not much talked about before or anything, but I finished on Monday, and on Wednesday I was talking with both with [general manager] Biel Corominas and [head coach] Diego Ocampo on the phone. They had just finished the game in Romania against Cluj and they called me. They told me a little bit about what they wanted from me, what they expected that I could contribute, and I didn't think about it. Being close to my family, my wife and my son, which is very important for me, being in a place that I consider like my home, where I started my sports career, and starting a third stint with the team. So, let's say that all the factors and everything were positive for my return, and I think it was the moment, after coming from an experience like this, and with this positive energy that I had for winning the Mexican League, I think it was the perfect scenario. We signed it as soon as possible, and just the next day I was flying to Spain."
Manresa is a new EuroCup team and you hadn't played the competition for a long time. What are your expectations?
"I think we are a club that in the last few years has shown the ambition that we have, despite being one of the most humble projects both in Europe and in the ACB, but I think we have an ambition that starts with our fans, who are very demanding, but at the same time they always respond both when the team is doing well and when it's not. I think we have to take one game at a time, it's a new competition for us, a new scenario against high-level opponents with a lot of talent. The EuroCup has improved a lot in the last few years and there are great teams built to win it and go to the EuroLeague the following season, so our goal is to go game by game. I personally would like to go past the regular season. I think it's doable, but to do that, we have to be strong at home. We have to win all of our home games and try to add one win on the road."