Niners coach Pastore wants in top four

Head coach Rodrigo Pastore of the Niners Chemnitz has justified his long-term contract extension with the Saxon basketball league club with big goals. "We have created our own DNA, how we want to play basketball and how we improve as an organization - with our resources. Of course, now everyone is asking: what's next? Our answer is: we want to be among the best four teams in Germany in the next three years," the 50-year-old Argentine said in an interview with the "Freie Presse" (Monday).

Pastore came to Chemnitz in 2015, led the team to the top flight and reached the playoffs in 2022. Then the team "proved a year later that this was not a flash in the pan. We are in European competition," the coach said, adding, "But for us, it's less about achieving that goal. What matters to us is how we achieve it. By continuing to improve step by step. By having players who are willing to keep improving. Jan Niklas Wimberg or Nelson Weidemann are just two examples of that. That's our path. We will continue to go that way."