By Mete Budak/ info@eurohoops.net
Istanbul is going to be the center of European basketball with the Euroleague Final Four and the final stage of the Eurobasket being hosted in the city in 2017 and Latvia hopes to make a splash in both cases.
After all, the national team coach of Latvia, Ainars Bagatskis is already a resident of the city, as the assosiate coach of David Blatt in one of the four Turkish Euroleague teams, Dogus Darussafaka. Bagatskis talked to Eurohoops after the Eurobasket 2017 draw and he had some very interesting things to say.
First and foremost, Eurobasket 2017 is expected to be the first major national teams tournament in the senior level for Kristaps Porzingis. “Yes, I hope, yes, yes”, was the answer of Bagatskis when asked if Porzingis will finally play for the senior national team this year, after missing the last two summers due to his commitment with the Knicks.
Bagatskis hopes to have a team in full strength that will includ Porzingis and also Davis Bertans of the San Antonio Spurs: “Those are two high level players and every coach in Europe would be happy to have them. I am not an exception. With those two in the roster I don’t say that we will win the Eurobasket, but we can do something big”.
Even without Porzingis, Latvia in recent years managed to be more than competitive in the European stage. The team will compete in Group D which includes also Serbia, the hosts, Turkey, and Russia. With four teams making it to the knock out stage, Latvia is expected to be among them.
As Bagatskis explained: “I know very well both Turkey and Russia, I worked in clubs from both countries as a coach. I believe that Turkey at home should be considered the favorite. Of course every one knows the strengh of Serbia, but when Turkey plays at home, they end up winning medals. In the Latvian team we have to enjoy what we will do. When we start our preparation I always tell to my players stop the giggles and enjoy it. We have to focus on things that we can do, play smart and play hard”.