By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Three-time EuroLeague champion with Panathinaikos Mike Batiste is the latest guest on Joe Arlauckas’ ‘The Crossover’.
Per euroleague.net, in the first part of their talk, Batiste discussed his upbringing in Long Beach, California, his path from community college to major college basketball, and his first two seasons in Europe before he went back to the United States to play for Memphis in the NBA. Batiste talked of the things he was looking for in those first years of his professional career and that he would later find in Athens.
Batiste remembers his introduction to the EuroLeague when he was playing for Italian side Biella and teammate Malik Dixon knocked on his door asking if he was watching that night’s big game. They scanned the channels and found Alphonso Ford and Olympiacos Piraeus facing Anthony Parker of Maccabi Tel Aviv on television. At once, Batiste was transfixed by the level of play and passion of the fans. He began to watch EuroLeague games regularly and recalled how impressed he was by Panathinaikos‘s come-from-behind victory over Kinder Bologna at the 2002 Final Four.
Check out the first part of the podcast, while in the second one, Batiste and Arlauckas will discuss Panathinaikos’ 2009 and 2011 titles.