Massimo Bulleri

Benetton Treviso's Massimo Bulleri has won Italian basketball's most prestigious award for the second time in his career after being voted Lega A Player of the Year by the league's coaches and team captains.

The point guard, also the league MVP in 2002-03, has been flying ever since he helped Italy capture a silver medal at the Olympics last summer.

He followed that up with a terrific performance in Italy as Benetton won the Coppa Italia and also finished top of the regular-season standings.

Bulleri and Benetton are now tied at 1-1 in their best-of-five play-off semi-final series against Armani Jeans Milano.

		“	This is a team sport and what matters at the end is the team	„
		Massimo Bulleri

"I am very proud because this is a prestigious award and considering the level of the Lega A, it makes me even happier," Bulleri said in a telephone interview with PA International.

"But this is a team sport and what matters at the end is the team."

Bulleri is a tenacious defender, an excellent passer and one who possesses an accurate shooting stroke.

He has averaged 11.6 points per game this season.

The 1.88m Bulleri does stand a reasonable chance of playing in the NBA if he could be tempted to cross the Atlantic, but he is adored in Italy and clubs in America might find it difficult to prise him away.

"The season has been very positive for me, starting with what we (Italy) achieved in the summer (at the Olympics), then the Coppa Italia and the regular season," Bulleri said.

"But the final analysis has to be done at the end of the campaign."

The 2004-05 campaign is looking as if it is the year of Benetton as boss Ettore Messina has also been voted Lega A Coach of the Year by his peers and team captains.

"We certainly hope that this will be the case, but we face a very difficult game tonight," Bulleri said. "It's going to be a long semi-final and we just hope that we can prevail."

Bulleri's Italian international team-mate, Gianluca Basile, took the Player of the Year award last season.