With Marcelinho Machado's departure from the court and the roster being restructured for the season, Flamengo fans watched their idols finish their tenure at the club and eagerly awaited Olivinha's return to the team. A synonym for grit, dedication, and determination, the number 16, who has been at Gávea since 2012, has the mission, alongside Marquinhos, another Flamengo idol, to put FlaBasquete back on the path to success. In an exclusive interview with FlaTV, Olivinha discussed several topics, including the lessons he learned from his years with the number 4.

"We spent time with a guy who was always our leader. When I returned, he was already at the club, and we played together for six seasons. We know what we have to do. I was Marcelo's roommate and learned a lot from him in terms of leadership. I hope I can pass on what I learned from him to all the players coming up."

Averaging 8,7 points and 6,3 rebounds per game in the NBB 10, Olivinha was quite critical of his performance last season. But as is characteristic of his professionalism, he didn't give up and wants to turn things around by helping Flamengo win titles this year, and he says he's very motivated to do so.

"Last season was very difficult for me; it was the season I had my lowest scoring tallies for Flamengo. It's about never stopping working. Last year I kept working, but I didn't perform as well as I would have liked. This season I hope to perform as well as I did before. I'm very focused, excited, and motivated for this upcoming season and for everything to go well so I can help Flamengo win titles. You can be sure that Olivinha will be more motivated than ever this year. I hope we have a very successful season."

With five titles, Mengão, the biggest winner of the New Basketball Brazil, has seen Bauru and Paulistano lift the trophy in the last two seasons. It was precisely at Paulistano that Flamengo sought out coach Gustavo de Conti to revamp FlaBasquete and put the team back on the winning track. Runner-up in the 5 South American Championship with the national team, Olivinha highlighted the new coach's rigorous and hard-working style.

"I hope it's a very successful job. I already had experience with him on the national team in 2016, when we finished runner-up in the South American Championship. I really liked his work; he's a very rigorous guy who likes to work. That's what we expect from him; he's a very fair guy. You can expect us to have a lot of work this season. I hope we're successful, because we haven't had much success in the last two seasons. I hope we win titles again this season; that's our team's goal."