Alex Abrines: The change from last year to this is strange

In an interview with Catalunya Radio in early September, Alex Abrines compared current Barcelona coach Roger Grimau to his predecessor, Sarunas Jasikevicius.

“The change from last year to this is strange,” said the Blaugrana captain. “Going from Saras, who is more expressive and shouts more, to Roger is a transition that I obviously like. You don’t expect it and it’s hard to react after three years of Saras and one of (Svetislav) Pesic,” Abrines said.

In a recent conversation with Gigantes, Abrines made the same comparison. It is no secret that the Lithuanian coach’s demands and mannerisms in the Barca dressing room did not please a good number of players. Indeed, he openly said that Grimau’s style was better.

“Saras was someone who demanded a lot, very intense and lived basketball a lot,” Abrines told the podcast.

“Even [Svetislav] Pesic had that Yugoslavian gene of pushing a lot, shouting a lot,” he recalled.

Abrines also acknowledged that he feels more comfortable with the new coach: ‘It’s better, more bearable. With such a long season and so many games to play, if you have someone yelling at you from Monday to Saturday, eventually you get tired and stop doing things,” he admitted.

“Because instructions go in one ear and out the other. There has to be a little bit of everything. When you have to be good, you have to be good. But when the team is not turning, you have to be firm and give us a wake-up call,’ the Spaniard concluded.