By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The former coach of the Russian national team and currently the coach of Darussafaka spoke to the French newspaper “L’Equipe” and while he agreed that having a Eurobasket every four years is a step in the right direction, he doesn’t think the same about the national team qualifying games windows during the season.
As Blatt explained in an interview: “I have said a long time ago that FIBA should find solutions in order to relieve the players from their workloads, with all the competitions they are taking part. I suggested that a player could not have more than one or two full Olympic circles in his career (Eurobasket, FIBA WC, Eurobasket and Olympic Games over four years). Otherwise, he would be forced to stop for one circle to protect his body. Now that the conflict between FIBA and Euroleague has been added to this story, the crisis is becoming even more severe. I do not think having quadrennial Eurobasket is a bad idea. But having these windows in the middle of the season is not realistic. You will not see the best players, retained by the NBA and the Euroleague. It will not serve anyone’s interests. Everyone, national teams, players, federations, coaches – some of whom like Messina find themselves forced to leave their national teams – fans will suffer. This is not a solution. And the political nature of the problem that resulted in this situation caused great damage to our sport. I find it difficult to conceive that no committee including all parties has been able to sit down to find a satisfactory solution and this is not just politics”.
Already four key European basketball figures, coach Blatt, Ettore Messina, Zeljko Obradovic and Sarunas Jasikevicius has opposed openly the new FIBA calendar.