The 6 keys to the ‘Grimau Method’, explained by himself

Seven months after accepting the challenge of leading a court as demanding as the Barça, Roger Grimau In an interview with EFE, he examines the nuances of his method, both on the court and in the locker room, and investigates the reasons why the coach of Baxi Manresa, Pedro Martínezis one of its references.

1. Transitions, the alphabet of your script

In his first experience in the elite, the Catalan coach remains steadfast in his idea of ​​the game that, as he defended, his players were able to acquire in “quite a few stages” of the first part of the season.

“When we were able to defend solidly, with the amount of activity, rebound and quickly exit the defense-attack transition, either to end the game quickly or to chain the game in transitions, that’s when we played very beautiful and very effective basketball, which is where we are more comfortable,” he reflects Grimau.

All this, he emphasizes, without giving up on “pressing the paint, releasing the ball, giving the extra pass, moving the ball from one side to the other and looking for free shots”, something that , in his opinion, should be “strong.” point” in the stroke.

2. Create structures for the player to decide

From his first day in charge of the Barça ship, Grimau He chose to give his players more freedom to attack, something that contrasted with the planned basketball promoted by his predecessor, Sarunas Jasikevicius.

He acknowledges that it’s probably “a bit slower” to build a team from freedom than from the board, but he wants to “create structures so that the players, when they have the ball, decide what they’re going to do, because they are the “readers” of the game.

Although he clarified: “That does not mean that, at a certain moment, we do not have to play a closer game, but my main idea is this, and I believe that it is more difficult for the rival to scout.”

3. Without defensive solidity there is no paradise

Grimau He knows that the fun game he proposes will not be competitive at the moment of truth, when titles are at stake, without defensive solidity, a trait that his team has missed in several games this season, especially in Euroleague.

“What makes you be solid and compete in the top is having a high defensive level. It doesn’t mean that they give 60, 70 or 80, but we have defended well many times and they have given us a lot, because there are really good players”, he reasoned.

However, he admits that defensive strength conditions offensive stability, a general dynamic in European basketball.

4. The video and the report, keys to preparing for matches

Video and report. This is the method applied by the technical staff of Barça to prepare for battles. Preparation on the training court often takes a backseat due to calendar demands.

“There are times when you can’t prepare for a game on the court, because you played, you come at four in the morning and the next day you have a little recovery,” he illustrates.

A frenetic pace that, according to him, the players are used to, although in the first stages of the season he did not accept it: “At first, it was quite difficult for me to accept that we had to watch the video on the day of game.” “It has happened many times and the players have assimilated it.”

5. Dialogue with the player

SA Grimau You hardly ever see him lose his temper on the bench or yell in public at one of his players. It’s part of his character, he says.

“It is closely linked to the person and the way I manage people in my life. Sometimes they are teams, sometimes family or friends,” he adds.

And perhaps this way of understanding the player-coach relationship explains why Pedro Martinezcurrent technician of Baxi Manresais one of the references of the current coach of Barça.

6. What he learned from some of his technicians

In his last season as a professional (2014-15) in the ranks of Manresa, Grimau was coached by Badalonaan episode he remembers with special fondness: “For me, Pedro (Martinez) This is the ‘top’. And it’s not because I’m better or worse than other coaches, but because it caught me at a time, that at 37 years old, that it was quite clear that I wanted to coach and for me it was like doing a coaching master’s degree for free every day.”

From the ancient coach to ACB, Grimau praised, above all, his management of the group, as an example of “how to lead a team without raising your voice, respected from the first day”, to which he added his “compatibility and regularity” in a day to day. “It marked me,” he said.

Although from his time as a player, Grimau He emphasized that he always learned from the coaches who taught him. Of Edu Torreswith whom he kept up Caprabo Lleida where he is the leader of the team, praising his “fun play”, something of him Barça try to practice now in 2024.

From his early years in Barçahighlights the Balkan discipline of Svetislav Pesic (2003-04) – “it’s fine, tight,” he pointed out – and Dusko Ivanovic (2005-08), who still remembers the ‘short roll’ and ‘pocket pass’ (pass from the hip), which were then “less visible” in basketball.

And he doesn’t forget either Xavi Pascualthe coach where he raised the last team as captain Euroleague of Barça (2010): “It shows you how to solve things, improve every day and solve problems in the same match. On a tactical level, Xavi he trained to a very high level.”