The beautiful electronic scoreboard at the HSBC Arena read 60 for Flamengo, 36 for Saldanha da Gama. It was halftime of the second round of the New Basketball Brazil (NBB) tournament. As soon as the team returned from the locker room, the starters and reserves welcomed one of the greatest names in Brazilian basketball history onto the court: Ary Vidal. "I didn't expect this to happen. I was thrilled," said Ary Vidal, shortly after receiving a plaque in his honor, signed by the club's president, Marcio Braga.

With one of the most impressive basketball coaching resumes in Brazil, Vidal was the director of Flamengo's basketball team during the campaign that led Flamengo to its second Brazilian championship title in June of this year. According to him, Flamengo has a chance of winning its third title, but the task will be more difficult. "I hope so. Almost all of our opponents have improved. Brasília is better than it was, and in the last championship, they went toe-to-toe with Flamengo. I hope Flamengo wins, but they lost an important player, Baby, a big pivot. Minas, Paulistano, and Joinville are also strong. And watch out for Franca, they'll improve," he analyzed in an interview with Flamengo's official website.

Ary Vidal said he knows the new signings Guilherme Teichmann, Dedé, and Vítor Boccardo. He revealed a curious fact about Teichmann: "I've known him since I was a little kid, back in Santa Cruz do Sul [where the coach won a title with the local Corinthians team in 1994]. That's how he started. That's why he liked basketball," said Vidal, who coached the Brazilian team that won the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis.