Zalgiris Kaunas guard Sylvain Francisco joined Pick’n’Pod podcast, where he was interviewed by coach Tautvydas Sabonis and basketball commentator Rytis Kazlauskas.
Francisco discussed his passion for anime, basketball handles and listed most impactful coaches in his career.
“Actually, I really like anime series. I feel that they have had a decisive influence on my learning of Japanese,” said Francisco. “I feel that as you watch more anime, you start to distinguish the words, you look for their translation. Now I can understand a lot.”
As a teenager, Francisco went to the USA to attend high school, where he acquired the nickname Frenchie, which is still used in his circle.
“I have had many nicknames. I’ve been called 'Cisco', I've been nicknamed 'Dior'. I've also been called 'Cis'. When I played in Spain, I was nicknamed “Paco” because there “Francisco” is shortened to “Paco”. When I went to the US, because I am French, I was called 'Frenchie'. When I came back to France, the nickname stayed,” said Francisco.
When the conversation turned to Zalgiris and head coach Trinchieri this season, Francisco spoke about the already established relationship between the Zalgiris players and the specialist.
“What I like about Andrea is his attempt to listen to the players. Tyrone and I talked about things that I won’t say here now. Andrea came to me and said: what happened? He insisted that he had to adapt to us, not the other way around. I’m sure not many coaches would say such a thing. I realized that this is a very good thing because the coach wants us to be the best possible version of ourselves and to be stable players”, said Francisco.
In the second part of the Pick’n’Pod podcast, Francisco and Sabonis answered questions from Zalgiris Insider subscribers.