By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow assistant coach Darryl Middleton said that he “hated” having days off when he was playing under Zeljko Obradovic with Panathinaikos since that usually meant that the next practice would be extra tough.
“I remember that when we used to have days off, I’d just tell Dimitris [Itoudis]: ‘I don’t want a day off. I want practice’,” Middleton said in an interview for The Crossover with Joe Arlauckas. “Because days off were like a punishment. We were coming in the next day and we’re running 40 minutes. So I was ‘Please, just practice.’ I hated the day off. I didn’t want a day off.”
Middleton, a EuroLeague champion both as player (2002 with Panathinaikos) and assistant coach (2016 and 2019 with CSKA Moscow) also discussed his basketball beginnings, mentoring Marc Gasol, winning the European championship and his transition from player to coach.