By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
The three times EuroLeague champion with Panathinaikos in Mike Batiste denied that there was any contact with his former club to take on the head coaching role. He also stated that he intends to complete the two years left on his contract with Orlando, where he is a part of the coaching staff.
“First of all, no one has contacted me. These are rumors. Nobody told me anything. Secondly, I have a two-year contract and I will honor it. When I’m done with that, I don’t know what will happen. I always leave my door open. If that happens then we will see. I never say never. But I’m fine where I am now. I’m around the game I love and next to my family. I’m next to people I haven’t been to for 13-14 years. I sacrificed a lot to be able to give things to my family,” Batiste told Greek radio station ERA Sport.
While family would be the first thing on his mind if he was to take up a job in Europe, that isn’t the only thing: “I’m back at my house. It’s hard to let it go again. I have my own family now, I have two children. It’s hard to take them to a different country. There is a lot to think about, something very complicated. If I was given the prospect of becoming a head coach, I would have to think about everything. I would leave for a different country, I would come there. What if things didn’t go well then? After all, everything is business, right? I have managed to establish myself here in the NBA.”
And that makes the decision harder, especially after having just adjusted to his home country and the life in the States: “I am a coach. I have my family here. When I retired, I had to adjust to life in the United States again. It took me three or four years. It was difficult. It took me a while to adjust to my homeland again. Who wants to “bet” on something, to lose again? Panathinaikos is my family. But now we are talking about work. “