標籤: turnaround

Aston Villa Star Emi Buendia has detailed the conversations he had with Unai Emery this summer which led to his return under the Spaniard this season.

AS held an interview with the 29-year-old man today. He is on a high after playing a key role in Aston Villa’s Europa League success Heading towards the World Cup with Argentina.

Best Aston Villa Season

The midfielder has enjoyed his best season to date at Aston Villa. He scored 11 goals and nine assists in 54 games in all competitions and played a key role under Emery after returning in the summer.

He returned to Aston Villa in the summer after a loan spell from Bayer Leverkusen for the second half of last season.

The perception was that Aston Villa would focus on different players and make moves in the summer. However, a difficult summer window gave the Argentine a chance to impress. He has done just that and explained how.

When asked what the key to the transformation was, she said, “A lot of hard work. A lot of hard work, a lot of confidence too.”

“I always knew and told both the coach and the coaching staff that I felt capable of staying at the club this season.

“Then, throughout the season, with hard work, you see things start to go well. That’s important in this game. And well, it’s also about personal confidence, confidence in my teammates, confidence in the coaching staff and trying to have my best season individually.”

unai emery conversation

His return to Aston Villa last summer saw him in talks with Unai Emery about what he could do going forward.

The midfielder has previously struggled to impress under the Aston Villa boss but is now one of his star men. And he revealed what their conversation was like before the season started.

“When the transfer window opened, we had a conversation where we discussed what I could contribute to the team,” he said.

“I made it clear that I want to stay at the club and help. Emery knows how to get the best from each player. Personally, in my role on the field and taking into account the demands he makes on each player, we work individually to be able to deliver what he needs as a coach.

“From the beginning, with a lot of hard work, paying close attention to every detail, paying attention to everything that can make a difference. We grew with the team throughout the season.”

move flop to success

The turnaround is interesting for Emi Buendia, who was considered a major flop before impressing under Emery.

After impressing for three years at Norwich City he moved to Villa Park in 2021 on a €38.4m deal. He was a star for the Championship team but struggled to make the step up to the Villans. Now he is a major player and is thrilled to remember that move from five years ago.

“It wasn’t that big a leap because I spent three incredible seasons with Norwich, in which we won all four championships. In mid-season we played in the Premier League, but we couldn’t avoid relegation,” he concluded.

“When I signed for Villa, I already had experience of playing at the highest level in the world. I grew up embracing the pace of English football, which is essential to playing this dynamic style. And then developing technical skills which are very important.

“I remember the call from Aston Villa with great emotion because the project they presented to me, fortunately, gradually became reality over the years.

“The club’s ambition was to achieve the things we are experiencing now. It was a big step in my career. I’m personally very proud of it, and today I can enjoy all these wonderful things.”

NEW YORK – Karl-Anthony Towns and Mike Brown have not seen each other in the entire 2025-26 season. It’s natural for a star player and a new head coach to need time to improve their working relationship. It is natural for there to be bumpy places on that road. But the discord between the six-time All-Star and his head coach seemed, at times, inseparable from the New York Knicks’ struggle to implement their new system.

The latest information regarding Brown and Towns came after New York’s Tuesday night win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Following the 121–116 win, the Knicks’ seventh consecutive win, reporters asked the coach about the center’s recent play.

Brown explained, “I’ve had to adjust to him, too. That’s what a season is about. We’re not playing the same offense as we did at the beginning of the year. So I’ve had to make some adjustments to figure out how to get him involved a little better… When he’s on fourth down, we’ve really simplified it so he doesn’t have to think as much. When he doesn’t have to think so much, he can just react.”

The coach previously told the media after a two-point first half loss against the Detroit Pistons in February that Towns needed to make better decisions on the court, saying “the Cats have to read those moments”. Brown’s comments Tuesday told the rest of the story.

“We try to make him more comfortable by keeping him in his spot. He likes to be on top. He doesn’t always stay there, but we’ve added some more things that keep him in there with proper space. And then we found a post-up and ISO position for him that is great from a spacing standpoint, and how he likes to work. Those things, we didn’t have for him at the beginning of the year,” Brown said.

The coach has been happy to blame himself for his group’s various struggles throughout the season until he finally finds a solution. Towns, who averaged 21.7 points per game on 57% shooting in the month of March, should qualify.

Knicks get important injury update as playoffs are just weeks away

The Knicks shared other types of good news on Tuesday, with Brown and the team announcing that Miles McBride has made progress in his recovery. The 25-year-old guard is now back up and participating in scrimmages following surgery in early February to repair a sports hernia. That recovery process has sidelined him for more than a quarter of the regular season so far.

Both he and veteran sharpshooter Landry Shamet are expected to return before the 2026 NBA Playoffs. The Knicks, including center Mitchell Robinson, are projected to be fully healthy for the upcoming postseason. If New York is to meet its expectations, it will need the best from everyone from Brown and Towns to the end of their rotation.

James Borrego has no interest in spinning a story about what the New Orleans Pelicans have done after the NBA All-Star break. The math of the playoff picture is the same, but the coach says what’s going on inside the Big Easy’s locker room is very real. Zion Williamson and Dejounte Murray may be playing their best basketball ever, but this turnaround has nothing to do with clipboard-based schemes.

The turnaround has been largely driven by a starting unit that has quickly found its rhythm with an All-Star point guard in the mix. This is obvious and cannot be overstated. How well they fit together is being overlooked at a time when most teams would be planning for the summer holidays.

“Yeah, you know, that group has played well together,” Borrego began. “That settles us with the herb handling, you got Murph out there, Saddiq and Z have a two-man game going on.”

Murray sets up buckets for Williamson, Trey Murphy III and Saddiq Bey while Herb Jones does a little bit of everything. It certainly seems like a recipe for success, although it will have to wait until next year. Unfortunately, it’s too late for the Pelicans to make postseason noise. Still, despite having very slim chances of catching the Golden State Warriors for the final NBA Play-in Tournament spot, the Pelicans continue to play with pride.

Borrego stressed, “I would say more than anything, there’s just a caring factor, an urgency and a belief.” “There’s a ‘this is all that matters’ mentality right now. Like we want to do something. We want to be competitive. We want to grow. We want to get better. We’re taking pride every day in our film sessions, practices, shootarounds, games and our overall mentality of finishing strong and being a team moving in the right direction. And more than anything, it’s a group effort. Everyone bought in, in the same direction.”

The lineup has appeared in balanced production. Over the past 15 games, the Pelicans have ranked among the more efficient offensive teams in the league, relying on Williamson’s interior scoring, Murphy’s perimeter gravitas and Murray’s shot creation to produce consistent looks. Bey’s versatility and Not on Herb’s defensive factors complete a unit that now plays with clear distinction and purpose.

the pelicans are playing to win

Borrego, for his part, doesn’t think much about where the race began.

“Obviously, staying healthy helps,” the interim head coach acknowledged. “I’m not going to get caught up in that. By getting Dejounte back, we now have depth, size and physicality on our defense.”

Murray’s return has reestablished the structure at both ends. Offensively, the 29-year-old has given the Pelicans another primary initiator, reducing the burden on Williamson while improving late-game execution. Defensively, his length along with Jones has helped the Pelicans gain a disruptive edge that was inconsistent under Willie Green. Still, Borrego was quick to dismiss the idea that the team’s recent form is entirely linked to health.

“Overall, it’s been a mentality of taking care of each other and playing,” Borrego explained. “I think we’ve had that going for us for quite some time now. It didn’t happen overnight or in the last six to ten games. I guess we’ve been top five in clutch games all year. I think we’ve probably been top five in clutch games all year. We’ve been putting ourselves back, even when we were losing games, we said put ourselves in these situations to win games. Keep fighting. Keep hitting the rock.”

Over the last 15 games, the Pelicans are in the top 10 in scoring (119.4), field goal percentage (48.3%), turnovers (15.5), and free-throw attempts (28.8). It took a few months, but the nuances of Borrego’s game plan are starting to become second nature.

How does he feel about working for months to keep this season from being ruined?

Borrego insisted, “This is what has led us to this moment. We didn’t flip a switch and turn it on.” “We’ve been working on it for months, and it’s finally starting to turn around. But it’s been an overall commitment to working every day, getting better and playing for each other. I think that’s been the biggest factor there.”

This is going to be a big factor in the front office’s head coach decision coming soon. It must be said how much Williamson and Murray are investing in the ideas.

The Los Angeles Clippers were left for dead in November. After a disappointing 5–20 start to the season, most pundits were examining mock drafts rather than playoff standings. But after Wednesday night’s 153-128 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, this team did something no one in NBA history has done.

According to NBA insider Brett Siegel, with the win, the Clippers became the first team in league history to go above the .500 mark after falling at least 15 games below .500 in the same season. Sitting at 35-34, Los Angeles has completed a comeback that seemed statistically impossible four months ago.

The Intuit Dome was rocking as Kawhi Leonard turned in one of the most accomplished pieces of his historic career. Leonard torched the Timberwolves for 45 points on a ridiculous 17-of-21 shooting from the field. They didn’t just beat Minnesota; He destroyed them, scoring at will from mid-range and the perimeter.

However, it was not just a one-man show. Benedict Mathurin operated the offense like a surgeon, scoring 22 points and 3 assists. The Clippers’ offense looked like a well-oiled machine, shooting a whopping 63 percent from the floor as a team. Los Angeles dominated every aspect of the game, outshooting Minnesota 60–44 in the paint and turning 10 Timberwolves turnovers into 14 points.

The Timberwolves, led by Anthony Edwards’ 36 points, could not keep up with the Clippers’ historic heater. Minnesota struggled to find stops as the Clippers dropped more than 40 points in three of four quarters.

From a 15-game losing streak to a winning record, the Clippers have officially flipped the script for the 2025-26 season. If they keep playing like this, “phenomenal” could be the beginning of their story.

As Miami Heat forward Keshad Johnson won the 2026 Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star weekend, the team had additional representation from Norman Powell. With Powell earning his first All-Star nomination as a Heat star, there’s no doubt it was an emotional weekend for the guard, who talked about his experience and his focus on transitioning to the team.

Powell has repeatedly stated his goal of wanting to become an All-Star in his career, so after being considered overlooked by many last year with the Los Angeles Clippers, he would finally receive the honor in his first season with Miami. Leading the Heat with 23 points per game and bringing offensive punch to the team with Tyler Herro having an injury-filled season, he earned his spot.

Heat’s Norman Powell speaks on his “amazing” All-Star weekend

In addition to participating in the All-Star Game, representing Jamaica at Team World under the new format, he also competed in the three-point contest, trying to retain the title in Miami after Herro won the title the previous year. Although he didn’t win, it was still an “A-plus” weekend for Powell, who is now looking “on the inside” to lead the Heat.

According to The Miami Herald, Powell said, “The experience was wonderful, no complaints.” “Being able to go to a full weekend, the three-point contest and the All-Star Game for the first time. I’m having fun and making memories with all the guys that I’ve gone against, competed against and looked up to before they even got to the NBA. So it’s an A-plus weekend for me.”

“As a leader, if you want to make a change and be an example for the team and how we want to play and what we want to go out and accomplish, the first thing you have to do is look within yourself,” Powell said. “And so I’ve already had some thoughts and conversations with my coach about … how I need to come out mentally, and what I need to do to get this team on track.”

As part of Team World, Powell played two games off the bench, going scoreless in the first but recording five points in the second. Powell is the 12th player in Heat history to be selected to the All-Star Game, now taking aim at Miami, which is 29-27 and eighth in the Eastern Conference.