The quick departure of Nestore Garcia leading the Argentine basketball team did not surprise many. Perhaps more unexpected, though welcome, was the arrival of Paolo Prigioni to take the reins and debut almost immediately after the announcement of the Argentine Confederation of Basketball (CAB)which was a breath of fresh air for players and managers.

What happened? A series of “events” that had García as protagonist, which ended up complicating the relationship between the coach and his call-up.

“Che verbally anticipated his departure, for privacy reasons we respect, and was not part of the delegation that went to Brazil this Tuesday afternoon to play the AmeriCup,” the CAB briefly reported. The game mentioned on Saturday at 13:40 against Virgin Islands and it will be the debut for Prigioni.

The “events” they mention in the selection environment have to do with some of García’s habits. A relapse that showed him different at the beginning of his cycle, when he was seen in tune with the players.

That behavior led Garcia to act “non-professional acts”also during the match against the Bahamas – for the qualifiers for the next World Cup in Japan-Philippines-Indonesia 2023 – which was not released publicly but was decisive in putting an end to its continuity.

The enumeration by close and anonymous sources on the coach’s daily life includes inappropriate behavior in the hotel towards basketball players, the absence in training and the unusual method he chose to direct the last game and the suspicion that many nights he left the concentration.

The list is supported by a series of images circulating on social networks: the behavior of the coach in time-outs, some errors and even oversights that have generated a short circuit with the players. Many no longer listened to it without worrying that a camera would capture the disinterest live and live.

The lack of dissimulation, of the coach and the players, was the culmination of a relationship that started well and ended in the worst way. No one bothered to fake another reality: in the post-conference victory over the Bahamas by 95-77, the faces were better suited to a defeat. Discomfort was inevitable.

There was a meeting between campus leaders and Che García. The athletes put on the table what they heard and, above all, everything they saw. The coach understood that the period was over and confirmed it when he received the call from the president of the CAB, Fabián Borro.

The leader informed him of his departure e agreed to communicate it by way of resignation for “confidentiality reasons”. Then became official the arrival of Prigioni, the 45-year-old Córdoba coach who will continue to be linked to the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves as assistant coach Chris Finch.

Two members who came from the previous cycle with Che García will serve as collaborators: Leonardo Gutierrez (current coach of the Olimpico de La Banda) e Guido Fabbri.

García, who had assumed the post of head coach of the Albiceleste team following the departure of Sergio Hernández after the Tokyo Olympics in the second half of 2021, led the team for the last time on Monday evening in the victory against the Bahamas, from 95-77, at the Islas Malvinas Sports Center in Mar del Plata.