Dmitry Shakulin, CSKA assistant coach (2008 - now), interim coach (11.2010 – 02.2011):
They are not just players known worldwide. They are my brothers. All the titles I earned with CSKA we won together. They were the core of the team at their prime. Even though they talked to each other mostly, any coach or partner could lay down on them. It was the first time when I coached such a high-level team past season and it was very important for me to have such consistent and reliable players. It’s a pity that both of them have had injuries in my period at helm and together with Victor Khryapa’s problems it cut the lion’s share of team’s potential. They did a lot for Russian and CSKA basketball. We just qualified for the Eurobasket semifinals, and I should mention that Holden is a national hero, the Merited Master of Sports, the person who gave our country the first gold medal in modern history. We will do our best to go the same way, to fight for the victories as JR did. And Langdon, who speaks Russian better than any other foreign player, merged into Russian culture by his soul and family, he is my good friend. We met multiple times, we talked a lot. I am sure that both of them will be successful in their life, because they are well-educated, intelligent persons. Hopefully, they will link their future with basketball. At least we discussed together with Trajan a chance to work together one day.
